Sawt Falasteen - Japa's Miura and Kihara capture Skate America pairs gold

Miura and Kihara, whose world title in Boston in March was their second after a world triumph in 2023, claimed their second grand prix gold of the season after a victory at the Grand Prix France.

The triumph in Lake Placid, New York, sends them into the Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan, next month and more importantly maintains their status as the pair to watch for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

The Japanese duo were not perfect, struggling notably on their side-by-side jumps.

But their sophisticated components and composure were enough to earn the top free skate score of 141.57 for a total of 215.99 points.

That was plenty as the Georgian duo of Metelkina and Berulava, who had surprised the Japanese with a rousing short program, delivered a mistake-strewn free skate featurin a fall by her, a botched jump landing by him and the complete failure of one planned lift.

Their fourth-place free skate score of 116.90 was still enough to give them silver with 195.73 points and with their Cup of China crown they, too, are qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

Canadians Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier, second in the free skate with 121.85 points, took bronze with a total of 182.87.

Earlier Saturday, veteran US ice dance duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates topped the opening rhythm dance with a total of 84.77 points to position themselves for a record-equalling fifth Skate America title.

Chock and Bates, who won Skate America titles in 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023, built a 7.35-point lead over Canadians Marjorie LaJoie and Zachary Lagha.

The three-time and reigning world champions are chasing a second grand prix title of the season after winning a Cup of China last month.

"We've made a lot of improvements since Cup of China," Chock said.

"We performed those really well today, and so I'm just really proud of how we skated and how we enjoyed the moment together."

France's Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud are in third place going into Sunday's free dance.

- Tomono eyes gold -

Later Saturday, Kazuki Tomono will try to give Japan another gold when he takes the lead into the men's free skate.

Tomono was more than two points clear of France's Kevin Aymoz afer a polished short program on Friday that included a pair of quadruple jumps and earned 95.77 points.

World silver medallist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who took bronze at Cup of China, was third behind Aymoz in the short program.

Tomono, who is vying to land one of Japan's three men's Olympic team spots for the Winter Games, 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.

Women's competition also gets underway Saturday with the short program, with world champion Alysa Liu headlining the field.

Liu, who claimed her surprise world title in March after taking a two-year break from the sport, is seeking a first grand prix title.

She finished second behind compatriot Amber Glenn at Cup of China.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST