Yuzuru Hanyu evolved rapidly and turned his eyes to the top of the world in 2012. (2ページ目)

Yuzuru Hanyu（center）, Daisuke Takahashi（left）, Takahito Mura（right）After his victory, Takahashi said, "I'm glad the judges evaluated it highly, but there are still issues to be resolved," before continuing with praise for his rival skaters.

"I noticed the greatness of Patrick's artistic elements and his stamina that sped up toward the end. Also, Hanyu's quadruple with delicate landing can be helpful to me. I think it is also necessary to know what you lack and to pursue it in a way that suits you in order to evolve faster than your competitors."

On the contrary, second-placed Hanyu said, "I'm disappointed that I wasn't the best in both the short program and the free skate. If I'm going to the Olympics, I think I have to aim for victory".

Young and vigorous Hanyu versus mature Takahashi ─ the battle between the two, which would push the level of Japanese men's figure skating to the top of the world, would spark even more fiercely at the All Japan Figure Skating Championship two weeks later.

Following the NHK Trophy and the Grand Prix Final, the third confrontation between Hanyu and Takahashi this season became a higher-level competition than the previous two.

It was Takahashi who skated the short program first. At the beginning, while performing the same composition as the Grand Prix final, his quadruple toe loop was insufficiently rotated, but he recovered well and completed the rest of the routine with characteristic expressiveness. It was a masterpiece performance, especially his steps, that received the highest marks in terms of Grade of Execution (GOE) points from all seven judges. Although it was not as good as his Grand Prix final score, which included a successfully executed quadruple, Takahashi took the lead at this point with 88.04 points.