1. Kaori Sakamoto is the first Japanese woman to win the World Championships since Mao Asada in 2014, the first Japanese skater to win three consecutive World titles in any discipline, and the first woman to win three consecutive World titles since Peggy Fleming.
Kaori Sakamoto was born on 9 April 2000 in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, in Japan.
The decision for Sakamoto to become a figure skater was made as a family decision at an early age.
Kaori Sakamoto graduated from Kobe Gakuin University in September 2023.
Kaori Sakamoto was awarded the Kobe City Sports Special Award in August 2023 for becoming a two-time World Figure Skating Champion.
Kaori Sakamoto prefers to use white Edea skates in the Ice Fly model with traditional silver blades.
Kaori Sakamoto began learning to skate on November 18,2003, in Kobe and has been with her coaches Sonoko Nakano, Mitsuko Graham, and Sei Kawahara since starting.
Kaori Sakamoto was invited to skate in the gala at the 2013 World Team Trophy.
Kaori Sakamoto started her season by finishing seventh at her JGP event in Aichi, Japan.
Kaori Sakamoto began her season by winning the silver medal at her JGP event in Riga, Latvia, and finishing fourth at her JGP event in Torun, Poland.
Kaori Sakamoto was selected to compete at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
Kaori Sakamoto placed fifth in the short program and sixth in the free skate to finish sixth overall.
Kaori Sakamoto was assigned to replace the injured Satoko Miyahara at the 2017 Asian Winter Games but withdrew due to the flu.
Kaori Sakamoto went on to win bronze at the 2017 World Junior Championships.
Kaori Sakamoto was invited to skate in the gala at the 2017 World Team Trophy as the junior world bronze medalist.
Kaori Sakamoto started her first full senior season at the 2017 Asian Figure Skating Trophy, placing first in both segments to take the gold.
Kaori Sakamoto was named in Japan's team to the 2018 Four Continents Championships with Miyahara and training-mate Mai Mihara.
Kaori Sakamoto was selected as the first alternate for the 2018 World Championships, behind Miyahara and Wakaba Higuchi.
At the 2018 Four Continents Championships, Kaori Sakamoto placed second in the short program with a new personal best score behind teammate Satoko Miyahara.
Kaori Sakamoto won the free skate with another personal best score and the championship, leading a Japanese sweep of the podium.
Kaori Sakamoto competed in the ladies free skating portion of the Team Event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Kaori Sakamoto placed fifth individually and fifth overall within Team Japan.
Kaori Sakamoto ended the competition second overall behind compatriot Mai Mihara.
Kaori Sakamoto began the season at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy, where a disastrous short program left her in ninth place going into the free skate.
Kaori Sakamoto placed second in the free skate, rebounding to fourth place overall.
Subsequently, Kaori Sakamoto indicated that she felt she had not had enough practice time before the event.
At her second event, the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki, Kaori Sakamoto fell twice in the short program, ending up in seventh place.
Kaori Sakamoto expressed happiness at her score, even with the error.
Kaori Sakamoto was named to the Japanese teams for the 2019 Four Continents Championships and the 2019 World Championships.
At Four Continents, Kaori Sakamoto placed second in the short program with a new personal best, 0.55 points behind Bradie Tennell.
At the World Championships in Saitama, Kaori Sakamoto placed second in the short program, winning a silver small medal.
Kaori Sakamoto began the season at the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where she won the silver medal, her first Challenger medal.
Kaori Sakamoto was fourth in the free skate, despite several under rotations, rising to fourth place overall.
Kaori Sakamoto struggled in the free skate, underrotating or downgrading five jumps, and falling once, placing seventh in that segment and dropping to sixth place overall.
Kaori Sakamoto began the international season at the 2020 NHK Trophy, which, to minimize international travel, was attended almost exclusively by Japanese skaters.
Kaori Sakamoto won the short program, introducing the triple Lutz into that segment for the first time in five years.
Kaori Sakamoto attributed her improvement over the previous season in part to increased strength training facilitated by being off-ice during the pandemic.
Kaori Sakamoto made an error in her short program, performing only a double toe loop instead of a planned triple as part of her jump combination, but ended up in second place, 7.48 points behind Kihira.
Kaori Sakamoto was assigned to the Japanese team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.
Kaori Sakamoto placed sixth in the short program and fifth in the free skate finishing in the sixth place overall.
Kaori Sakamoto's placement combined with Kihira's seventh place qualified three Japanese ladies' berths at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Kaori Sakamoto placed third in the short program and second in the free skate at the Trophy, while Team Japan won the bronze medal.
Kaori Sakamoto began the season at the Olympic test event, the 2021 CS Asian Open, where she won the silver medal.
Kaori Sakamoto was third in the free skate with no issues other than an edge call on her triple Lutz, but remained in fourth place overall, 1.04 points behind bronze medalist You Young.
Kaori Sakamoto won both segments of the competition, her only flaws being edge calls on her triple Lutzes and an underrotated triple toe loop.
Kaori Sakamoto won her second consecutive gold at the NHK Trophy.
Kaori Sakamoto skated cleanly to win both segments of the competition and her second gold medal, 12.28 points ahead of silver medalist Wakaba Higuchi.
Kaori Sakamoto began the 2022 Winter Olympics as the Japanese entry for the women's free skate segment of the Olympic team event.
Kaori Sakamoto said she was "quite satisfied" with the result and contrasted her prior Olympic experience at age 17 with "a lot of ups and downs in these four years" since.
However, frontrunner Valieva faltered in the free skate and dropped to fourth place overall, resulting in Kaori Sakamoto winning the bronze medal.
Kaori Sakamoto was the fourth Japanese women's singles skater to win a medal at the Olympics and the first in twelve years since Mao Asada in 2010.
At the 2022 World Championships Kaori Sakamoto entered the championships as the heavy favorite to take the gold medal, since the Russian skaters had been excluded from the competition.
Kaori Sakamoto went on to win the free skate as well, setting new personal bests in that segment and total score, the latter nearly twenty points clear of silver medalist Hendrickx.
Kaori Sakamoto was Japan's first women's singles skater to win the World Championships since 2014.
Kaori Sakamoto began the season at the 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy.
Kaori Sakamoto finished first in the short program but second in the free skate due to multiple errors, dropping to second place overall behind teammate Rinka Watanabe.
Kaori Sakamoto opened the Grand Prix series at her fifth Skate America competition.
Kaori Sakamoto entered the NHK Trophy as the two-time and reigning champion and the favorite for the title.
Kaori Sakamoto placed second in the short program, behind South Korea's Kim Ye-lim, after the technical panel deemed one jump underrotated, another a quarter short of rotation, and her Lutz edge unclear.
Kaori Sakamoto finished first in the free skate, despite two jumps being called a quarter short of rotation and popping her usually reliable triple loop jump into a single, but remained in second place overall behind Kim.
Kaori Sakamoto entered the Final as a contender for the title, winning the short program by 1.28 points over longtime friend and training partner Mai Mihara.
Kaori Sakamoto's free skate score, 155.26, was a new domestic personal best, earning her the national title for the second consecutive year, ahead of Mihara and bronze medalist Mao Shimada.
At the 2023 World Championships in Saitama, Kaori Sakamoto won the short program with a score of 79.24, more than five points clear of South Korea's Lee Hae-in in second place.
Kaori Sakamoto skated the rest of the program cleanly, finishing second in the segment behind Lee with a score of 145.37, and remained first overall with a score of 224.61 to win her second World gold medal.
In doing so, Kaori Sakamoto became the fourth woman to win consecutive World Championships since abolition of compulsory figures in 1991, after Kristi Yamaguchi, Michelle Kwan, and Evgenia Medvedeva.
Kaori Sakamoto was named captain of Team Japan for the 2023 World Team Trophy.
Kaori Sakamoto was second in the free skate segment as well, again behind Lee, with her only error being another fall on a jump combination.
Kaori Sakamoto began the Grand Prix with her first-ever appearance at the Skate Canada International, winning both segments of the competition to take the gold medal by a 25-point margin over silver medalist Kim Chae-yeon of South Korea.
At the Final in Beijing, Kaori Sakamoto won both segments, capturing her first Grand Prix Final title by over 20 points and thereby completing the "Career Grand Slam" of major event gold medals.
Kaori Sakamoto won the short program by almost nine points over second-place Mako Yamashita.
Kaori Sakamoto went on to win the free skate segment by 13.09 points over Mone Chiba, and claimed the gold medal over Chiba by over 23 points.
At the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Kaori Sakamoto placed fourth in the short program after a somewhat shaky performance that saw a rough landing on her triple Lutz and a stumble in her step sequence.
Kaori Sakamoto rallied in the free skate, placing first in that segment by a wide margin to take the gold medal over silver medalist Isabeau Levito and bronze medalist Kim Chae-yeon.
Kaori Sakamoto's victory marked the first time in 56 years that a women's singles skater won three consecutive World titles.
Kaori Sakamoto began the season by finishing third at the 2024 CS Lombardia Trophy behind American skaters, Amber Glenn and Sarah Everhardt.
Two weeks later, at the 2024 NHK Trophy, Kaori Sakamoto delivered two clean performances and won the event, almost twenty points ahead of silver medalist Mone Chiba.