Sawt Falasteen - Japan's Tomono leads after men's short program at Skate America

Tomono was more than two points clear of France's Kevin Aymoz, whose emotion spilled over after an outstanding performance that garnered 93.56 points.

World silver medallist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who took bronze at the Cup of China last month, was third on 89.67 points.

That left the pre-competition favorite plenty of ground to make up going into Saturday's deciding free skate.

Tomono, who is vying to land one of Japan's three men's Olympic team spots for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games in February, looked the part as the fifth stop on the grand prix circuit got underway in Lake Placid, New York.

The 27-year-old opened with a quadruple toe-triple toe jump combination and also had a quadruple salchow and a triple axel.

Tomono is hoping to improve on a fourth-place finish at Skate Canada, where he was second after the short program but was pipped for bronze by compatriot Kao Miura.

"I hope that I can make up for my frustration from Skate Canada in the free skate (Saturday)," he said. "This is the first step toward that ... and now I hope I can complete it."

Aymoz, who has been troubled by a left foot injury, was in tears after his solid performance that put him on track to rebound after a disappointing 10th place finish at Skate Canada.

In the pairs short program, Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava grabbed the top spot over Japan's reigning world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara with an powerful performance to Ravel's Bolero.

The Georgian duo, coming off a victory at the Cup of China grand prix last month, posted a personal best of 78.83 points.

"We were happy," Berulava told broadcaster NBC Sports. "Clean skates.

"Step by step we get more points, a new season best," he added after the duo -- two-time world junior champions -- improved on the 77.77 they scored in the short program at the Cup of China.

Miura and Kihara, whose world title in Boston in March was their second after a world triumph in 2023, garnered 74.42 for their short program to an instrumental version of the Rolling Stones' Paint it Black.

Among several miscues, Miura reduced her jump to a double on their planned side-by-side triple toe-loops.

They'll have work to do in Saturday's free skate to try to add a second 2025 grand prix title to the gold they claimed at Grand Prix France.

Germany's Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, the 2023 Skate America champions, were third in the short program with a score of 68.26.

N.Awad--SF-PST