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Japanese skater Kazuki Tomono produced his best short program in more than three years at the Skate America opener on Friday night, giving him an edge over Kevin Aymoz of France and Mikhail Shaydorov of Kazakhstan entering the free skate.
Jason Brown of the USA was fifth behind Italian Daniel Grassl in his first Grand Prix event of the season.
In the pairs competition, Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava continued their rapid rise in the world rankings, performing an almost perfect program for the basic element of figure skating, Bolero, which helped them confidently outpace Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara.
Tomono, 27, who is trying to earn one of Japan's spots at the Winter Olympics in February, was solid in his first quad-triple toe loop, quad Salchow and triple Axel combination. By the time he finished his short program, set to music by New York music duo SOFI TUKKER, the crowd at the arena in Lake Placid, New York, was applauding.
His score of 95.77 was not only his season's best, but also Tomono's best in the short program since the 2022 World Championships.
Kazuki Tomono of Japan leads the men's Skate America competition with a score of 95.77 in the short program.
Aimoz, a six-time French champion, scored 93.56 points as he bounced back from a poor performance at Skate Canada that left him in tears in the kiss-and-tear zone. The veteran suffered a left foot injury but looked the part as he landed an opening quad-triple toe before a solid triple Axel and triple Lutz to complete his short program.
Shaidorov, last on the ice, is still trying to win his first Grand Prix event after winning bronze at the Cup of China earlier this season. The 21-year-old world silver medalist has yet to make up ground in Lake Placid, however, after his component scores derailed a program highlighted by a pair of quads to score 89.67.
Grassl was fourth with 83.68 points, and Brown finished with 82.69, despite a program based solely on triple jumps.
The 30-year-old American, who is trying to make his third Olympic team at the Cortina games in Milan, is competing in two Grand Prix events – Skate America, followed by the Finnish Grand Prix next weekend. It's an unconventional path for a high-level skater, but one Brown hopes will help him prepare for the national championships in January and possibly the Olympics.
Watch the men's short program at Skate America, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating stop in Lake Placid, New York.
He had some work to do Friday night during a reworked short program of his iconic “Riverdance.” Brown underrotated his first triple Axel and spun on a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, which lowered his overall score. But the fast, precise footwork that is a hallmark of not only Riverdance but also Brown's skating allowed him to finish in the top five.
“This is so special,” Brown said, hugging all the young skaters who were collecting stuffed animals that had been thrown onto the ice. “This is the first time I have to perform this program in front of a home audience. All the emotions came back.”
It's been a full decade since Brown made his Skate America Grand Prix debut.
“You feel the nerves,” he said. “You feel excited.”
CBC Sports' Anastasia Buksis speaks with American personality Jason Brown as he shares some of the trials and tribulations of being known as the guy from Riverdance. He also talks about some of the adversities he faced as a competitive skater.
Metelkina and Berulava, a Russian-born pair representing Georgia, scored a season-best 78.83 points after winning the Cup of China. The highlights were their triple Salchows, performed side by side, almost in unison, and their triple twist.
“We are very happy today. We skated very well. Clean,” Berulava said. “Step by step.”
Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava from Georgia take first place at Skate America with a score of 78.83 in the short program.
It was the side-by-side jump that caused problems for Miura and Kihara, the two-time reigning world champions from Japan. She completed the planned triple toe loop, and this element alone made a difference. They scored 74.42 points.
Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel of Germany finished third with 68.26 points. Emily Chan and Spencer Howe were fifth for the United States, and Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin and Lucas Ethier were sixth.
Kelly Ann Lauren of Saint-Jerome, Quebec, and Lucas Ethier of Saint-Alphonse, Quebec, are in sixth place after a season-best score of 61.29 in the short program at Skate America.
The men's and pairs' medals will be decided on Saturday evening after the start of the ice dance and women's short program competitions. Those medals will be determined on the final day of Skate America on Sunday.
