What a 28th birthday for Adam Rippon.
The 2016 U.S. champion took second in his first top-level competition in 11 months, emphatically returning from a broken foot that kept him out last winter.
Rippon landed an under-rotated quadruple Lutz plus eight triples in his free skate at NHK Trophy. He tallied 261.99 points, finishing 9.13 behind Russian winner Sergei Voronov.
“Being 28 rocks!” Rippon said after his skate in Osaka, Japan.
It was a Russian sweep of the singles titles at the fourth of six Grand Prix events this fall.
Olympic super favorite Yevgenia Medvedeva fell in a free skate at a second straight Grand Prix and still extended her two-year winning streak.