At the Grand Prix Final of figure skating held in Beijing, China, Kaori Sakamoto, who took the lead in the first half of the women's singles, scored the top score in the free skate to win the event for the first time.
The Grand Prix Final, in which the top six riders in the Grand Prix Series compete, was held on the night of the 6th in the women's singles free skate, and Sakamoto, who led the short program in the first half, was aiming for his first victory.
Sakamoto performed a steady performance in the early stages, landing a difficult triple Lutz without any danger.
In the middle of the race, I made a mistake that disrupted the icing on the first of the jumps I had planned to do, but I was unfazed and recovered and made up for my mistake with a combination jump with a double toe loop for the last three rotation loops.
Sakamoto also scored a top-best 3.1 in the free skate to win the event for the first time with a total of 3.2, with tears in his eyes when the score was announced.
Sakamoto was at the top of the first half of last season's tournament but dropped significantly in the second half to finish fifth, and he said, "I thought my rival was my past self, so I'm more than happy that I was able to overcome that."
On the other hand, 4-year-old Hina Yoshida, who finished fourth in the first half, skated without any major mistakes, icing a triple Axel at the beginning of the skate, and in the free skate, she set a new personal best of 18.142 for a total of 51.203 and moved up one spot to third place in her first appearance.
In second place was Belgium's Luna Hendricks.
The 16-year-old Rinon Sumiyoshi, who was in fifth place in the first half of the race due to a series of jumping errors, attempted a big quadruple toe loop but was unable to do so, and finished sixth in the free skate with a score of 1.3 and a total of 2.5.