SHENZHEN, China - Japan's Mone Chiba came top in the women's short program before Kao Miura also sat first with his performance in the men's event at the Cup of China on Friday, the third event of this season's figure skating Grand Prix Series.
Chiba landed her opening triple flip-triple toe loop combination before a triple lutz midway through her routine to top the standings on 76.08 points in Shenzhen, where a slight landing mistake in her early double axel was the only blemish.
"It was positive that I was able to perform concentrating on what I need to do now," said the 21-year-old, who came fourth at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and second at the world championships last season.
Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia placed second on 75.05 after a short skate featuring similar elements to those of Chiba. Individual Neutral Athlete Alexandra Ignatova, the 2022 Winter Olympics silver medalist from Russia, was third on 72.37.
Chiba was solid with her spins too, having recovered from a sprained right ankle sustained in July that kept her off the ice for around a month. She vowed to not make the same jumping mistake in the free skate as she seeks her third title in the series.
"A little flash of anxiety went through my mind before the double axel. It's very frustrating that it showed in my jump," she said. "I'll look to concentrate and go beyond my limits with the jumps (in the free skate), carrying 100-percent confidence."
In the men's short program, Miura produced an engaging performance to take a narrow lead on 102.90 after opening with a quadruple salchow-triple toe loop combination and adding a quad toe loop.
"I was focusing on getting all the jumps right to avoid falling behind in the short program," said Miura, who finished second at the series-opening Grand Prix de France two weeks ago. "I'm happy to have cleared that hurdle. I'm really happy to have performed well."
His compatriot Shun Sato, the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics bronze medalist, nailed his quad lutz and quad-triple toe loop combination on his way to getting 101.97 for a narrow second, followed by Russian Evgeni Semenenko on 99.72.
"(Topping 100) has been one of my targets for this season and I'm really happy," Sato said. "I'll aim for the title in the free skate."
