Kaori Sakamoto Signs Off with a 4th World Figure Skating Title Before Retirement

The Associated Press

7:58 JST, March 28, 2026

PRAGUE (AP) — Kaori Sakamoto bid farewell to figure skating with a fourth world championship title before retirement as one of the most decorated skaters in decades.

Sakamoto took to the ice to cheers from a packed arena in Prague and delivered a typically artistic and consistent final free skate to stay ahead of her Japanese teammate Mone Chiba.

After signing off to Edith Piaf’s “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” Sakamoto made a double fist pump as her coaches hugged rink-side and Chiba stood to applaud.

Minutes later, Sakamoto jumped up and danced in celebration at leaving on a personal-best total 238.28 points and embraced Chiba, who scored 228.47. “I’m so happy,” Sakamoto said to whoops from the crowd. “I’m grateful that I get to skate here.”

Nina Pinzarrone took a surprise bronze on 215.20, a breakthrough moment after years of being overshadowed by her Belgian teammate, 2022 world silver medalist Loena Hendrickx.

Sakamoto broke through with individual bronze at the 2022 Olympics and won the first of three world titles in a row — a feat not seen in women’s skating since the 1960s — soon after.

Sakamoto never won Olympic gold but leaves with four career Olympic medals including team and individual silvers from the Milan Cortina Olympics. She plans to become a coach.

Isabeau Levito was fourth for the United States and three-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn was still waiting for a first world medal in sixth after popping two jumps. Glenn had been third after the short program and started her free skate with a huge triple axel, but halfway through, a triple loop became a single, and then a double axel went missing too, leaving valuable points on the ice. “I lost my focus,” she said.

A Japanese podium sweep had seemed possible before the championships but Olympic bronze medalist Ami Nakai was only ninth after errors in both programs.

Alysa Liu withdrew from the world championships as she negotiates her rise to fame after winning the Olympic gold last month.