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Japan's Sakamoto ends career with fourth world skating title / Photo: Michal Cizek - AFP
Japan's Sakamoto ends career with fourth world skating title
Japanese star Kaori Sakamoto signed off her career in style by claiming women's gold for a fourth time at the world figure skating championships in Prague on Friday.
In her farewell to the ice, the 25-year-old delivered an elegant and charismatic free skating performance to a medley of Edith Piaf songs, earning her 158.97 points and an overall personal best of 238.28 after her two programmes.
Her compatriot Mone Chiba took the silver medal nearly 10 points behind, while Belgium's Nina Pinzarrone caused an upset by winning bronze as US champion Amber Glenn dropped from third overnight to sixth.
In the absence of reigning Olympic and world champion Alysa Liu, Sakamoto led all the way to reclaim the title she won three consecutive times between 2022 and 2024.
Earlier, Olympic ice dance champions Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry dominated the rhythm dance to put themselves on track for gold.
Skating to a programme inspired by Madonna's hit "Vogue", the French pair broke their season record with 92.74 points and lead the way going into Saturday's free dance final.
They hold a comfortable lead of more than six points over Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (86.45), the bronze medallists at the Milan-Cortina Olympics last month.
If he wins, Cizeron will clinch his sixth world title after five victories with his former partner Gabriella Papadakis between 2015 and 2022.
For Canadian-born Fournier Beaudry it would be a first world medal.
U.Neumann--BlnAP
