Kaori SAKAMOTO (JPN) | Women Free Skating | Saitama 2023

There's only one color that will satisfy Kaori Sakamoto. Single flip, triple toe. She wants this title. Such fast thinking. Double axel, triple toe, double toe. That's only been four inches in that small section. But in 2019, in this arena, it was a triple flip which she popped that pulled her from second place off the podium. You suspect that's why she's got her head in her hands now. But she maybe doesn't know what's happened before. I'm pretty sure she won't have done enough. The strength of her program compared to her scores, quite brilliant. The grades of execution too. And based on that, she will be the first Japanese woman likely to retain her world title. Defending is harder than challenging. Like Riku Miura. It's similar watching them come off. She's always such a happy soul. Everywhere she goes it pains me to see her sad. But hopefully that will turn into tears of joy soon. That's been the story of this final group. The one mistake. The one mistake and they think everything's lost. When in fact, it is not. They get the speed that is just the most magnificent. 21 kilometers an hour. It's over 20. It was 18 in the short program. And it goes three and three quarter meters. It's the quality. When these judges are looking at the grades of execution, one of the big criterias is effortlessness. And even in the choreography, in the step sequence, she was extending and holding the note until the very end. All of those curated moves are gentle. This was amazing. That's a really bad pop of a flip. And to be able to pull a triple toe off that is astonishing. Right combination. So if anybody's interested to know what a single flip triple toe is worth, it's 5.53. Well, that's increased value because in the second half of the program, she gets an extra 10% rate of execution during the intention. She's a strong female role model. And she skates to those sorts of programs. She really picked that sand as her goal after the free was to finish with a smile on her face. And she's just almost so joyous. She's so kind to all the other competitors. Such a good ambassador for the sport and sportsmanship. She had over a five-point lead after the short program. And although I suspect it's not enough in the free skate to be achieving and applauding Haiyan Li, it's likely to be enough overall. And that is amazing. Women supporting women. All power for that. Oh, I can't wait for Kaori Sakamoto to see what I suspect is to happen. Sakamoto's score is 145.39. Congratulations. Thank you. She's shaking her head. Oh, she knows. Thank you.