SATO, who won his first championship at the Grand Prix Series and will advance to the Grand Prix Final for the first time in two years
Photo: AFP/AFLO
Photo: AFP/AFLO
SATO took part in the men's singles at the sixth round of the ISU (International Skating Union) Grand Prix Figure Skating Series in China, which was held from November 22 to 23 local time. He took first place overall and won the gold medal. In the short program, he successfully completed all jumps, including the quadruple lutz at the beginning, and ranked first with this season’s personal best of 98.75 points.
In the free skating program the next day, he succeeded in the quadruple lutz at the beginning again and got high GoE (Grade of Execution) points. After that, he popped his quadruple flip into a double flip. However, he completed the remaining jumps without making any mistakes and scored 179.73 points, the second place score in the program. He took first place overall and earned the gold medal with a total of 278.48 points, winning the Grand Prix Series for the first time.
With this result, SATO finished third in the ranking based on the points gained in all six competitions of the Series to qualify for the Grand Prix Final (December 5 – 7, Grenoble, France), in which the top six skaters can participate, for the first time in two years. In the Grand Prix Final, HIGUCHI Wakaba, who graduated from the School of Commerce of Meiji University in 2023, will also compete.
≪Japanese version≫In the free skating program the next day, he succeeded in the quadruple lutz at the beginning again and got high GoE (Grade of Execution) points. After that, he popped his quadruple flip into a double flip. However, he completed the remaining jumps without making any mistakes and scored 179.73 points, the second place score in the program. He took first place overall and earned the gold medal with a total of 278.48 points, winning the Grand Prix Series for the first time.
With this result, SATO finished third in the ranking based on the points gained in all six competitions of the Series to qualify for the Grand Prix Final (December 5 – 7, Grenoble, France), in which the top six skaters can participate, for the first time in two years. In the Grand Prix Final, HIGUCHI Wakaba, who graduated from the School of Commerce of Meiji University in 2023, will also compete.