Japan’s Sakamoto skates to world championship hat trick

Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) won the women's free skating and world title on Friday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal. © ISU
Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) won the women's free skating and world title on Friday at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal. © ISU

Montreal, Canada, March 24, 2024: Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) moved up from fourth place after the short programme to claim her third consecutive world title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal on Friday night.

Isabeau Levito (USA) skated off with the silver and Korea’s Kim Chaeyeon came from sixth place to take the bronze medal in what was an exciting competition.

Starting the night in fourth place, Sakamoto had nothing to lose and went out ready to fight. She opened her elegant programme to “Feeling Good” with a double Axel and followed up with a triple Lutz and six more triples, including a triple flip-triple toe combination.

The 2022 Olympic bronze medallist collected a level four for her spins and a level three for her step sequence to score 149.67 points. The Japanese star racked up 222.96 points to jump on top of the podium.

Sakamoto became the first woman to win three consecutive world championship titles since Peggy Fleming (USA) from 1966-1968.

“Being fourth after the short program, I was anxious going into the free skating but I am very happy with the result,” Sakamoto said.

“At the start of my performance, I accidentally caught an edge, but I managed to regain my composure and delivered a performance that left me satisfied. I skated well from the beginning of the season and I feel like I gained confidence going for next season.”

Bronze medal-winner Kim skated first in the final flight and produced a strong performance to “Le bal des folles”, completing six clean triple jumps and a slightly underrotated triple Salchow as well as difficult spins and footwork. The 2024 Four Continents silver medalist scored a personal best 136.68 points for a total score of 203.59 points.

“I had no idea that I was going to win a World Championship medal,” Kim admitted. “This feels new, but it is also a happy experience. At the beginning of the season, I had a lot of injuries and I wasn’t able to commit fully to my training, so I just wanted to show what I was capable of rather than winning a medal.”

The men’s free skate was due to take place Saturday night.