The United States in the lead, Japan in third place in the World Cup team

Japan will face South Korea for the silver on the final day of the Team World Cup in Tokyo after the United States opened up a seemingly unassailable 15-point lead on Friday.

The United States extended its total score to 90 points, while Japan, while remaining in third place, closed the gap to second-placed South Korea to one point after the pairs short program, ice dance routine, and women’s free program on day two at the gym. Tokyo sports. .

Japan’s figure skating captain is second only to South Korea

Japan’s captain, Kaori Sakamoto, finished second to South Korea’s Lee Hae-In in the women’s freestyle program. They reversed their standings from last month’s World Championships at Saitama Super Arena near Tokyo.

A fall during the planned combination of a double axel, triple toe loop and double toe loop cost the world champion figure skating, who performed strongly and scored 145.75 points, 2.82 points behind Lee. Third place went to South Korean Kim Ye Lim with 143.59 points.

“The most frustrating thing is that I couldn’t finish rehearsals without making a mistake,” said Sakamoto, 23, after her final performance of the season. “But I’ve learned not to finish here. I want to use this disappointment to motivate myself for next season.

Previously, world champions Madison Chuck and American Evan Bates continued their dominance in ice dancing, winning the free program with a score of 138.41 points. The Japanese, Kana Muramoto and Daisuke Takahashi, ranked fifth, with a difference of 116.63 points.

In the short program for pairs, Americans Alexa Knirim and Brandon Fraser scored 82.25 points, ahead of world champions Reiko Miura and Ryuichi Kihara from Japan (80.47).