Kaori Sakamoto to retire from figure skating after Olympic season
Kaori Sakamoto, a three-time world champion and Olympic silver and bronze medalist, plans to retire from competitive figure skating after the upcoming 2026 Olympic season, a move she previously hinted at over the past year.
"I feel like I have less than a year left," she said in her native Japan on Thursday, according to a Kyodo News translation. "I'll be 29 at the following Olympics (in 2030), which is out of the question. I'll try to bring things to a close the year I turn 26.
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"I've made the decision really fast. I felt now was the time. I was more or less fixed on it since saying, 'I see two years as one cycle' last year."
Sakamoto, speaking at the opening of a new rink in her hometown of Kobe, said she plans to continue in the sport as a coach, according to Japanese media.
Sakamoto followed her 2022 Olympic team silver and individual bronze medals by becoming the first women's singles skater to win three consecutive world titles (2022-24) since American Peggy Fleming from 1966-68.
This past March, she earned silver at the worlds, just missing becoming the first woman to win four titles in a row since American Carol Heiss from 1956-60.
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At worlds in Boston, she was fifth after the short program and improved to second in the free skate. She finished 4.99 points behind Alysa Liu, who won both programs to become the first American to claim a women's singles world title since 2006.
Sakamoto had the highest total international event score over the entire season, recording that in last fall's Grand Prix Series.
Sakamoto's short program for the 2025-26 season is set to "Time To Say Goodbye" by Sarah Brightman and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, a fitting choice for her final season and the Milan Cortina Games.
"Winning at least silvers in both the individual and team events (at the Olympics) would be mission completed," she said, according to Kyodo. "The time left is short, so I'll live each day to the fullest, and hopefully the results turn out to be what I'm wishing for."
Kaori Sakamoto
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