Reigning world figure skating champion Kaori Sakamoto picked up her first Grand Prix Final title Saturday, while Ilia Malinin dazzled with a series of quadruple jumps to win the men's competition.

Sakamoto earned 148.35 points in the free skate for a total of 225.70 at Beijing's National Indoor Stadium. The 23-year-old from Kobe, Japan, stepped out of her triple flip but otherwise had a clean program.

Belgium's Loena Hendrickx finished second with 203.36 points, 0.20 above third-place Hana Yoshida of Japan, who moved up one place from the previous day's short program with the second-highest free skate score.

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan performs in the women's free program at the Grand Prix Final figure skating competition in Beijing on Dec. 9, 2023. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Sakamoto, also the 2022 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist, topped both the short program and free skate.

"I'm so happy," Sakamoto said. "My rival is my past self. I was able to outperform myself. I want to tell myself that I did a good job."

Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone, who was third after the short program, settled for fourth place with 194.91.

Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (C) poses after winning gold at the Grand Prix Final figure skating competition in Beijing on Dec. 9, 2023, alongside Loena Hendrickx (L) of Belgium and Hana Yoshida of Japan, who won silver and bronze, respectively. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo
 

In the men's event, Malinin won the Grand Prix Final for the first time with a personal-best total of 314.66 points, the world's third highest of all time.

The 19-year-old American collected a whopping 207.76 in the free skate after he fell on his opening quad axel but bounced back to land five clean quad jumps the rest of the way.

The top three spots remained unchanged from the short program, with Shoma Uno finishing second with a total of 297.34 and Japanese compatriot Yuma Kagiyama third with 288.65.

Uno's coach Stephane Lambiel said he was happy with how well Uno performed in the second half of his free program.

Ilia Malinin (C) of the United States poses after winning gold at the Grand Prix Final figure skating competition in Beijing on Dec. 9, 2023, alongside Shoma Uno (L) of Japan and compatriot Yuma Kagiyama, who won silver and bronze, respectively. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

"Scores are important, but I believe it's important the person closest to me is satisfied with my performance," Uno said, referring to Lambiel. "I gave it everything I had."

The Grand Prix Final is contested by only the top six skaters in each category in the six-leg series.

Related coverage:

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Figure skating: Malinin leads Uno, Kagiyama at Grand Prix Final

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