The Japanese ladies took first and second today at home at the 2012 NHK Trophy, with former World champion Mao Asada relying on her huge short program advantage to keep a surging Akiko Suzuki from taking gold. Asada and Suzuki gave Japan four medals today, after Yuzuru Hanyu and Daisuke Takahashi pulled off the same 1-2 feat in the men's event earlier in the day.
ANALYSIS: Asada vs. Suzuki
Asada's win will surely be debated after the competition is over, as even she was surprised at the result. She hit three clean triple jumps but doubled three other intended triples and singled a fourth, costing her valuable base points. But she had to use almost every bit of the 9.35 lead that she had over Suzuki to win the gold, edging her by just 0.05.
First to skate in the final group, Suzuki set the standard for the rest of the ladies ahead of her to beat, landing six clean triples, including a double axel-triple toe, to earn a final total of 185.22. Her only mistake was a two-footed landing on an underrotated triple loop, which ended up costing her the title. But her effort was more than good enough to vault her from fifth to the silver and a trip to the Grand Prix Final, where she will meet Asada for a rematch.
Ladies's free: VIDEOS | Play-by-play
Second after the short program, former U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu continues her solid season with a bronze today in a competition that she was not even going to be a part of until Polina Shelepen pulled out with an injury. She made the most of her opportunity, landing four clean triples to finish in third with a 176.88.
American Agnes Zawadzki opened her program with a solid triple lutz and a triple toe-triple toe combination, but she went on to land just one more clean triple. Still, her strong opening boosted her base value, and she was able to move up from seventh to finish in fifth place.
LADIES (final standings)
1. Mao Asada JPN - 185.27
2. Akiko Suzuki JPN - 185.22
3. Mirai Nagasu USA - 176.68
4. Zijun Li CHN - 174.11
5. Agnes Zawadzki USA - 160.37
6. Elene Gedevanishvili GEO - 156.96
7. Ksenia Makarova RUS - 156.52
8. Haruka Imai JPN - 145.42
9. Sofia Biryukova RUS - 139.12
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