Kaori Sakamoto claimed the Four Continents Championships title at Taipei Arena on 26 January 2018, a clean victory in her debut senior season. At seventeen, she led a Japanese podium sweep with a total score of 214.21 points. She set personal bests in both segments of the competition.
A flawless free skate to Amélie
Sakamoto sat second after the short program, trailing compatriot Satoko Miyahara. Skating to music from Amélie, she delivered a routine without visible error. The programme featured seven triple jumps, level-four footwork and strong spins, with positive grades of execution on every element.
The free skate earned a new personal best of 142.87 points. Reigning champion Mai Mihara landed a solid opening combination, but an edge call and an underrotation later in her programme limited her free skate score to 140.73. Mihara rose to silver with 210.57 overall, while Miyahara slipped to bronze after a fall on a triple Salchow.
Three flags, one first crown
The sweep meant all three podium steps belonged to Japan. Sakamoto had risen from the junior ranks only months earlier, having taken bronze in the same arena at the 2017 World Junior Championships. Many leading skaters skipped the event because it fell close to the PyeongChang Olympic Games, but Sakamoto seized the opening.
Her short program had already produced a personal-best 71.34 points. “Today I am very satisfied with my performance,” she told reporters afterwards. “I have skated here before at Junior Worlds last year and I did a clean short and long program, so I have a good memory here at the rink.”
A quiet start to a historic arc
The title was the first senior international gold of a career that would later bring four world championships, an Olympic bronze in 2022, and an Olympic silver in her final season in 2026. Sakamoto would become the first Japanese skater in any discipline to win four world titles. That long arc began on a Thursday evening in Taipei, with a skate to Amélie and a number that held all night.
