USA’s Alysa Liu captures Grand Prix Final crown
2025-26 Grand Prix Final: Women’s Figure Skating
USA’s Alysa Liu captured her first Grand Prix Final crown in the Women’s event in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday. Japan’s Ami Nakai rose from third place to earn the silver in her debut at this event, while veteran teammate Kaori Sakamoto rose from fifth for the bronze.
Alysa Liu
The 2025 World champion gave a mature and solid performance to “Promise” by Laufey in the short program. She landed a triple flip, double Axel and triple Lutz-triple loop, and all spins and footwork were graded a level four. The only error was a slightly underrotated loop on the back end of her combination jump. Liu also earned positive GOEs on all other elements, earning a new personal best score of 75.79 for second place.
“I think it’s great!” the 20-year-old said of her performance. “This was definitely my best short program I put out this season. I made a goal with my coaches. I really wanted to do a better triple Lutz-triple loop than I had done in my other competitions, and this was definitely my best one. And my other goal was to breathe throughout this program because often times I forget to breathe. It’s super easy to just forget and like kind of get lost in your choreography.”
Liu was solid in her popular free skate to “MacArthur Park Suite,” landing a total of seven triple jumps. Only the back end of a triple Lutz-triple toe was slightly underrotated. She also displayed strong level-four spins and footwork throughout, and finished third in this segment with a new season’s best of 146.70 points. With a total score of 222.49—also a season’s best, the 2025 Cup of China silver medalist placed first overall.
“I feel really happy to be here. I really enjoyed the events today,” said Liu. “And I’m really excited for the gala, looking forward to doing my program there. My performance definitely does give me confidence in my stamina and in my consistency. I think a lot of things can happen in between now and the Olympics. I will just keep my training and keep working.”
“About the triple Axel, I really want to know what it feels like to run a free skate or a short program with a triple Axel,” she added. “The thought of that is very intriguing to me and I want to satisfy my curiosity. And that includes doing it in competition. I love to perform.”
Ami Nakai
The 2024-25 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist displayed good flow in her charming short program to La Strada by Nino Rota, placing third (73.91). She stepped out of the triple Axel, but landed a solid triple Lutz-triple toe and triple loop. All elements, except for the triple Axel, earned many positive GOES, including her level-four spins and footwork.
The skater admitted to being very nervous as this is her first senior Grand Prix Final appearance.
“But thanks to the numerous cheers from the audience, I was able to complete the performance with great peace of mind and felt incredibly happy!” said Nakai. “Tomorrow, I will work hard in the free skate to complete the triple Axel.”
And she did.
The 17-year-old landed a solid triple Axel with positive GOES in her free skate to “What a Wonderful World.” Nakai went on to land four more clean triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-double Axel-double Axel sequence. The only major error came when she put a hand and foot down on a triple Lutz. She also slightly underrotated the back end of a triple flip-triple toe, but displayed quality level-four spins and footwork throughout. She placed second in the free skate and overall with two new personal best scores (146.98/220.89).
“I’m very happy with the results of placing second,” said the 2025 Grand Prix de France champion. “To be honest, my triple Axel was actually not in great shape, but I was still able to land it during the actual performance, so I’m happy about that as well. In the beginning of the season, I really wasn’t thinking at all about the Olympics, but now that this international competition is behind me, I’m actually starting to feel that the Olympic stage is getting to be close around the corner. I felt very tense, but despite that, I was able to put out a really good performance, and this will definitely give me confidence going into my next international event.”
Kaori Sakamoto
Sakamoto made a costly mistake when she doubled her opening triple Lutz in the short program. However, she rebounded to land a solid double Axel and triple flip-triple toe in her expressive routine to “Time to Say Goodbye.” All elements except for the Lutz received many positive GOES, two of which were level-four spins. She placed fifth (69.40) going into the free skate.
The 2022 Olympic bronze medalist was clearly disappointed, holding back tears as she left the ice.
“Today’s mistake didn’t occur during practice, but today it did,” said the 25-year-old. “There’s nothing left to lose. I’ll leave all my unpleasant emotions here and completely change my mood for tomorrow’s free skate. I will strive to complete my performance well. Today, there are many people who supported me, and I’m truly grateful.”
The three-time World champion placed first after a brilliant free skate which included five clean triple jumps. The only mistake came when she popped the first jump in a double Axel-triple toe-double toe sequence. All three spins and footwork were rewarded a level four with positive GOES, and she scored 149.40 points for this segment. With a total score of 218.80, Sakamoto rose from fifth to third overall for the bronze.
“I basically left something on the table in both the short and free programs,” Sakamoto acknowledged. “But despite that, I was able to place third, so I’m satisfied with this result. The Japanese Nationals is only two weeks from now, so I think it was a good experience for me to have been able to do this competition.”
Amber Glenn
In the short program, USA’s Amber Glenn rushed the take-off on her opening triple Axel, popping the jump, but was otherwise solid in her inspiring performance to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”. She rebounded with a triple flip-triple toe and triple loop and displayed level-four spins and footwork throughout. She rounded out the field with 66.85 points.
“I did everything else that I could, but there’s no making it out for a mistake like that,” said Glenn. “It just took off wrong. I just kind of pushed too hard into it trying to make it happen and it just didn’t work out. Luckily in the free skate there is a lot more room for ups and downs. So tomorrow I can kind of just take it one thing at a time and just let it be rather than trying to make everything perfect.”
With the exception of a underrotated triple loop, Glenn gave an otherwise solid free skate in her endearing routine to “I Will Find You” and “The Return.” She landed a confident triple Axel, as well as six more clean triples, and picked up a level four on two spins. The defending champion scored a new season’s best of 144.65, placing fourth in this segment and overall (211.50).
“I was actually having a hard time breathing on the six-minute warm up and that was really stressing me out,” said the 26-year-old. “I was kind of all over the place today, but I was able to really calm myself and kind of trust myself in that moment. I do think that the breathing kind of affected me for the second half of the program.”
“I train an altitude and do clean programs every day,” Glenn continued. “Like I’m used to feeling ‘OK’ and I was not feeling great in that second half, so I really just tried to top it out. But I’m really proud of the mental fortitude I showed. I just really want to in the future try and improve on performance. I get a little bit of time to rest, reset, and really address some of the things that I want to fix. And I’m looking forward to showing those improvements at the nationals.”
Mone Chiba
Mone Chiba of Japan produced an energetic and solid short program to “Last Dance,” earning a new personal best score of 77.27 points for first place. She landed a triple flip-triple toe, double Axel, and triple Lutz—all of which received positive grades of execution (GOE). Chiba also picked up a level four on her three spins and footwork.
“Today I was really nervous,” admitted Chiba. “I was actually shaking. So, in the first half of the program, I think my expression was quite rigid, but I was able to nail all three jumps. With the spins and steps, I could ease up, but I had to be really focused and that’s exactly what I did. I’m really happy that I performed and delivered on that.”
Unfortunately, the 2025 World bronze medalist took two falls in her free skate to selections from Romeo and Juliet. She opened with a solid triple flip-triple toe, but then fell on a underrotated triple loop and triple Salchow. She two-footed a double Axel, but then landed a triple Lutz-double Axel sequence and triple Lutz-double toe-double loop and solo triple flip. All three spins were graded a level four, but the mistakes were costly. She placed sixth in the free skate and dropped to fifth overall (210.22).
Chiba admitted to being extremely nervous for the free skate.
“I’m currently trying to figure out where my senses shifted,” she said. “I fell twice under all that pressure, but I was able to return to my usual jumps. I think I have no choice but to go into the All Japan Championships with my back to the wall. I know I have no choice, but I haven’t sorted it out mentally yet, so I’m going to spend the night thinking carefully about what I should have done today. I never want to show everyone a performance like this again.”
Rinka Watanabe
Rinka Watanabe of Japan showed lots of expression in her short program to “El Tango De Roxanne” from Moulin Rouge! which earned her 70.68 points for fourth place. The 2024 Four Continents bronze medalist landed a solid triple Axel, but turned out the front end of a triple Lutz-triple toe while underrotating and putting a foot down on the back end. She hung on to the triple loop, however, and all spins and footwork received a level four.
“I’m very happy,” said the 2025 Skate America silver medalist. “This season, my goal is to conquer myself. I also want to skate properly in tomorrow’s free skate. I hope to gain valuable experience for the Japanese Nationals. Compared to the Final three years ago, I feel stronger, which is a good change. I believe I have developed the ability to do what I should and want to do through practice and building confidence.”
The 2025 Cup of China bronze medalist had several underrotations in her otherwise beautiful free skate to “JIN.” She underrotated the back end of a triple Axel-triple toe, a solo triple Axel and a triple loop. The other four triple jumps were clean, and she picked up a level four on all spins and footwork. Watanabe scored 132.95 points for fifth place in this segment, but slipped to sixth overall (207.14).
“I was so nervous I thought my heart would stop beating,” said Watanabe. “But even so, I think it was probably the first time I was able to land three Axels properly at an ISU competition. I think it will be a big step for me in the future. I’m glad I kept that attitude. I still have some work to do in both the short and free programs, but I hope I can overcome those issues and do my best in preparation for the next competition. Now I just need to really tighten up. The past few months have been really tough for me, but I feel so fulfilled and I want to push myself until I become numb. I’m grateful to have been able to participate in this Final, and I’m looking forward to practicing.
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