German figure skating pair Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin claimed victory at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, while Japanese skater Kaori
Hase and Volodin were first after the short program on Thursday. Although the German pair finished second in the free skating on Friday, they won the event with a total score of 206.43 points.
"The competition is a fight for both of us. We are happy that we fought to the end, got as many elements as possible, and were finally rewarded the gold medal," Hase said.
Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy surpassed the highly-anticipated Canadian pair Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps to win the silver with 205.88 points. Conti noted after the competition, "We want to take a medal this year. We skated together and did all the elements not perfect but clean."
Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps expressed dissatisfaction with their performance after being second in the short program, but they also had errors in the triple salchow during the free skating and settled for the bronze with 204.30 points.
The 23-year-old Sakamoto, a bronze medalist at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, scored 77.35 points to lead the women's short program at the Grand Prix Final this year.
"After the Beijing Winter Olympics, I tried to find my direction in the next step and felt not that good in last year's events, but I adjusted myself this season and maintained high morale," Sakamoto said. "I just focus on improving my performance, which is the secret for the success."
Belgium's Loena Hendrickx and her compatriot Nina Pinzarrone placed second and third in the women's short program respectively with 73.25 and 66.72 points.
Additionally, the US pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates were in the lead in the rhythm ice dance with 89.15 points, followed by Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy and the Canadian pair Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.
