Kaori Sakamoto (坂本花織) is a Japanese figure skater.
She is the 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World champion (2022, 2023), the 2023–24 Grand Prix Final champion, the 2018 Four Continents champion, a five-time ISU Grand Prix champion, and a four-time Japanese national champion.
She is a bronze medalist in the 2022 Olympic team event.
2000
Kaori Sakamoto was born on 9 April 2000 in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, in Japan.
The decision for Sakamoto to become a figure skater was made as a family decision at an early age.
She graduated from Kobe Gakuin University in September 2023.
Her hobbies are swimming and completing Jigsaw puzzles.
Sakamoto was awarded the Kobe City Sports Special Award in August 2023 for becoming a two-time World Figure Skating Champion.
2003
Sakamoto began learning to skate on November 18, 2003, in Kobe and has been with her coaches Sonoko Nakano, Mitsuko Graham, and Sei Kawahara since starting.
2012
She won the gold medal at the 2012–13 Japan Novice Championships and placed 9th at the Japan Junior Championships in the same year.
2013
She was invited to skate in the gala at the 2013 World Team Trophy.
During the 2013–2014 season, Sakamoto debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit, placing sixth in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
She finished eighth at the Japan Junior Championships.
Sakamoto started her season by finishing seventh at her JGP event in Aichi, Japan.
2014
She is the first Japanese woman to win the World Championships since Mao Asada in 2014, the first Japanese skater of any discipline to win back-to-back world titles, as well as one of only four women to win two consecutive world titles since 1991, along with Kristi Yamaguchi (1991–1992), Michelle Kwan (2000–2001), and Evgenia Medvedeva (2016–2017).
She won the Japanese national silver medal on the junior level before placing sixth on the senior level at the 2014–15 Japan Championships.
2015
Those results gave her a spot to compete at the 2015 World Junior Championships, where she placed fourth in the short program and 6th in the free skate to place sixth overall.
Sakamoto began her season by winning the silver medal at her JGP event in Riga, Latvia, and finishing fourth at her JGP event in Toruń, Poland.
Due to a stress fracture in her right shinbone, she stayed off the ice in October and resumed skating without jumps in November.
At the Japanese Championships, she placed fifth competing in the junior event and thirteenth on the senior level.
2016
Sakamoto was selected to compete at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
She placed fifth in the short program and sixth in the free skate to finish sixth overall.
Sakamoto received medals at both of her 2016–17 JGP assignments – silver in France and gold in Japan – and then won the Japanese junior title.
In December, she took the bronze medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Marseille, France, and placed seventh, competing on the senior level at the Japan Championships.
2017
At the junior level, she is the 2017 World Junior bronze medalist and the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist.
She was assigned to replace the injured Satoko Miyahara at the 2017 Asian Winter Games but withdrew due to the flu.
She went on to win bronze at the 2017 World Junior Championships.
She was invited to skate in the gala at the 2017 World Team Trophy as the junior world bronze medalist.
Sakamoto started her first full senior season at the 2017 Asian Figure Skating Trophy, placing first in both segments to take the gold.
At the 2017 U.S Classic, she placed fifth in the short program and 4th in the free skate to place fourth overall, behind compatriot and gold medalist Marin Honda.
Making her senior Grand Prix debut, she finished 5th at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup after placing fourth in the short program and fifth in the free skate.
At the 2017 Skate America, she scored new personal best scores for both segments of the competition; she placed second in both the short program and free skate and won the silver medal overall behind teammate Satoko Miyahara.
Sakamoto won the short program at the 2017–18 Japan Figure Skating Championships.
In the free skate, she placed fourth and won the silver medal, her first senior national medal.
2018
Following the competition, the Japan Skating Federation named Sakamoto to Japan's team to the 2018 Winter Olympics, alongside Satoko Miyahara.
Sakamoto was named in Japan's team to the 2018 Four Continents Championships with Miyahara and training-mate Mai Mihara.
She was also selected as the first alternate for the 2018 World Championships, behind Miyahara and Wakaba Higuchi.
At the 2018 Four Continents Championships, Sakamoto placed second in the short program with a new personal best score behind teammate Satoko Miyahara.
Sakamoto won the free skate with another personal best score and the championship, leading a Japanese sweep of the podium.
Sakamoto competed in the ladies free skating portion of the Team Event at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
