Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama defends Finlandia Trophy title
2025 Finlandia Trophy: Men’s Figure Skating
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan defended his title at 2025 Finlandia Trophy on Saturday in Helsinki, taking his eighth Grand Prix gold medal. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa earned the silver, while Stephen Gogolev of Canada pocketed the bronze—the first Grand Prix medal of his career.
Yuma Kagiyama
The 2025 NHK Trophy champion opened his jazzy short program with a solid quad toe-triple toe, but then took a fall on a quad Salchow that was slightly underrotated. He also stepped out of the triple Axel, but two spins and the footwork were graded a level four. The footwork earned no less than +4 GOES, but the two errors were ultimately costly, and he placed third in this segment with 88.16 points.
“I felt a warm atmosphere here, and I had eye contact with the audience towards the end of the program,” said Kagiyama. “That felt very nice. I’m of course disappointed about two of my jumps today. On the Salchow, the axis was going outwards; this is why the mistake happened. I really want to improve that tomorrow and fine-tune the jumps, as I know jumps are one of my strengths.”
Kagiyama added that he wasn’t “stressed” about the upcoming Olympics.
“It’s rather about fighting myself every day in practice,” he said. “To keep fighting in every competition, accept the results no matter what it is — good or bad, and to keep going and trust the process.”
Kagiyama lost a minimum of 20 points in free skate due to mistakes, but still had more than enough for a first-place finish after his routine to Turandot. The first half of his routine was solid and featured a quad Salchow, quad toe-triple toe, triple Lutz, and triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow sequence. Then he stepped out of the triple flip before taking a fall on a quad toe, as well as stepping out of the back end of a triple Axel-double toe. However, all three spins and footwork were graded a level four and he earned high GOEs for all elements except for the jumps with mistakes. With a total score of 270.45, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist soared from third to first place overall.
The skater said he tried to switch gears on his mental state after the short program but wasn’t able to manage it.
“My dad said that you need to use this energy of disappointment and use that towards the free program to do well in free,” shared the 22-year-old.
Kagiyama said during the latter part of the performance, he lost his timing on the quad toe and the program “fell apart.”
“I think it’s a good experience that I have in this competition,” he said. “I know that there’s specific competition nerves, so that’s why things happen. I also think that the things I couldn’t do yesterday, I was able to do today in a free program. So I’m happy about that. I haven’t fully processed all the details, but I think I received the appropriate score for what I did, and the technical score is still there.”
With his two individual Grand Prix wins, Kagiyama has qualified for the Grand Prix Final next month.
Adam Siao Him Fa
Despite dealing with boot issues this week, the 2025 Grand Prix de France silver medalist delivered a remarkable short program to “La terre vue du ciel.” He opened with a quad Lutz and triple Axel but doubled the back half of a quad toe-triple toe. However, he showed commitment in his level-four footwork which received mostly +4 grades of execution (GOE). Two spins were graded a level four, and he picked up a new season’s best of 92.50 for first place going into the free skate.
“I’m actually quite happy about the skate today,” said Siao Him Fa. “It was a big step up. It’s not the program that I wanted to show, but it’s going in a good way. Like, it wasn’t perfect, but overall, it was a very good performance, especially as I was feeling quite nervous before the performance.”
The skater shared that his coaches have been helping him a great deal and that he receives a lot of support from them.
“They said it’s normal that I’m stressing a bit, but I jumped in every condition possible,” said the 24-year-old. “I did it in the morning. I did it tired. I did it sick. I did it with a broken blade—bingo. I did everything, even with no sleep. So you’re ready for everything, in every condition. So, I don’t have to worry about my job. I just have to do it because I know how to do it. I have to trust and believe in myself, and that helped me a lot.”
Siao Him Fa struggled throughout his free skate, making costly errors. While he managed a clean quad toe, he stepped out of opening quad Lutz and fought for the landing of a quad toe-double toe. The back end of a quad Salchow-Euler-triple Salchow was slightly underrotated, and he also stepped out of both triple Axels. The footwork, however, was excellent and earned a level four with high GOES. He placed second in the free skate and overall (164.48/256.98).
“I did what I could do. I fought until the end,” said Siao Him Fa. “I felt very nervous today, and I felt kind of lost in the warm-up. But I fought for every element. There are a lot of positive things, actually. A lot worked out, and I will continue to work on myself.”
The two-time European champion will compete again in two weeks at the Grand Prix Final.
“It’s cool to get to the Final,” he said. “I need to do some competitions, and the Final is the perfect one. There-s no pressure for the Final—the pressure is more to get there. It’s a very high-level competition. It’s a very fun one with all my competitors. Now it’s time to continue to train and continue the work with Cédric (Tour) and Benoît (Richaud).”
Stephen Gogolev
Gogolev delivered a high-octane routine to “Mugzy’s Move” medley which featured a quad toe-triple toe, quad Salchow, and triple Axel. Two spins and the footwork were rewarded a level four with many positive GOEs, and he placed second in the short program with 89.35 points.
“I was pretty nervous,” said the skater who finished eighth at 2025 Skate Canada. “Just competition, you know, but I feel very good about the skate today. Also, the feedback I got from Benoît (Richaud) and my coach was very positive. I reached almost all the levels, that was definitely a goal.”
Regarding his friendly rivalry with teammate Roman Sadovsky, Gogolev said it’s “very motivating” for both of them.
“Also, we’re always in the same competitions together, which is also very motivating and seems very fair. I will try my best to take the feeling from today into tomorrow’s free skate.”
The skater gave a good effort in his free skate to “Piano Concerto No. 2” by Sergei Rachmaninov. He opened with a solid quad Salchow, but underrotated a quad toe. He then landed a quad Salchow-triple toe, but popped the first jump in a triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow and underrotated the back half of a triple flip-triple Axel sequence. Two spins were graded a level four, and he finished third in the free skate and overall (164.26/253.61).
“The skate today was alright,” said Gogolev. “It means a lot to me to win this medal, because it really shows that all the work that I put in pays off. Through the difficult times in the past years, what helped me the most was hope.”
Roman Sadovsky
Roman Sadovsky of Canada scored a new season’s best of 82.91 for his blues ballad to “Cold.” He slightly underrotated a quad Salchow, as well as the front half of a triple Lutz-triple toe. However, the triple Axel was solid, and he showed three level four spins.
“I feel like the last jump of the combination could be a bit stronger, but good Sal, good Axel,” said the 26-year-old. “Every short this season has been an improvement over the last, so I just like to keep this going. In Boston (2026 Worlds), I fell on the combo. At Nebelhorn, I fell on the Sal. This time I stood up on everything. Now it’s repeat, repeat, repeat. The ‘q’ on the combination, I knew it was a little bit in the grey area. The Salchow came as a little bit of a surprise for me, especially as I watched again on the replay. I thought it was pretty solid, but my opinion doesn’t matter.”
Sadovsky added that it was “nice” to have domestic competition during the season when asked about teammate Gogolev.
“Definitely both of us are in the running for that spot for the Olympics,” he acknowledged. “It’s been quite an experience; no way to go one-on-one all season long.”
Sadovsky placed fourth in the free skate to music by Maxime Rodriguez with 160.38 points. He received a “q” on several jumps, including the front end of his opening quad Salchow-double Axel sequence. However, he landed a clean triple Axel and triple loop while picking up a level four on two spins. With a total score of 243.29, the two-time Canadian national champion moved up to fourth place overall.
The skater said he was glad he had a chance to work on his free skate since his seventh-place finish at Skate Canada.
“Now, until Nationals, it’s going to be so quick,” he said.
On putting in the quad-Salchow-double-Axel sequence, Sadovsky said: “We’ve changed the types of combinations that we’re doing. Just a bit of an insurance policy, and it’s a nice combination. I can get good GOEs with it, and that was the strategy moving forward. I’m taking notes from each event, just beating my personal best a couple of times each time. Hopefully, the next one will be a larger jump in my personal best.”
Jason Brown
Displaying excellent artistry and musicality, USA’s Jason Brown put out a spirited routine to “Reel Around the Sun” from Riverdance. He landed a solid triple flip and triple Lutz-triple toe, but the triple Axel was deemed a quarter underrotated. Nevertheless, all level-four spins received high GOEs, as did the level-three footwork, and he earned the highest program component scores of the field. He scored a new season’s best of 87.66 going into the free skate.
“You know what, it felt great to get out there and to get a season’s best!” said the 30-year-old. “You know, that’s definitely constantly aiming to improve and get better. And the main goal of this year is to put out the best possible products at the Olympic Games. You just got to go through the muckiness and kind of keep trying different things out. And that’s what we’re doing, but it feels great.”
Brown shared that he is still working on the final drafts of his costume to see how it feels.
“Tracy (Wilson) really wanted a really different look,” he said. “The whole point is that I’m not trying to recreate a moment as much as show that evolution and that growth.”
Brown fought through is free skate after taking a fall on his opening triple Axel. He slightly underrotated the second one, stepping out of the landing and putting a hand down and missing the combo. The skater landed a clean triple loop and triple Salchow before slightly underrotating a triple Lutz (in combination with a triple toe). The first jump in a triple flip-double Axel-double Axel sequence was landed on the quarter, but all three spins and footwork were graded a level four with high GOEs. and a solo triple flip. He placed sixth in the free skate and fifth overall (155.51/243.17).
“I’m proud of the fight… and that I didn’t roll down the hill,” said Brown. “I didn’t let the two mistakes at the beginning of the program affect the rest of the program. I’m very proud of that. I’m a fighter, but I would have loved not to fight as hard.”
When asked of his music choice, the two-time Four Continents medalist said the program to “Say Something” was “insanely” meaningful to him.
“Throughout my career, I’ve struggled a lot with using my voice and advocating for myself,” he explained. “There have been so many times where I’ve let other narratives kind of define who I am instead of using my own voice and telling people who I am or telling people what I’m striving for. Kind of letting other people define what success is for me. So, it’s kind of taking back my own narrative, finding my own voice again, and putting all of that together in one program.”
Sota Yamamoto of Japan finished sixth overall 238.45.
“It’s been a difficult competition thus far,” said the 2022-23 Grand Prix Final silver medalist. “However, I feel I’m leaving this free program more hopeful than before. I tried to hang on to it because I fell behind compared to other people. And both my short and my free program are not the program that I want. So I’m using this Finlandia Trophy as a steppingstone to do well at nationals. This competition gave me confidence. What I need to do from now on to do well at the nationals is to train for that and build confidence in practice.”
Matteo Rizzo of Italy placed seventh overall (229.55) ahead of Estonia’s Mihhail Selevko (218.25).
With the conclusion of 2025 Finlandia Trophy, the 2025-26 Grand Prix Final qualifiers for the Men’s discipline are listed below:
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