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Figure skating’s Grand Prix Series and the U.S.-Canada Rivalry Series in women’s hockey share the spotlight in Olympic sports this weekend. At figure skating’s NHK Trophy — live on Peacock starting Thursday night — three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto and Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama headline the fields at their home Grand Prix in Japan. Sakamoto looks to secure a spot in the Grand Prix Final, which she will likely do with a top-three finish. Sakamoto was second in her previous Grand Prix start three weeks ago with the world’s second-best score this season across all competitions. The six-woman Final is shaping up to be a mini preview of the Milan Cortina Olympic competition potentially with Sakamoto, plus the Americans who won last season’s two biggest events — 2025 World champion Alysa Liu and 2024 Grand Prix Final champ Amber Glenn — in strong position to qualify. In the NHK men’s event, Kagiyama makes his Grand Prix season debut. Kagiyama is the closest (but a distant) challenger to Ilia Malinin looking ahead to the Milan Cortina Olympics. Malinin, whose next competition will be the Grand Prix Final, has the world’s top three scores this season (333.81, 321.00 and 306.65), followed by Kagiyama (285.91). USA-Canada women’s hockey Rivalry Series resumes The U.S. and Canada, which combined to win all seven gold medals since women’s hockey debuted at the Olympics in 1998, play their first two of four meetings in the lead-up to the Milan Cortina Games. NHL Network airs Thursday’s game in Cleveland (7 p.m. ET) and Saturday’s game in Buffalo (6 p.m. ET). The U.S. won the last two games with Canada, both at last April’s World Championship tournament: 2-1 in group play, then 4-3 in overtime in the gold-medal game. Thursday’s game will have special meaning for Laila Edwards as it is eight miles from her hometown.
