The 2011 NHK Trophy was the fourth event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena in Sapporo from November 10–13. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2011–12 Grand Prix Final.

Eligibility Skaters who reached the age of 14 by July 1, 2011 were eligible to compete on the senior Grand Prix circuit.

In July 2011, minimum score requirements were added to the Grand Prix series and were set at two-thirds of the top scores at the 2011 World Championships. Prior to competing in a Grand Prix event, skaters were required to earn the following:

Discipline Minimum Men 168.60 Ladies 117.48 Pairs 130.71 Ice dancing 111.15

Entries The entries were as follows. Country Men Ladies Pairs Ice dancing Cynthia Phaneuf Natasha Purich / Raymond Schultz Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje Tomáš Verner Kiira Korpi Maé Bérénice Méité Elene Gedevanishvili Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi Samuel Contesti Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi Takahiko Kozuka Daisuke Takahashi Tatsuki Machida Mao Asada Akiko Suzuki Shoko Ishikawa Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran Cathy Reed / Chris Reed Konstantin Menshov Alena Leonova Lubov Iliushechkina / Nodari Maisuradze Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov Armin Mahbanoozadeh Ross Miner Brandon Mroz Ashley Wagner Agnes Zawadzki Marissa Castelli / Simon Shnapir Caydee Denney / John Coughlin Lynn Kriengkrairut / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani

Schedule (Local time, GMT +09:00):

Thursday, November 10 07:00–17:30 – Official practices Friday, November 11 09:00–14:10 – Official practices 14:55–16:00 – Short dance 16:45–17:53 – Pairs' short 19:15–20:33 – Ladies' short Saturday, November 12 06:30–11:10 – Official practices 12:00–13:14 – Free dance 14:05–15:26 – Pairs' free 15:30–16:00 – Medal ceremonies 16:30–17:51 – Men's short 19:00–20:33 – Ladies' free 20:45–21:05 – Medal ceremony Sunday, November 13 08:00–12:00 – Official practices 12:55–14:35 – Men's free 14:45–15:00 – Medal ceremony 15:50–18:00 – Gala/Exhibitions

Results Men On November 12, Brandon Mroz of the United States became the first skater to land the quad lutz in an international competition when he landed it in the short program at NHK. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi won the short program by 10.66 points over Takahiko Kozuka. Takahashi fell on an under-rotated quad flip in the free skating. He stated, "For the first time in my life, I could nail a quad flip in the six-minute warm-up. But in the real competition I overstrained myself in landing and crashed. It still feels great now that I know how I could do it." Mroz attempted a quad lutz in the free but under-rotated and fell. A screw in Menshov's boot became damaged just before he skated his free skating.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Daisuke Takahashi 259.75 1 90.43 1 169.32 2 Takahiko Kozuka 235.02 2 79.77 2 155.25 3 Ross Miner 212.36 6 71.12 4 141.24 4 Samuel Contesti 209.69 7 63.83 3 145.86 5 Tomáš Verner 196.63 9 62.96 5 133.67 6 Konstantin Menshov 195.88 4 74.67 8 121.21 7 Tatsuki Machida 195.45 5 72.26 6 123.19 8 Armin Mahbanoozadeh 185.58 8 63.52 7 122.06 9 Brandon Mroz 184.83 3 74.83 9 110.00

Ladies Japan's Akiko Suzuki won the short program while Mao Asada was first in the free skating. Suzuki took the gold medal, Asada the silver, and Alena Leonova the bronze.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Akiko Suzuki 185.98 1 66.55 2 119.43 2 Mao Asada 184.19 3 58.42 1 125.77 3 Alena Leonova 170.68 2 61.76 4 108.92 4 Ashley Wagner 165.65 5 55.88 3 109.77 5 Elene Gedevanishvili 160.44 4 57.37 6 103.07 6 Kiira Korpi 157.53 7 53.70 5 103.83 7 Maé Bérénice Méité 143.69 8 52.05 7 91.64 8 Agnes Zawadzki 138.19 6 53.84 9 84.35 9 Cynthia Phaneuf 131.82 9 45.42 8 86.40 10 Shoko Ishikawa 122.14 10 45.07 10 77.07

Pairs Having first attempted a rare throw triple axel at 2011 Skate America, Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy again attempted the element at NHK but again took a hard fall. They recovered to win the short program. Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov pulled up from fifth in the short to take the gold medal, while Takahashi and Tran won silver and Savchenko and Szolkowy the bronze.

Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Yuko Kavaguti / Alexander Smirnov 177.51 5 55.02 1 122.49 2 Narumi Takahashi / Mervin Tran 172.09 2 57.89 2 114.20 3 Aliona Savchenko / Robin Szolkowy 171.68 1 59.23 3 112.45 4 Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek 163.83 3 56.23 5 107.60 5 Caydee Denney / John Coughlin 163.75 4 55.48 4 108.27 6 Lubov Iliushechkina / Nodari Maisuradze 159.01 6 53.12 6 105.89 7 Marissa Castelli / Simon Shnapir 149.02 7 49.93 7 99.09 8 Natasha Purich / Raymond Schultz 128.17 8 45.56 8 82.61

Ice dancing Russia's Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov placed first in the short dance, followed by Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in second and Maia and Alex Shibutani of the United States in third. There were several accidents before the free dance. Canada's Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam withdrew after Paul suffered a cut to the back of the thigh in a collision with Italy's Lorenza Alessandrini and Simone Vaturi during the morning practice on November 12. There was also a collision in the warm-up just before the free dance involving Lynn Kriengkrairut and Logan Giulietti-Schmitt of the United States and Cathy Reed and Chris Reed of Japan; Chris Reed injured his right leg but both teams were able to compete in the free dance. Elena Ilinykh injured her knee when she crashed into the boards in the warm-up before the free dance; she and her partner finished the competition, winning the bronze, but withdrew from the exhibitions. The Shibutanis took the gold, edging out by 0.09 points Weaver and Poje, who had a one point deduction due to a lift held too long.

Rank Name Nation Total points SD FD 1 Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani 151.85 3 59.02 1 92.83 2 Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje 151.76 2 60.07 2 91.69 3 Elena Ilinykh / Nikita Katsalapov 149.48 1 61.83 3 87.65 4 Nelli Zhiganshina / Alexander Gazsi 136.12 4 55.69 4 80.43 5 Lorenza Alessandrini / Simone Vaturi 133.29 5 54.37 5 78.92 6 Lynn Kriengkrairut / Logan Giulietti-Schmitt 126.39 6 50.81 6 75.58 7 Cathy Reed / Chris Reed 123.22 8 49.36 7 73.86 WD Alexandra Paul / Mitchell Islam 7 49.36

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