NHK Trophy
Status	Active
Genre	ISU Grand Prix
Frequency	Annual
Country	Japan
Inaugurated	1979
Previous event	2025 NHK Trophy
Next event	2026 NHK Trophy
Organized by	Japan Skating Federation

TheNHK Trophy is an annualfigure skating competition sanctioned by theInternational Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by theJapan Skating Federation. The first NHK Trophy was held in 1979 inTokyo. When the ISU launched theChampions Series (later renamed theGrand Prix Series) in 1995, the NHK Trophy was one of the five qualifying events. It has been a Grand Prix event every year since.

Medals may be awarded inmen's singles, women's singles,pair skating, andice dance. Skaters earn points based on their results at the qualifying competitions each season, and the top skaters or teams in each discipline are invited to then compete at theGrand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

Daisuke Takahashi of Japan holds the record for winning the most NHK Trophy titles in men's singles (with six), whileMidori Ito of Japan holds the record in women's singles (also with six).Shen Xue andZhao Hongbo of China hold the record in pair skating (with four), whileMarina Anissina andGwendal Peizerat of France hold the record in ice dance (with five).

The inaugural competition – the1979 NHK Trophy – was held inTokyo.Robin Cousins of Great Britain won the men's event,Emi Watanabe of Japan won the women's event,Irina Vorobieva andIgor Lisovsky of the Soviet Union won the pairs event, andIrina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov, also of the Soviet Union, won the ice dance event.^[1]

Beginning with the 1995–96 season, theInternational Skating Union (ISU) launched theChampions Series – later renamed theGrand Prix Series – which, at its inception, consisted of five qualifying competitions and theChampions Series Final. This allowed skaters to perfect their programs earlier in the season, as well as compete against the same skaters whom they would later encounter at the World Championships. This series also provided the viewing public with additional televised skating, which was in high demand.^[2] The five qualifying competitions during this inaugural season were the1995 Nations Cup, the1995 NHK Trophy, the1995 Skate America, the1995 Skate Canada, and the1995 Trophée de France.^[3] Skaters earned points based on their results in their respective competitions and the top skaters or teams in each discipline were then invited to compete at theChampions Series Final.^[2]

Due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic, a number of modifications were made to the structure of the2020 NHK Trophy. The competitors consisted initially only of skaters from Japan,^[4] althoughYou Young of South Korea was added to the roster once her travel to Japan was approved.^[5] Thepairs event was also cancelled.^[6]

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the men's event at the2012 NHK Trophy:Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan(center),Daisuke Takahashi of Japan(left), andRoss Miner of the United States(right)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the women's event at the2017 NHK Trophy:Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia(center),Carolina Kostner of Italy(left), andPolina Tsurskaya of Russia(right)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the pairs event at the2011 NHK Trophy:Yuko Kavaguti andAlexander Smirnov of Russia(center),Narumi Takahashi andMervin Tran of Japan(right), andAljona Savchenko andRobin Szolkowy of Germany(left)

The gold, silver, and bronze medalists in the ice dance event at the2016 NHK Trophy:Tessa Virtue andScott Moir of Canada(center),Gabriella Papadakis andGuillaume Cizeron of France(left), andAnna Cappellini andLuca Lanotte of Italy(right)

The reigning NHK Trophy champions:Yuma Kagiyama of Japan (men's singles);Kaori Sakamoto of Japan (women's singles);Sara Conti andNiccolò Macii of Italy (pair skating); andLilah Fear andLewis Gibson of Great Britain (ice dance)

Men's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1979	Tokyo	Robin Cousins	Fumio Igarashi	David Santee	[1]
1980	Sapporo	Fumio Igarashi	Robert Wagenhoffer	Allen Schramm	[7]
1981	Kobe		Norbert Schramm	Jean-Christophe Simond
1982	Tokyo	Scott Hamilton	Alexander Fadeev	Grzegorz Filipowski	[8]
1983	No competition held
1984	Tokyo	Alexander Fadeev	Brian Orser	Brian Boitano	[9]
1985	Kobe	Brian Boitano		Viktor Petrenko	[10]
1986	Tokyo	Angelo D'Agostino	Makoto Kano	Philippe Roncoli	[11]
1987	Kushiro	Christopher Bowman	Paul Wylie	Makoto Kano	[12]
1988	Tokyo	Alexander Fadeev	Petr Barna	Kurt Browning	[13]
1989	Kobe	Viktor Petrenko	Alexander Fadeev		[14]
1990	Asahikawa		Grzegorz Filipowski	Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	[15]
1991	Hiroshima	Grzegorz Filipowski	Viacheslav Zagorodniuk	Alexei Urmanov	[16]
1992	Tokyo	Philippe Candeloro	Elvis Stojko	Alexei Urmanov	[17]
1993	Chiba		Vyacheslav Zahorodnyuk		[18]
1994	Morioka	Todd Eldredge	Philippe Candeloro	Vyacheslav Zahorodnyuk	[19]
1995	Nagoya	Elvis Stojko	Igor Pashkevich	Philippe Candeloro	[20]
1996	Osaka		Ilia Kulik	Dmytro Dmytrenko	[21]
1997	Nagano	Ilia Kulik	Scott Davis	Guo Zhengxin	[22]
1998	Sapporo	Evgeni Plushenko	Takeshi Honda	Andrejs Vlascenko	[23]
1999	Nagoya		Timothy Goebel	Ilia Klimkin	[24]
2000	Asahikawa		Ilia Klimkin	Li Chengjiang	[25]
2001	Kumamoto	Takeshi Honda	Jeffrey Buttle	Ivan Dinev	[26]
2002	Kyoto	Ilia Klimkin	Takeshi Honda	Li Chengjiang	[27]
2003	Asahikawa	Jeffrey Buttle	Timothy Goebel	Gao Song	[28]
2004	Nagoya	Johnny Weir		Frédéric Dambier	[29]
2005	Osaka	Nobunari Oda	Evan Lysacek	Daisuke Takahashi	[30]
2006	Nagano	Daisuke Takahashi	Nobunari Oda	Takahiko Kozuka	[31]
2007	Sendai		Tomáš Verner	Stephen Carriere	[32]
2008	Tokyo	Nobunari Oda	Johnny Weir	Yannick Ponsero	[33]
2009	Nagano	Brian Joubert		Michal Březina	[34]
2010	Nagoya	Daisuke Takahashi	Jeremy Abbott	Florent Amodio	[35]
2011	Sapporo		Takahiko Kozuka	Ross Miner	[36]
2012	Rifu	Yuzuru Hanyu	Daisuke Takahashi		[37]
2013	Tokyo	Daisuke Takahashi	Nobunari Oda	Jeremy Abbott	[38]
2014	Osaka	Daisuke Murakami	Sergei Voronov	Takahito Mura	[39]
2015	Nagano	Yuzuru Hanyu	Jin Boyang		[40]
2016	Sapporo		Nathan Chen	Keiji Tanaka	[41]
2017	Osaka	Sergei Voronov	Adam Rippon	Alexei Bychenko	[42]
2018	Hiroshima	Shoma Uno	Sergei Voronov	Matteo Rizzo	[43]
2019	Sapporo	Yuzuru Hanyu	Kévin Aymoz	Roman Sadovsky	[44]
2020	Osaka	Yuma Kagiyama	Kazuki Tomono	Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda	[6]
2021	Tokyo	Shoma Uno	Vincent Zhou	Cha Jun-hwan	[45]
2022	Sapporo		Sōta Yamamoto		[46]
2023	Osaka	Yuma Kagiyama	Shoma Uno	Lukas Britschgi	[47]
2024	Tokyo		Daniel Grassl	Tatsuya Tsuboi	[48]
2025	Osaka		Shun Sato	Lukas Britschgi	[49]

Women's event medalists

Year	Location	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1979	Tokyo	Emi Watanabe	Lisa-Marie Allen	Sandy Lenz	[1]
1980	Sapporo	Denise Biellmann	Katarina Witt	Melissa Thomas	[7]
1981	Kobe	Kristiina Wegelius	Vikki de Vries	Charlene Wong
1982	Tokyo	Katarina Witt	Rosalynn Sumners	Tiffany Chin	[8]
1983	No competition held
1984	Tokyo	Midori Ito	Debi Thomas	Juri Ozawa	[9]
1985	Kobe		Cynthia Coull		[10]
1986	Tokyo	Katarina Witt	Midori Ito		[11]
1987	Kushiro			Tonya Harding	[12]
1988	Tokyo	Midori Ito	Kristi Yamaguchi	Marina Kielmann	[13]
1989	Kobe			Tonia Kwiatkowski	[14]
1990	Asahikawa		Tonya Harding	Larissa Zamotina	[15]
1991	Hiroshima		Surya Bonaly	Chen Lu	[16]
1992	Tokyo	Surya Bonaly	Kumiko Koiwai	Yuka Sato	[17]
1993	Chiba		Yuka Sato	Chen Lu	[18]
1994	Morioka	Chen Lu	Surya Bonaly	Junko Yaginuma	[19]
1995	Nagoya		Hanae Yokoya	Olga Markova	[20]
1996	Osaka	Maria Butyrskaya	Tonia Kwiatkowski	Julia Vorobieva	[21]
1997	Nagano	Tanja Szewczenko	Maria Butyrskaya	Chen Lu	[22]
1998	Sapporo	Tatiana Malinina	Irina Slutskaya	Fumie Suguri	[23]
1999	Nagoya	Maria Butyrskaya	Viktoria Volchkova	Tatiana Malinina	[24]
2000	Asahikawa	Irina Slutskaya	Maria Butyrskaya		[25]
2001	Kumamoto	Tatiana Malinina	Yoshie Onda	Elena Liashenko	[26]
2002	Kyoto	Yoshie Onda	Irina Slutskaya	Shizuka Arakawa	[27]
2003	Asahikawa	Fumie Suguri	Elena Liashenko	Yoshie Onda	[28]
2004	Nagoya	Shizuka Arakawa	Miki Ando	Elena Sokolova	[29]
2005	Osaka	Yukari Nakano	Fumie Suguri	Elena Liashenko	[30]
2006	Nagano	Mao Asada		Yukari Nakano	[31]
2007	Sendai	Carolina Kostner	Sarah Meier	Nana Takeda	[32]
2008	Tokyo	Mao Asada	Akiko Suzuki	Yukari Nakano	[33]
2009	Nagano	Miki Ando	Alena Leonova	Ashley Wagner	[34]
2010	Nagoya	Carolina Kostner	Rachael Flatt	Kanako Murakami	[35]
2011	Sapporo	Akiko Suzuki	Mao Asada	Alena Leonova	[36]
2012	Rifu	Mao Asada	Akiko Suzuki	Mirai Nagasu	[37]
2013	Tokyo		Elena Radionova	Akiko Suzuki	[38]
2014	Osaka	Gracie Gold	Alena Leonova	Satoko Miyahara	[39]
2015	Nagano	Satoko Miyahara	Courtney Hicks	Mao Asada	[40]
2016	Sapporo	Anna Pogorilaya	Satoko Miyahara	Maria Sotskova	[41]
2017	Osaka	Evgenia Medvedeva	Carolina Kostner	Polina Tsurskaya	[42]
2018	Hiroshima	Rika Kihira	Satoko Miyahara	Elizaveta Tuktamysheva	[43]
2019	Sapporo	Alena Kostornaia	Rika Kihira	Alina Zagitova	[44]
2020	Osaka	Kaori Sakamoto	Wakaba Higuchi	Rino Matsuike	[6]
2021	Tokyo		Mana Kawabe	You Young	[45]
2022	Sapporo	Kim Ye-lim	Kaori Sakamoto	Rion Sumiyoshi	[46]
2023	Osaka	Ava Marie Ziegler	Lindsay Thorngren	Nina Pinzarrone	[47]
2024	Tokyo	Kaori Sakamoto	Mone Chiba	Yuna Aoki	[48]
2025	Osaka		Sofia Samodelkina	Loena Hendrickx	[49]