YOKOHAMA ¨C Kaori Sakamoto took the lead with an impressive short program at the Yokohama Junior Grand Prix on Friday.

The 16-year-old from Kobe skated to the theme from ¡°The Artist¡± and started with a nice triple loop, before hitting a triple flip/triple toe loop combination jump and a double axel.

Sakamoto set a personal best with a score of 65.66 points and will be seeking her first JGP title in Sunday¡¯s free skate. She displayed excellent presentation skills with flowing arm movements throughout her program and also showed good line and edge at the Shin-Yokohama Skate Center.

Mako Yamashita is in second place with 64.86, while Russia¡¯s Alisa Fedichkina stands third at 61.13.

World junior champion Marin Honda suffered a disappointing outing in front of the capacity crowd that had turned out to see her and is fifth on 55.47.

Vincent Zhou of the United States leads after the men¡¯s short program?with a mark of 80.53. Zhou collected solid marks for his routine to?¡°Writing¡¯s on the Wall.¡±

South Korea¡¯s Cha Jun-Hwan (79.34) is second, with Russia¡¯s Alexey?Erokhov (74.90) in third.

Kazuki Tomono (66.47) and Yuto Kishina (61.67), are sixth and seventh,?respectively.

Meanwhile, Sakamoto, who finished second at the season-opening JGP in St. Gervais, France, two weeks ago, looked even sharper here.

¡°It has been hard work from France JGP to here,¡± Sakamoto stated. ¡°I have done my best to maintain my level the past two weeks.¡±

Sakamoto feels like she is improving with her program components and has numeric targets in mind for Sunday.

¡°I think my interpretation of the music is better than last season,¡± Sakamoto commented. ¡°I will do my best in the free skate not to make any mistakes. I hope I can get over 115 in the free skate, and over 180 in the total score.¡±

Honda, a 15-year-old from Kyoto, competed to ¡°Smile¡± and appeared shaky from the outset, two-footing the landing on her opening double axel, then coming down awkwardly on the front end of her planned triple flip/triple toe loop combination jump and not executing the latter half.

¡°The flip was fine, but my landing made it so I could not do the triple toe loop,¡± Honda recalled. ¡°This is perhaps the first time I didn¡¯t do well in the short program. After the mistake I just thought about how I could do well in the rest of my elements.¡±

Honda, who took first (Croatia) and second (U.S.) in her two JGPs last season, said that her result this day was not due to a lack of preparation.

¡°I was the world junior champion last season, so I want to win all the competitions this year,¡± Honda said. ¡°I have practiced really, really hard. I may have overdone it today, trying to do more than I did in practice.¡±

Honda, who will need to rally in the free skate to make the podium, is already thinking about the JGP Final in Marseille, France, in December.

¡°I¡¯m just thinking about how I can do well in the free skate to go to the final,¡± stated Honda, who was third at the JGP Final in Barcelona, Spain, last season.

Yamashita, a 13-year-old from Nagoya, was very smooth in her JGP debut. She skated to ¡°Nocturne¡± and opened with a fine triple lutz/triple toe loop combo, then landed a triple loop and a double axel in a fluid program. She looked like she wasn¡¯t even breathing hard at the end of her skate.

¡°Our goal for the short program score in the first JGP was 60 points, so we are all so happy about this,¡± said Yamashita, who is coached by the legendary Machiko Yamada. ¡°I did not expect the score to be this high. I was really shocked when I saw it.¡±

Yokohama is the third of seven stops on the JGP circuit this season. Saransk, Russia, will host the fourth JGP next week.

The competition continues on Saturday with the men¡¯s free skate and ice dance.

Ice shavings: Two-time world champion Miki Ando was in attendance on Friday. Ando, who lives in Yokohama, was the world junior champion in 2004.