03/25/26 04:46:00
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03/25 16:44 CDT Kaori Sakamoto takes the lead as she chases a fourth and last
figure skating world title
Kaori Sakamoto takes the lead as she chases a fourth and last figure skating
world title
PRAGUE (AP) --- It's time to say goodbye for Kaori Sakamoto, and she's aiming
to go out on a high with the world figure skating title.
Sakamoto's short-program music, "Time to Say Goodbye," was charged with emotion
as she targets a fourth world title before retirement.
Sakamoto shouted with joy and clapped as she learned her score of 79.31, a
season-best which put her into first place by less than a point from her fellow
Japanese skater Mone Chiba on a personal-best 78.45 in her disco-themed program.
There was extra nostalgia for Sakomoto because her last world championships are
in the Czech Republic, where she started her Junior Grand Prix career 13 years
ago.
"It was a good feeling to have," she said of the full-circle moment.
There's a strong U.S. challenge for the medals ahead of Friday's free skate
with Amber Glenn third and Isabeau Levito fourth.
Without Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu, who withdrew from the world
championships amid a hectic media schedule, the focus was on whether Sakamoto
could regain the title she won three times in a row from 2022 through 2024, and
whether three-time U.S. champion Glenn could claim a first world medal.
Glenn came to the world championships with an Olympic team gold but missed the
individual medals after a short-program error. She was back on form Wednesday,
starting with a big triple axel on her way to scoring 72.65. Levito was just
behind her with 72.16 for fourth in her return to form after 12th at the
Olympics.
Ami Nakai's triple axel propelled her into the Olympic short-program lead ---
she ended up with bronze --- but went missing Wednesday. The 17-year-old
Japanese skater could only manage an awkward double as her opening jump and has
a tough task to recover from eighth.
Hase and Volodin lead pairs
Olympic pairs bronze medalists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of
Germany are narrowly ahead in in the latest installment of a long-running
rivalry.
Skating last, the Germans took the lead by 79.78 to 79.45 against Anastasiia
Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia, who beat them to the European title and
Olympic silver this season. Canadians Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud are in
third on 75.52 ahead of Thursday's free skate.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara are skipping the world championships after
winning Japan's first Olympic pairs title last month.
U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov couldn't compete at the
Olympics because Efimova wasn't yet a U.S. citizen. A slip by Efimova on a
triple toeloop and a heavy landing on a throw left them seventh.
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