FIGURE SKATING
Mesmerizing Kagiyama storms to Short Program lead at ISU Grand Prix Final
04 Dec 2025
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) took the lead in the Men’s Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Nagoya Thursday while defending Champion Ilia Malinin (USA) stumbled.
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) breaks four-year-old personal best
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama finally broke his personal best score after almost four years to top the Short Program ahead of teammate Shun Sato. Reigning ISU Grand Prix Final Champion Ilia Malinin took a high risk with a new combination and sits in third after making a mistake.
Kagiyama gave a perfect performance of his upbeat Short Program to the special figure skating remix of “I Wish”. He got what he wished for with a quad toe-triple toe combination, quad Salchow and triple Axel as well as excellent spins. The 2022 Olympic silver medalist achieved a personal best of 108.77 points, slightly improving on the personal best he scored at the Olympic Winter Games.
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) took top spot in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025 © ISU
“It is the first time I was able to renew my personal best in the Short Program since the Beijing Olympic Games,” Kagiyama said. “I am happy about the jumps and spins but there is still more room for growth and that is a new takeaway for me.
“I called my Beijing Short Program my number one and it felt like a tall hurdle for me to overcome,” he added. “Even when I had a clean [routine], I wasn’t able to renew my personal best, the spins and the GOE [grade of execution] did not go up that level. To do this today I was very excited. Today I did as I can do in practice but still I can aim for a higher GOE for the quad Salchow.”
Shun Sato made Japan proud as well with a season’s best performance to “Ladies in Lavender”, landing a quad Lutz and quad toe-triple toe. The Cup of China Champion scored 98.06 points.
Shun Sato (JPN) finished second in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025 © ISU
“I landed a beautiful (quad) Lutz, but made a small mistake on the Axel, so I hope to be able to fix that,” Sato said. “I was able to improve my season's best, but I didn't achieve my goal of 100 points, so I'll keep working hard. I was happy and encouraged by the cheers from so many fans and the banners they held up. I want to perform even better in the free program and finish with a smile on my face.”
Malinin went for a quad Axel-triple toeloop combination that nobody has attempted yet in competition. However, the two-time ISU World Champion stumbled on the landing and was unable to complete the combination. He switched it to the quad Lutz later in the program. Nevertheless, Malinin lost some precious points and scored 94.05.
Ilia Malinin (USA) finished in third place in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2025 © ISU
“New content is always a big risk,” Malinin acknowledged. “Especially it’s the first time I was trying it at competition. During the warm-up I was not so sure about it. I decided to go for it anyway. I know all the pros and cons of this decision. It didn’t work out today. It wasn’t the best feeling obviously, but I wanted to try it out first time. The rest of the program was kind of sloppy and I’m not surprised about it.”
Daniel Grassl (ITA) came fourth with a strong performance and a season’s best of 94.00 points. Two-time ISU European Champion Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) is currently ranked fourth on 78.49 points followed by 2025 ISU World silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) on 71.30.
ISU Grand Prix Final schedule:
Thursday, December 4: Pairs & Men’s Short Programs, Rhythm Dance
Friday December 5: Pairs Free Skating, Women’s Short Program
Saturday, December 6: Men’s & Women’s Free Skating
Sunday, December 7: Exhibition Gala
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