Sakamoto landed six clean triple jumps, including a flip-triple toe combination, and three level four spins in the women's free skate to a season best score of 145.89 points which gave her a total of 217.61.

"This is actually my fifth time to come to Skate America and the first time to win a gold medal," Sakamoto said at the Tenley E. Albright Performance Center in Norwood.

"So I'm truly delighted about that.

"After the short programme I was very determined to make sure I could do my triple-triple combination and I focused on that."

Silver and bronze were won by Americans Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn, respectively.

Levito's performance included four strong triples but the routine got off to a shaky start with a skewed triple Lutz and she eventually picked up 135.6 points for an overall score of 206.66.

Despite the initial slip up, the result was still a new season best for the 15-year-old.

"It is my first Grand Prix and it was really cool it was here in front of a home crowd in America," she said.

"I feel like I did pretty good in my short programme.

"My long programme definitely was not as good in my opinion, I definitely made mistakes here.

"But I'm still happy with the experience."

Glenn attempted a triple Axel in her routine but under-rotated and stepped out of it.

She recovered well, however, and completed six clean triple jumps to set a free skate best of 129.19 meaning she had 197.61 points overall.

Chock and Bates managed to scrape past compatriots Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker by 0.73 points overall as they finished on 202.80.

Canadian duo Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain le Gac came in a distant third with 178.30 points.