2022 Olympic Champions Wenjing Sui & Cong Han (CHN) successfully continued their comeback by taking the Pairs Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix HK Trophy in Osaka (JPN) Friday. With the scores being close, the Free Skating will be a whole different chapter. 

Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (CHN) take Pairs Short

China’s 2022 Olympic Champions Sui/Han came out on top in an exciting Pairs Short Program. Two-time ISU World bronze medalists Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii of Italy and Hungary’s Maria Pavlova & Alexei Sviatchenko follow closely in second and third, and each of the top five teams set a new season’s or personal best score. 

Sui/Han had to skate first as they lost their World ranking due to their competition break since 2022. They delivered a strong Short Program to “Habanera” that featured a triple toe, triple twist and big throw triple flip. The two-time ISU World Champions set a new season's best of 74.63 to take the lead. 

“We are happy with what we did today,” Sui said. “It was not too good but also not too bad. There are still some elements that we need to improve. 

“I hope tomorrow we can show our best performance for the audience here,” she continued. 

“For me this is only the beginning,” Han noted. “This is our second Grand Prix but we still feel it is new and fresh. We are just getting back to compete and we have a lot of work to do.”

Wenjing Sui and Cong Ham (CHN) had to skate first as they return from a three-year break but narrowly lead the Pairs after the Short Program. © ISU

The Chinese stars have always enjoyed skating in Japan and this has not changed. “In Japan we have a lot of fans,” Han pointed out. 

“We feel very honored to see Chinese flags in the Japanese audience. The fans give us a lot of encouragement and we feel more power when we are on the ice to compete. We compete in Japan many times and each time we can feel the emotions. They can push the skaters a lot.”

Conti/Macii had come directly from the Cup of China two weeks ago and prepared in Japan. Skating to Flamenco music, the 2025 ISU European silver medalists completed a triple twist and triple Salchow as well as a difficult lift. Only the throw triple loop was not perfect. Nevertheless, Conti/Macii slightly surpassed their previous season’s best with 73.69 points. 

“We worked a lot here in Japan after we came here directly from China,” Conti commented. 

“We said to each other to try to always enjoy the program. Sometimes we are focused on the elements too much but don’t enjoy the rest of the program. 

“Today I really enjoyed every part of the program even it is not our best. I focused on the music, the feeling with him [Macii]. We focused on our eyes to create a story from the beginning to the end,” she continued. 

Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA) achieved a season's best with their Flamenco-inspired routine to take a narrow second place. © ISU

Performing to “Earth Song”, Pavlova & Sviatchenko turned in a personal best performance that was highlighted by a triple toe and throw triple flip. The Grand Prix de France bronze medalists netted 73.04 points.

“We are very happy with result of Short Program although there are still things to improve,” Pavlova said. 

“We are happy as it was better than in France. Since the Grand Prix in France, we tried to focus less on the elements and more on the program. Today was better but we want to perfect it and bring more emotions. We are working toward that goal.”

Maria Pavolova and Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) threw themselves into their 'Earth Song' Short Program and lie third. © ISU

The up-and-coming team of Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN) is not far behind in fourth place after a clean performance and a new personal best score of 71.52 points. Alisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov (USA) are currently sitting in fifth on 69.21 points.

Camille Kovalev & Pavel Kovalev (FRA) had to withdraw after Camille injured her shoulder when she fell on the triple toeloop. 

The schedule of the ISU Grand Prix Skate NHK Trophy is as follows:

Friday, November 7: Rhythm Dance, Pairs, Men’s & Women’s Short Programs
 Saturday, November 8: Free Dance, Pairs, Men’s & Women’s Free Skating
 Sunday, November 9: Exhibition Gala

ISU Grand Prix Standings

Check out who is on their way to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix Final:

Men                               Women                    Pairs                      Ice Dance

For full entry lists and further information regarding the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series please visit here.

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The schedules of each ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event are available below:

17 - 19 Oct 2025                      Grand Prix de France in Angers (FRA)

24 - 26 Oct 2025                      Cup of China in Chongqing (CHN)

31 Oct - 2 Nov 2025                Skate Canada International in Saskatoon (CAN)

7 - 9 Nov 2025                         NHK Trophy in Osaka (JPN)

14- 16 Nov 2025                        Skate America in Lake Placid (USA)  

21 - 23 Nov 2025                      Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki (FIN) 

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final: 

4 - 7 Dec 2025                       Nagoya (JPN)