Latest news with #Sakamoto
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Japan Today
Three-time world champion figure skater Sakamoto to retire
Japan's three-time world figure skating champion Kaori Sakamoto said Friday she will retire after the Winter Olympics in February. "I think it's better for me to make this a clean break than to continue for two or three years," said the 25-year-old, who won team silver and singles bronze medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. "I'll be 29 at the Olympics (in 2030) so I thought that's not possible," Sakamoto told reporters at an event in Kobe. "I want to finish every competition with no regrets, so I want to seek perfection more than ever before," she said. Sakamoto finished second at the world championships in Boston in March, missing out on becoming the first woman in 65 years to win four consecutive world crowns. She said after Boston that the experience would help her as she looked forward to the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics. © 2025 AFP
NBC Sports
11 hours ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
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. '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. 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.' Nick Zaccardi,
The Mainichi
13 hours ago
- Sport
- The Mainichi
Figure skating: 3-time world champ Sakamoto to retire after Olympics
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japanese figure skater Kaori Sakamoto, winner of three consecutive world championships through 2024, said Friday she will retire from competition after next year's Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. The 25-year-old, who claimed women's singles bronze at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, finished second at the world championships in Boston in March. Sakamoto revealed her plan at the opening ceremony for a new skating rink in her home city of Kobe in western Japan. "I feel like I have less than a year left," she said. "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." Sakamoto made her Olympic debut at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She won her fourth straight Japanese championship, and fifth overall, last December.
Yomiuri Shimbun
14 hours ago
- Sport
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Figure Skating-Japan's Kaori Sakamoto to Retire after 2026 Winter Olympics
Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images/File Photo Kaori Sakamoto wins silver in Womens Free Skating during the ISU World Figure Skating Championships on March 28 in Boston. Three-times world figure skating champion Kaori Sakamoto is to retire after the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics next year, the Japanese 25-year-old told reporters in Kobe on Friday. Sakamoto became the first woman in 56 years to win the figure skating world singles title three times in a row last year, matching the feat of American Peggy Fleming, who won three world titles between 1966-68. I feel like I have less than a year left. I'll be 29 at the following Olympics, which is out of the question, Kyodo news reported Sakamoto as saying. 'I'll try to bring things to a close the year I turn 26.' Sakamoto, who won bronze at the 2022 Winter Olympics, missed out on a fourth straight world title in March when she finished runner-up to American Alysa Liu.
France 24
14 hours ago
- Sport
- France 24
Three-time world champion figure skater Sakamoto to retire
"I think it's better for me to make this a clean break than to continue for two or three years," said the 25-year-old, who won team silver and singles bronze medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games. "I'll be 29 at the Olympics (in 2030) so I thought that's not possible," Sakamoto told reporters at an event in Kobe. "I want to finish every competition with no regrets, so I want to seek perfection more than ever before," she said. Sakamoto finished second at the world championships in Boston in March, missing out on becoming the first woman in 65 years to win four consecutive world crowns. She said after Boston that the experience would help her as she looked forward to the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics. © 2025 AFP
