Osaka (Japan) (AFP) - Japanese figure skater Yuma Kagiyama got his Winter Olympics season off to a winning start with victory at the NHK Trophy on Saturday in his first Grand Prix appearance of the year.

Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto won the women’s competition with the world’s best score this season to make it a double for Japan in Osaka.

Kagiyama, silver medallist at the 2022 Beijing Games, is seen as double world champion Ilia Malinin’s biggest rival for gold at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February.

The 22-year-old led after Friday’s short programme and he completed the job with the minimum of fuss in front of his home fans.

Kagiyama scored 287.24 to finish ahead of countryman Shun Sato (285.71) and Switzerland’s Lukas Britschgi (246.94).

“This was my first Grand Prix appearance of the season and there is still a lot of room to improve,” said Kagiyama, who won the competition for a third year in a row.

“Although I’m on a tight schedule, I want to work hard to create something even better.”

Kagiyama, wearing a purple outfit and skating to “Turandot”, fell early in his routine.

But he recovered to finish strongly, flopping to the ice at the end before sitting up to acknowledge the crowd.

“I had some mistakes but I recovered well in the second half and never gave up,” he said.

“It was by no means perfect but I was able to do all I could at this moment and I want to keep improving.”

Second place was enough to send Sato into next month’s Grand Prix final in Nagoya.

The 21-year-old, who won at the Cup of China last month, received a personal best score of 189.04 for his free skate.

“My goal isn’t just to compete in the Olympics but to win a medal there,” said Sato.

“I want to work hard from now on to make that happen.”

- Sakamoto supreme -

Sakamoto had a lead of almost 10 points from Friday’s short programme and she made no mistake with a majestic free skate.

Skating to an Edith Piaf medley, she scored 227.18 to finish comfortably clear of Sofia Samodelkina of Kazhakstan (200.00) and Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx (198.97).

The result took Sakamoto into the Grand Prix final.

It was her second appearance of the season and followed her runner-up finish at the Grand Prix de France, where she was surprisingly beaten by 17-year-old Japanese newcomer Ami Nakai.

“I didn’t give a good account of myself in France and that was frustrating so I’m really happy to get revenge here and set a new highest score,” said Sakamoto, who will retire after the Milan-Cortina Games.

Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii won the pairs competition to book their place at the Grand Prix final.

Conti and Macii, who finished second at the Cup of China, earned a score of 208.58 to beat Hungary’s Maria Pavola and Alexei Sviatchenko (207.28), and China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong (203.79).

Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won the ice dance and also qualified for the Grand Prix final, having finished runners-up at the Grand Prix de France last month.

Fear and Gibson scored 205.88 to finish ahead of Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (198.67), and Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons (187.90).