Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada on Saturday, locking up a second straight Canadian women's title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short programme, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. But her second-best free skate score of 126.
24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with a total of 201.21 points, well ahead of compatriot Rino Matsuiki -- who roared from 10th place with a sensational free skate that earned 139.
85 points for a total of 192.16. Japan's Hana Yoshida was third with 191.
37 points as Liu, in her first Grand Prix event since 2021, dropped to sixth. Reigning pairs world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada captured their second consecutive Skate Canada title, also despite finishing second in the free skate. Men's world champion Ilia Malinin got off to a roaring start in his bid to complete a rare Skate America-Skate Canada double with a short programme that garnered 106.
22 points. Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps had led after Friday's short programme. Their free skate earned 124.
10 points, enough to give them gold with a total of 197.33 points ahead of Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Geynish and Dmitrii Chigirev, who topped the free skate with 126.12 po.
