Russian teenager Alena Kostornaia held on to her lead from the short program to win the women’s free skate and claim her second Grand Prix title of the season at the NHK Trophy on Saturday.
Kostornaia opened with a triple axel-double toeloop combination but stumbled on the landing of her next jump, another triple axel. The 16-year-old skater added six more triple jumps to finish with 154.96 points for a total of 240.00.
Local favorite Rika Kihira landed two triple axels and finished second with 231.84 points, while Olympic champion Alina Zagitova was third with 217.99 points.
Zagitova opened with a triple lutz-triple loop combination and scored high points for a triple flip and another triple lutz later in her routine.
Adding to her win in France, Kostornaia also qualified for the Dec. 5-8 Grand Prix Final in Turin, Italy. Russian women have now won all six of the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix series titles.
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports