NAGOYA, Japan, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won the pairs title at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final here on Friday, while Mone Chiba led the women's short program with a new personal best of 77.27 points.
South Korea's Seo Min-kyu surged late to take the junior men's crown, and Japan's Mao Shimada captured her fourth consecutive junior women's title.
In a fiercely contested pairs free skate, two-time world champions Miura and Kihara, skating on home ice, made some small errors but relied on their short-program lead and overall stability to triumph with a total of 225.21 points, returning to the top step of the Grand Prix Final podium for the first time in three years.
Italy's Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii took silver with 223.28 points, while Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin claimed bronze with 221.25 points.
"We were a little worried because the previous skaters had gotten high scores, At first, I didn't realize that we had broken our personal best, but after I found out we won, I looked at each element and realized that it was our personal best, and I was very happy." Miura said after the competition.
In the women's short program, world bronze medalist Chiba continued her fine form, delivering a series of high-quality technical elements to earn 77.27 points, a new personal best and the provisional lead. Newly crowned world champion Alysa Liu of the United States and Japan's Ami Nakai ranked second and third respectively, while Japanese ace Kaori Sakamoto sat fifth.
In the junior men's free skate, Seo turned in a strong performance, scoring 171.09 points to break his personal best and seal his first Grand Prix Final junior title with a total of 255.91 points.
The junior women's free skate also featured intense, high-difficulty programs. Japan's "triple crown" holder Shimada posted a season's best 144.68 points in the free skate and finished with 218.13 points overall to claim the first-ever "four-peat" in junior women's singles at the Grand Prix Final.
The junior pairs free skate and other events will be held on Saturday. In the junior pairs short program, Chinese pairs Guo Rui/Zhang Yiwen and Zhang Xuanqi/Feng Wenqiang ranked first and second, with Chen Yuxuan/Dong Yinbo sitting fourth. They will all challenge for the podium in the free skate. ■
