Kagiyama, Sakamoto lead Japanese sweep of men's and women's short programs at NHK Trophy

Defending champion Yuma Kagiyama performed a near-flawless routine on Friday to lead a Japanese sweep of the men's figure skating short program at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo.

Skating to "The Sound of Silence," Kagiyama nailed an effortless quadruple salchow on his opening jump and followed with a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination.

The 2022 Olympic silver medallist added a triple axel to finish with a season-best 105.70 points.

"I was trying to equal the score I had at the Olympics but was three points short," the three-time world silver medallist said. "Today's performance, from beginning to end, went just as planned."

Kagiyama's compatriot Kao Miura was second with a personal-best 102.96 points while Tatsuya Tsuboi completed a sweep of the top three places for the host nation with 85.02.

"All three skaters did what they needed to do today," Kagiyama said. "Tatsuya had great flow and we were given great motivation. Kao was creating real momentum and I needed to do well."

WATCH | Kagiyama leads after men's short program at NHK Trophy:

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan leads after men's short program at NHK Trophy

Andrew Torgashev of the United States was fourth with 84.36.

In the women's short program, three-time and reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan finished first with a season-best 78.93 points.

Sakamoto, who won gold at Skate Canada two weeks ago, opened with a double axel and also cleanly landed a triple lutz and triple flip-triple toeloop combination.

"I was very pleased with the lutz and it was highly evaluated," Sakamoto said. "I was able to concentrate well throughout the entire routine."

WATCH | Sakamoto leads after women's short program at NHK Trophy:

Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto leads after women’s