Kaori Sakamoto of Japan won her third straight world title at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal. She became the first woman to do this since Peggy Fleming in 1968, a gap of 56 years.
Fourth to first in a single free skate
Sakamoto started the free skate in fourth place after a short programme that earned just 73.29 points. An edge call and a shaky triple Lutz left her anxious. She knew only a bold recovery would keep the three-peat alive.
Skating to "Wild is the Wing" and "Feeling Good," she caught an edge right away. She landed her first double Axel, found her calm, and then hit six solid triple jumps. A triple flip-triple toe combination stood out, and roughly 6,000 fans at the Bell Centre rose to their feet when she finished.
Her free skate score of 149.67 was 11 points above any other woman that night. She told reporters later, "Once I landed the first double Axel, everything was okay again and I trusted my training."
Three titles, a 56-year wait ended
The overall score of 222.96 gave Sakamoto a 10-point win over American Isabeau Levito, who took silver with 212.16. Kim Chae-yeon of Korea claimed bronze. The win completed an undefeated season that swept the Grand Prix Series and a fourth Japanese national crown.
Fleming's three-peat ran from 1966 to 1968, a mark untouched for more than half a century. Sakamoto's own run began with a first world title in 2022 and a defence on home ice in Saitama in 2023. Now, at 23, her name sits alongside an era few in the arena ever saw.
The Montreal crowd serenaded her with a full standing ovation. A single night, a quiet bow — and a record book finally rewritten.
