The World Figure Skating Championships, which will be held in Japan for the first time in four years, kicked off on the 4nd, and in the women's singles short program, Kaori Sakamoto, who is aiming for a second consecutive title, scored a goal that approached her personal best with a mistake-free performance and took the lead.

The World Figure Skating Championships kicked off on 22 May at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City, with a short program for the first half of the women's singles.

Sakamoto, who is aiming to win his second consecutive championship, decided on a double axel with height and width at the beginning, and then made sure to decide on a combination jump of 2 turns Lutz and 3 turns in the second half of the performance.

This season, he struggled with the difficulty of choreographing a short program that kept his whole body moving constantly, but he performed vigorously until the end, earning the highest rating of level four in three spins and steps.

Sakamoto also showed his expressive ability and other performance composition, and he took the lead with a score of 3.79, which was close to his personal best, and made a good start to win back-to-back titles.

Mai Mihara, who competed for the first time in six years, showed her stability by reliably icing three jumps, including a combination of three turns and three turns.

In the second half, he captivated the audience with brilliant steps and spins to the piano piece, and both received the highest rating, placing third with a score of 73.46.

In second place is Korea's Lee Hae-in with 3.2.

Michika Watanabe, who was competing for the first time, fell on the triple axel at the beginning of the race, and in the scheduled combination jump, she made a mistake that turned the first three turns into one turn, and fell behind in 3th place.

Sakamoto: "We're almost there."

After the performance, Sakamoto reflected, "At last year's World Championships, I scored over 80 points, so I'm happy that I got close to that, but I also felt that I was almost there.

As for the reason why he said, "I'm a little more there," he said, "I thought I didn't have a sense of speed today, and I was a little frustrated that I wanted a perfect score because I only had about 1.3 points for the double axel."

On the other hand, he also said, "I always felt that the short program was tough, but if I can follow through with it, it will be a great experience because it will give me a new self and increase the ability to write songs like this."

Mihara: "Today was the best day for me to slide my heart to the max"

Mihara said, "I was surprisingly the most nervous of the season, but I was able to skate with gratitude and support from many cheers and cheers. At the end, I was able to express my gratitude while being noisy."

For freelance, she said, "I want to perform in a performance that overcomes all the issues that I have found so far, and I want to play a strong woman who contrasts with the powerful parts including the eye, and the gentle parts with gentle so that the level of passion is even higher."

Watanabe: "I'm frustrated that I couldn't perform as well as I could"

Watanabe reflected, "Since I came to the rink at the venue, there was a situation where the three-turn Lutz of the short program did not fit, and I was worried because I couldn't fix it.

He had tears in his eyes when he was interviewed, but he said, "I'm frustrated that I couldn't perform as well as I wanted, but although I fell, the quality of the triple axel wasn't bad, so I was able to go free. I want to climb to the point where I can somehow win the free game."