Prague, Czechia, March 28, 2026: Multiple Olympic medallist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan celebrated a golden farewell with her fourth world title at the ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026 in Prague, Czechia on Friday, March 27.
More than 14,000 spectators at the O2 Arena witnessed a spectacular women’s event full of memorable performances - figure skating at its best.
What a way to cap off an amazing career: Three-time Olympian Sakamoto added a fourth world title to her impressive resume and did so with a new personal best score.
Teammate Mone Chiba claimed the silver medal after her bronze a year ago while Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone rose from fifth to earn her first ISU World medal.
For Sakamoto, 25, it ended where it all began, in Czechia. Thirteen years ago, the Japanese skater started her international career at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Ostrava, coming sixth. Now, she ended her career in Prague, in front of thousands of people at the arena and millions on the screens.
Sakamoto put out a spectacular performance to Edith Piaf songs, nailing seven triple jumps and difficult spins. The last piece of music was “Non, je ne regrette rien” (No, I don’t have any regrets) and, indeed, Sakamoto had no regrets and left it all out on the ice. Only tears of happiness were flowing.
“Today I actually didn’t care about the results,” the 2026 Olympic silver medalist said.
“Of course, I wanted to skate with no regrets and to do my best but there so many people supporting me and watching and I wanted to do my best for them.
“There are no regrets at all, I can say goodbye with this performance.”
Sakamoto achieved a personal best in the free skating with 158.97 points and for the total score as well with 238.28 points.
Chiba gave an exquisite performance to “Romeo and Juliet” that featured seven triple jumps and beautiful spins to set a new personal best of 150.02 points in the free skating. She totaled 228.47 points, another personal best.
Sakamoto now retires, having won three silver medals and one bronze in three Olympic appearances – plus four individual world championship gold medals.