Sakamoto Kaori’s first skate of her final season went just as she expected – not very good.
Sakamoto stumbled to a 65.25 in the women’s short program of the inaugural Kinoshita Group Cup 2025 as the three-time world champion got her Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic campaign under way in fourth place on Friday (5 September).
Fellow Olympic hopeful Chiba Mone surged into the lead with a near personal best of 73.11, the only deduction coming on a triple lutz she landed on the quarter. Her Japanese compatriot Miyake Saki was second with a 70.29.
In third was Madeline Schizas of Canada (66.57). Bradie Tennell of the United States came in fifth (64.52) while world silver medallist Lee Haein of the Republic of Korea was seventh (59.39).
Sakamoto, starting in the first group and second overall, botched her triple flip-triple toeloop combo skating to Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman’s “Time to Say Goodbye.”
The end result was 15 points off her PB but Sakamoto took it in stride, saying the performance mirrored her recent practices.
“Well within expectations,” said the two-time Olympic medallist who announced that the 2025-26 season will be her last.
“I haven’t been able to put together a clean skate in practise. I was struggling with the triple-triple in the short and it showed in competition today.
“It made me realise how important the triple combo is a s a source of points. I reckon I dropped 10 points there alone. So if I had nailed that we’re looking at a totally different score, which is encouraging.”
Sakamoto admitted there is still a bit more rust to shake off.
“It was my first competition in a while so I didn’t have anywhere close to the intensity I should have had,” she said.
“I was kind of gliding in practice recently so now that I’ve gone through this, I feel like I need to take it up a few notches from here. Just as in the short, the goal in the free is to discover where I need to improve.”