Satoko Miyahara

Four-time Japanese national figure skating champion Satoko Miyahara retired with her head held high Friday as she looked ahead to a new career as a pro skater.

Miyahara, the 2015 world championships runner-up at the age of 17, won four straight national titles from 2014 to 2017 and was fourth at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics in the women's competition.



The 24-year-old, who was second at the ISU Grand Prix Finals in 2015 and 2016, decided to call it quits after finishing fifth at December's nationals and missing out on February's Beijing Olympics.

"I was able to pursue a fulfilling competitive skating career until the end," Miyahara said during an online press conference as she opens the next chapter of her career.

"I believe I have scaled many walls up until now to get where I am, so I want to do my best in order to scale many more going forward."

After taking to the rink at age 4 in the United States, Miyahara led Japanese women's figure skating following the retirement of icon Mao Asada by achieving high standards in both choreography and expression.

"My overarching goal was to show off my own skating style in competition and produce results," she said. "That brought me a sense of enormous satisfaction."

Although a second straight Olympics in Beijing proved too hard a jump for the native of Kyoto Prefecture, Miyahara looked back fondly on her final nationals.

"I could perform while embracing that sensation of skating on my own two feet. My sense of achievement outweighs my regrets," she said."