Post by Admin on Dec 29, 2018 18:35:43 GMT
Kaori Sakamoto was impressive in victory at the Japan nationals on Sunday, rising to the occasion on the biggest domestic stage of the year. That the 18-year-old dethroned four-time defending champion Satoko Miyahara and beat Grand Prix Final winner Rika Kihira may have surprised some, but Ice Time was not one of them.
Sakamoto has been surging for more than one year now. Her triumph at the Four Continents last January, along with her sixth-place finish at the Pyeongchang Olympics, plus a strong GP campaign (with two podium finishes) this fall showed a consistent trend upward.
It culminated for the Kobe native on Sunday night when, in the shadow of her hometown, she fused all of her considerable talents to score a personal best of 152.36 in the free skate and become the national champion. The reality is that Sakamoto is no stranger to success. She was Japan’s novice champion in 2012, and the Japan junior champion in 2016, beating then world junior queen Marin Honda for the title in Sapporo. That win came two months after she had beaten Honda at the Yokohama Junior Grand Prix.
Sakamoto went on to take the bronze medal at both the JGP Final and world juniors that same season. Then she began her charge in the senior ranks with a second-place showing at Skate America last season. Even though she was winning, Sakamoto was overshadowed by the glamour associated with Honda and the potential of Kihira. Meanwhile, a champion was growing into a force.
