Daisuke Takahashi did not disappoint the hometown fans at NHK Trophy in Sendai, Japan this weekend as the 21 year-old Okayama native claimed his second consecutive NHK title. Tomáš Verner of the Czech Republic placed second and rising U.S. star Stephen Carriere captured the bronze. It was the first senior Grand Prix medal for both Verner and Carriere.

Takahashi, in second place following the short program, fell on his opening quadruple toe loop, but recovered and went on to nail a solid series of jumping passes in his routine. The reigning World silver medalist earned 156.33 points, a new seasonal best and collected 234.22 points overall.

“My performance wasn’t perfect,” Takahashi said at the post-event press conference. “I wanted to do two quads (quadruple toe loops), but I did only one, but I achieved my goal to win NHK Trophy.

Verner, who won the short program, went for broke in the free skate. He faltered on his first Axel attempt but seconds later rallied back to land a clean triple Axel. The Czech skater scored 151.30 points for the long program and earned 229.45 points overall to take second place.

“Finally I did what I am supposed to do,” Verner said. “There is still room for improvement on the jumps. I left a lot of points on the ice today, and I feel sorry about that. But this was the first competition where I did a good job. This competition wasn’t about beating Daisuke. I just wanted to show that I’m back in the figure skating world,” Verner explained, referring to his disappointing performances at the French Grand Prix event.

Carriere held on to the third place he earned in the short program. The 18 year-old earned a new personal best score of 137.13 points and a combined total of 204.98 points assured him the bronze medal.

“It was not perfect, but the whole week has been a kind of adventure,” Carriere observed. “I am proud to have won my first Grand Prix medal. All this is a preparation for my Nationals and hopefully for Four Continents and Worlds. I am ready to hit Nationals hard.”

American Jeremy Abbott rose from a distant 12th and last place in the short program to finish fourth with 187.56 points. Russia’s Sergei Dobrin placed fifth with 186.53 points.

The Grand Prix Final will be held Dec. 13-16 in Torino, Italy.

Grand Prix Finalists:

1 Daisuke Takahashi JAPAN 30
2 Johnny Weir USA 30
3 Patrick Chan CANADA 26
4 Evan Lysacek USA 26
5 Stéphane Lambiel SWITZERLAND 24
6 Kevin van der Perren BELGIUM 22

Alternates:

7 Stephen Carriere USA 20
8 Jeffery Buttle CANADA 20
9 Tomáš Verner CZECH REPUBLIC 18