Japan’s Kao Miura clinched the men’s title at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Sunday, securing a confidence-boosting victory in his final major competition before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Skating to “Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” the 1960s musical drama, Miura delivered a strong free skate to finish with a total score of 273.73 points. He edged out South Korea’s Junhwan Cha by a razor-thin margin, with Cha ending on 273.62 points. Cha produced the best free skate of the event, surging from sixth after the short program to claim silver.
Japan’s Sota Yamamoto completed the podium, finishing third with 270.07 points at Beijing’s National Indoor Stadium.
Miura and Cha are both set to compete at the Milan Cortina Games, where figure skating begins with the team event in less than two weeks. Also heading to the Olympics are Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who placed fifth, and China’s Boyang Jin, who finished sixth.
The top three American men opted to skip the competition in China to rest ahead of the Winter Games. Tomoki Hiwatashi emerged as the leading U.S. skater in seventh place, followed by Jacob Sanchez in eighth and Liam Kapeikis in 10th.
