Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje scored a decisive victory in ice dance with a solid effort in the free dance at the NHK Trophy on Sunday at Namihaya Dome.
Weaver and Poje, the world silver medalists last season, qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, with the triumph.
The Canadians skated to "Four Seasons" and widened their lead following the short dance. They earned a total score of 169.42 points.
They will enter the GP Final as the second-highest qualifiers behind the American team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates.
This marks the first time that Weaver and Poje have won the NHK Trophy. They took second in both 2010 and 2011.
"We were happy with our performance today, but we made a couple of mistakes that we definitely want to fix before the GP Final," stated Poje.
"We felt very comfortable on the ice," said Weaver. "It helped that we had two days of practice, considering it took us more than 24 hours to get here."
Russia's Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin (152.54) finished second, moving up from third place after the short dance.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker (146.41) of the U.S. came in third to earn their first podium finish on the senior level. The pair were the world junior champions last season.
Japan’s Cathy and Chris Reed (130.88) were sixth.
Nagano has been selected to host the 2015 NHK Trophy.
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