At the Milano Ice Skating Arena, Kaori Sakamoto closed her Olympic chapter with a silver medal in the women's singles, finishing 1.89 points behind American Alysa Liu. It was the final Olympic skate for Japan's most decorated figure skater, and it came down to the smallest of margins.
A lead erased by the smallest errors
Sakamoto began the free skate in second place on 77.23 points, a gap of only 1.48 from the leader. Liu had been sitting third after the short program. The standings flipped when Sakamoto's total reached 224.90 to Liu's 226.79.
Her programme, a graceful routine set to Edith Piaf, carried her hallmark composure from start to finish. Yet a few small jump mistakes left the door open on a night when every fraction counted.
Three Games, two silvers, one final bow
Sakamoto left Milano Cortina with two silver medals, adding the singles prize to the one she helped secure in the team event. That brought her Olympic tally to three medals across three Winter Games, after a bronze in Beijing 2022.
The podium finish arrived in the final season of a career already unmatched in Japanese skating. Weeks later she would claim a fourth world title, becoming the first from her nation in any discipline to do so.
"The score was so close and I didn't have a clean skate," she told reporters afterwards, the emotion clear as she stepped away from the Olympic ice for the last time.
Seventeen-year-old teammate Ami Nakai held on for bronze. Four Japanese women finished inside the top ten, but the arena's quietest moment belonged to a veteran closing an era with the Edith Piaf refrain she chose: je ne regrette rien.
