Pyeongchang Games medalists to receive Tokyo Honor Award

TOKYO -- Figure skating superstar Yuzuru Hanyu and two other Pyeongchang Games gold medalists will receive the Tokyo Honor Award on June 1, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has announced.

The honor comes after Hanyu won gold in the Pyeongchang Olympics in February this year, to become the first men's singles figure skater in 66 years to successfully defend his Olympic championship.

Tokyo will also present the award with 300,000 yen in prize money to women's alpine sit skier Momoka Muraoka, 21, who took top spot in the Paralympic giant slalom event; and Yoshihiro Nitta, 37, who won gold in Paralympic 10-kilometer classic men's cross-country skiing, standing division.

A total of seven Pyeongchang Games medalists, including the three set to get the Tokyo Honor Award, will also receive the Tokyo sports grand prize, awarded to top athletes with outstanding performances at international events. The award comes with 300,000 yen in prize money for gold medalists, 200,000 yen for silver medalists, and 100,000 yen for bronze medalists.

The other four sports grand prize winners are men's snowboarding halfpipe silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, 19, women's ski jumping normal hill individual bronze medalist Sara Takanashi, 21, men's freestyle skiing moguls bronze medalist Daichi Hara, 21, and men's downhill sit skier silver medalist Taiki Morii, 37.

(Japanese original by Tatsuya Haga, City News Department)