Kaori Sakamoto, the newly-crowned World champion who led the charge in Montpellier, graces the June 2022 cover of International Figure Skating magazine. The 22-year-old from Kobe is the first Japanese woman to win a global crown since Mao Asada claimed her second World title eight years earlier.
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The final skater to take the ice for the long program, Sakamoto was on fire in her routine set to “No More Fight Left in Me,” reeling off three combinations — triple flip-double toe loop, triple flip- triple toe loop and a double Axel-triple toe-double toe — along with three other triples: Lutz, Salchow and loop. Her only mistake was an edge call on the Lutz.
Sakamoto earned a personal best score of 155.77 for the free, and with 236.09 points in total captured her first World crown by an 18.39-point margin. “I feel that this medal has a very precious meaning to me,” Sakamoto said. “The training that I had to do before Worlds was probably the most difficult.
“Attending the Olympics was the biggest dream in my life. I was happy to achieve that bronze medal, but at the same time I also felt kind of a burden because I lost sight of my goal. It was the hardest month I have ever had.
“I think I probably had fatigue and I was burned out, but this experience is something that only those who have competed at the Olympics and the World Championships can know. “We were all operating in the same conditions, and I knew that I couldn’t make an excuse just for myself that I was too tired because of the Olympics.
“I am so happy and excited that I was able to overcome this challenge and to finally perform so well at a World Championships. It was a really good end to the season.”
