Japan dominated the short program in the women’s figure skating at Milan-Cortina 2026 with their athletes occupying three of the top four places following the short program.
Ami Nakai, 17, stormed to the top of the leaderboard with a season-best score of 78.71.
She is followed by three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, while compatriot Mone Chiba – who won bronze at last year’s worlds – is in fourth.
They took advantage of errors by the fancied Americans, with reigning world champion Alysa Liu third and Amber Glenn well down the field.
Liu, with her immediately recognisable halo hair and lip piercing, took the roof off the arena as her routine was acclaimed by spectators ranging from team-mate Ilia Malinin to rap icon Snoop Dogg.
However, she lost points on her triple lutz for landing on the quarter – not fully completing the rotation, instead returning to the ice 90 degrees short.
American champion Glenn meanwhile suffered a disaster as she missed her triple loop – meaning it was scored as an invalid element, thus scoring zero points for that element.
Glenn, 26, burst into tears as she exited the rink. She is 13th in the standings and knows her medal hopes are over.
Adeliia Petrosian, the Russian champion competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), is in fifth place.
Team GB’s Kristen Spours – in her final event before injury-enforced retirement – finished 29th.
The Woking-born skater misses out on the free skate, with the top 24 progressing to the medals decider on Thursday evening.