Sakamoto Kaori displayed the class of a three-time world champion as the Japanese skater won her final career appearance at the NHK Trophy with world lead scores for 2025 in the free skate (150.18) and total score (227.18) on Saturday (8 November) in Osaka.
Skating to the Edith Piaf classic Hymne à l’amour, a squeaky clean performance from Sakamoto gave her a fourth championship at the competition – and one of six women’s berths at the Grand Prix Final in December, also being held in Japan in Nagoya.
Sakamoto finished a whopping 27 points ahead of Kazakhstan’s Sofia Samodelkina (200.00) followed by Loena Hendrickx of Belgium (198.97), who medalled in her return to the Grand Prix stage.
Sakamoto pumped her fists as she erupted for joy and successfully rebounded from second place at the recent Grand Prix de France, where she lost out to 17-year-old Nakai Ami, who has also qualified for the Final.
“To be able to consistently put up a 220 during the Olympic season is really encouraging. But I still have more room for improvement so I’m not going to say I gave it everything I had. If I can work harder to aim a little higher,” she told Olympics.com in the mixed zone interview area afterwards.
“At Grand Prix de France I didn’t skate the way I’m capable of so I’m glad I was able to make up for it here at the NHK Trophy. I improved my score as well and I’m really happy.”
Counting the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 that Sakamoto still needs to qualify for through the Japanese nationals next month, the 25-year-old has a maximum of four competitions remaining in her career.
Sakamoto announced this past summer that she will retire following the 2025-26 season.
“I only have a few competitions left and I hope I’m saving my best performance for last,” she said. “I’ll try to build on today for the Final then qualify for the Olympics at the nationals – and get the result I want.”
AloJapan.com