The Japanese women’s field has so much depth this season that five out of the six qualifiers for this week’s Grand Prix Final are from Japan, including World champion Kaori Sakamoto. In fact, seven out of the top nine in the qualification standings are Japanese women. The implication, of course, is that among a bunch of skaters who could very well finish in the top ten at Worlds, Japan can only send three of them. But this isn’t Worlds, so we get the pleasure of seeing this battle in Grenoble—plus US champion Amber Glenn.
Grand Prix Final predictions
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GOLD Kaori Sakamoto JPN - A lot of skating observers looked at Sakamoto’s first two competition this season and wondered if the new free skate layout and stepping into unfamiliar choreographic territory was becoming a hindrance. But she continued to push through and didn’t waver from her plan, when most competitors would’ve scrapped these experiments and gone back to more familiar territory. Her win at NHK Trophy was where it all finally clicked. Repeating her win from last year is not a foregone conclusion here—she’s got a lot of competition, and she’s still got to prove to herself that she’s got these programs in the bag.
SILVER Amber Glenn USA - Glenn is the only skater in this field who has been undefeated this season, notching big scores at all three events and bringing her trusty triple axel with her at each of them. Last season, it was the free skate that let her down time and time again, but this season has been different, and she delivered the free skate of her career so far with her win over Chiba at Cup of China. She’s been steely this season even when there were very high stakes involved—she knew exactly what was at play at Cup of China in order for her to qualify to the Final. This will be her biggest test yet.
BRONZE Mone Chiba JPN - Chiba’s last two events have resulted in 210+ scores, and it’s clear that the reigning Four Continents champion will enter her first Grand Prix Final really feeling confident that she belongs among the very best in the world. If last season was a breakthrough for Chiba, this season has been a statement so far. She’s perhaps been the steadiest of all the skaters here on the Grand Prix on the way to the Final.
4. Wakaba Higuchi JPN - Of all the Japanese skaters this season, Higuchi’s resurgence has been perhaps the biggest of pleasant surprises. After a bit of burnout and injury post-Beijing, we weren’t sure if she would be able to rebound and regain the form that took her all the way to fifth (or was it fourth? …) at the Olympics. But she showed it once at Skate America with her first GP career win, and then backed it up with an even stronger performance at Grand Prix de France. Getting that lutz-toe clean will be the biggest boon to her chances at the podium here. She makes her second career Final appearance, with her first Final being seven years ago in 2017.
5. Rino Matsuike JPN - We’ve witnessed the ethereal skating from Matsuike this season combined with much more consistent jumping than we’ve seen from her over the past few years. But the short program continues to be a big hurdle for her. In both of her silver-medal performances on the Grand Prix, she’s had to come from behind to get there. A clean short will go a long way this week.
6. Hana Yoshida JPN - The reigning Grand Prix Final bronze medalist returns after notching another Grand Prix win a few weeks back at Finlandia Trophy. She has had more rotation issues this season than she has in the past, and the triple axel hasn’t delivered for her most of this season. She will need to be much cleaner if she is to get back on the podium again here.