Figure skater Kaori Sakamoto fills in the last piece with “the beauty of landing ice!

Kaori SAKAMOTO (25) Figure Skating Women

Feb. 18th 2:45 Short
Feb. 20th, 3:00 FS

She doesn’t have a big move like triple axel. Still, few doubt that Kaori Sakamoto is the best figure skater in the world. What is the root of her strength? Pro skater and commentator Takahito Mura speaks about it.

In modern figure skating, the standard tactic is to score points with big moves while making as few mistakes as possible. In other words, mistakes are inevitable, and they are compensated by jumps.

Sakamoto, however, does not have a triple axel, but he has a style of accumulating high quality moves with almost no mistakes, and steadily gaining points for his performances. In order to achieve this, she needs to have an exceptionally strong core, which is her greatest strength.

Sakamoto announced last June that she would retire at the end of the ’25 -’26 season. The Olympics will be her last challenge.

I have the ability to be on the podium for sure,” she said. However, this competition is a fierce battle with strong competitors such as Russia’s Adelia Petrosyan (18) and America’s Amber Glenn (26), who are competing as neutral individual athletes. I hope Sakamoto will aim for the top of the world with her weapon, the beauty of landing ice skates.”

The last piece of the puzzle that Sakamoto, the queen of all major competitions including World Championships, Grand Prix Final, and Four Continents Championships, hopes for is a gold medal at the Olympics. Will she be able to finish her career on a high note?

From the February 20/27, 2026 issue of “FRIDAY