The lead in the short program at the Grand Prix Espoo was taken by Kao Miura, ahead of Japanese teammate Shun Sato with the intention of securing a spot at figure skating’s Grand Prix Finals. Miura, last season’s world junior champion, earned 93.54 points with a clean quadruple salchow-triple toeloop combination, triple axel, and quad toeloop. Sato scored 90.41 points. Two other contenders, Kévin Aymoz of France and Matteo Rizzo of Italy, struggled and placed fifth and sixth, respectively. Peng Cheng and Wang Lei of China led the pair’s short program, Finland is hosting the event in place of Russia due to the International Skating Union’s ban on Russia from hosting events. World champion Kaori Sakamoto was set to compete in the women’s short program later in the day.
