Italy’s Conti & Macii Claim NHK Trophy Pairs Title, Olympic Champions Sui & Han Struggle
Osaka, Japan – November 8, 2025 – In a stunning upset at the NHK Trophy in Osaka, Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii dethroned Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong to secure their first NHK Trophy title and a coveted spot in the Grand Prix Final. The Italian pair delivered a compelling performance, finishing with a total score of 208.58, surpassing Sui/Han’s 203.79.
The victory marks a important moment for Conti/Macii, who edged out Hungary’s maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (207.28) for the gold. Their free skate score of 134.89 proved decisive,besting Pavlova/sviatchenko’s 134.24. This win qualifies them for the Grand Prix final,to be held in Nagoya,Japan,in December.
This result comes as Sui and Han, competing in their second event of the season ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic winter Games, finished third, leaving their participation in the Grand Prix Final uncertain. The Chinese duo struggled in the free skate, placing fourth among seven competitors.
“Maybe we need more time to prepare for the next competition,” said Han, acknowledging issues with their lifts.”We have time to fix the programs and more time to practice.”
Conti/Macii will utilize the next month to prepare for the Final, beginning with a return to Italy. “The first step is to go back to our place after three weeks in Asia,” Conti explained. “We need to do a meeting with [coach Barbara Luoni] and all the team, and fix the mistakes.”
“We have one full month to work on it. We just want to do what we did everyday,” Conti added. Macii emphasized a key area for improvement, stating, “We’re going to focus more on the lifts, and I’m really happy about some of the elements. We certainly know we need to get more speed and energy to the end.”
