Kaori Sakamoto, who won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics in the short program of the first half of the women's singles at the world championship of figure skating in France on the 23rd, marked only one person in the 80s with no big mistakes. I stood at the top.

The World Championships in Figure Skating kicked off on the 23rd in Montpellier, France.



Russia and Belarus were not allowed to participate in the tournament due to Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, so Anna Shelvakova, who won the gold medal in the women's singles of the Beijing Olympics, did not participate.



Beijing Olympic representatives Sakamoto, Higuchi Wakaba, and Mana Kawabe participated in the short program of the first half of the women's single held on the first day of the tournament.



Of these, Sakamoto, who won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics, showed off her own dynamic performance when she landed the double Axel at the beginning almost perfectly.



Sakamoto decided the spins and steps after that, and was expressive and slipped without big mistakes. He marked 80.32, which is only one person's 80 points, and took the lead after finishing the first half.



On the other hand, Higuchi was unable to improve her score due to a mistake in the jump at the beginning of the performance, and finished 7th at 67.03.



Kawabe was in 12th place with 63.68.



The women's single, the second half of the free, will take place on the 25th of this month.

Kaori Sakamoto "I was too surprised"

Kaori Sakamoto, who took the lead after finishing the short program in the first half, said, "I was surprised because the practice so far was terrible. I was surprised that I was able to ride very fast and jumped. It was too much, but I'm really happy. "



He mentioned that he won the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. However, anyway, this world championship is related to the participation frame of Japanese players from next year onwards, and I myself have always been incompletely burned, so I want to do it to the end so that I can perform without mistakes even if I am free. " I was tightening my mind.

Higuchi Wakaba "Jump went up too much"

Higuchi Wakaba commented on the fact that he made a mistake in icing with the double Axel at the beginning of the performance. It wasn't so bad, so I just do free time. I want to slip while feeling what I've done so far, and I want to concentrate firmly and finish comfortably. "