by Matteo Morelli

The 2025 NHK Trophy will be the fourth event of the Grand Prix season. This year, it returns to Osaka, where it was last held in 2023. Japan is also hosting the Grand Prix Final this season, which will take place in Nagoya in early December.

The NHK Trophy was first held in 1979 and became part of the Grand Prix series when it was established in 1995, making it one of the oldest events in the circuit.

Teams at the event

Second Grand Prix for Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who earned a silver medal at Grand Prix de France, where they finished first after the rhythm dance and second in the free dance and overall. They will be showing how their Spice Girls programme continues to grow throughout the season, and how their Scottish free dance is developing. Will we see new iteration of their costumes, perhaps with Gibson wearing a traditional Scottish tartan?

Italy’s Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri also return to their second Grand Prix, aiming to make up for their disappointing fourth-place finish in Angers. After debuting their new programmes in France, they will be showcasing the improvements they have appleid to their rhythm dance, set to  music by Backstreet Boys, and their free dance, performed to music from the movie “Diamanti”.

This Grand Prix will mark the comeback of the Maia and Alex Shibutani. The american sibligns announced their return to competitive skating after their retirement in 2018: that year, they secured a bronze team medal and individual medal at the Winter Olympic Games. Seven years later, they return with new Olympic ambitions, hoping to impress with their 90s medley rhythm dance and their free on Coldplay’s “Fix You”, music that they already skated to in the 2015/16 season.

They will be joined by two other American teams: Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, who had to withdraw from their free in China after Parsons was injured in a fall during the rhythm dance; and Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitry Tsarevski, at their first senior Grand Prix as a team.

First Grand Prix of the season for the Czech Republic’s Natálie Taschlerová and Filip Taschler, who so far this season won Trophée Métropole Nice and earned a silver medal at Nepela Memorial. They will be showcasing their rhythm dance to music by Jennifer Lopez, and their free to music from the movie “The Matrix”.

Finland’s Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen will also be competing in their first Grand Prix of the season, showing their rhythm dance to music from the Spice Girls and free dance to music from the musical “Moulin Rouge!”.

Germany’s Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan will skate in back-to-back Grand Prix events, coming directly from Skate Canada International, where they finished in eight-place.

It will also be back-to-back Grand Prix events also for Canada’s Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer, who will go to Skate America after this event.

Lastly, skating on home ice will be Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita, making their only Grand Prix appearance of the season.

Event info: The rhythm dance kicks off on Friday, November 7, at 12:35pm (JST); the free dance occurs on Saturday, November 8, at 12:00pm (JST).