Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy flipped the script on Olympic champions Sui Wenjing/Han Cong to win the NHK Trophy pairs title in Osaka on Saturday (8 November).
Sui/Han threw away their brief-program lead with a forgettable afternoon after they had been fourth out of seven in the free skating, ending with a 203.79, 5 factors again of Conti/Macii (208.58) who, with their first NHK Trophy win, certified for the Grand Prix Remaining in December, which can be in Japan in Nagoya.
Conti/Macii edged Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary for the highest rating in the free 134.89 to 134.24. Pavlova and Sviatchenko had been runners-up on 207.28.
Of their second competitors since saying their return for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 season, Sui/Han again completed third and their GP Remaining destiny nonetheless remained in limbo.
“Perhaps we’d like extra time to put together for the following competitors,” stated Han, who had points with their lifts. “We have now time to repair the packages and extra time to practise.”
Conti/Macii could have a full month to recalibrate for the Remaining.
“Step one is to return to our place after three weeks in Asia,” Conti stated. “We want to do a gathering with (coach Barbara Luoni) and all of the crew, and repair the errors.
“We have now one full month to work on it. We simply need to can we did on a regular basis.”
Added Macii, “We’re going to focus extra on the lifts, and I’m actually blissful about a few of the parts. We all know we’d like to get extra velocity and vitality to the tip.”
