Kaori Sakamoto: “It was a victory that made me realize that it’s not always about finishing 1st in both the short and free skate to win overall, and I felt the difficulty of winning consistently.”
Translation of Kaori Sakamoto’s comments about 2024 World Championships.
original source: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp dd. 26th March 2024 by Yoshimi Oriyama
Here’s a translation of Kaori Sakamoto’s comments about 2024 Worlds made in an interview posted on Sportiva.
“After I finished the first half of the 3 flip + 3 toe loop in the latter half, the venue was very excited. However, if I let the excited atmosphere affect me, my emotions might get too high, and then I might make mistakes. With all my heart, I tried to suppress my feelings and kept going until the end.
I’m sure my face was very stern halfway through, but when I finished the spin at the end, I felt like, ‘Yes, I did it!’” said Sakamoto.
“I personally prefer to finish early, so the order of the performance was good. I didn’t have much time from the six-minute warm-up and I felt I could perform exactly as I imagined it. Usually, I have many final numbers and there is a unique tension while the previous five people are performing, but it was a different feeling sitting in the green room after a long time.
Afterwards, I had a feeling that my tension would not go away with various thoughts, such as the anxiety about where I will be if the skater who skates later performs well. I felt that both the final and the first to skate were relatively unchanged in terms of tension,” said Kaori about skating third in the strongest group.
“I felt a little anxious before the short program, and that was reflected in my performance. I felt really impatient and tense being in 4th place in the short program, and there were so many emotions, but still, I was able to concentrate one by one under good tension in the free (program). I am very happy that it has resulted in a good outcome.”
“I felt that this season was going well throughout, so when I finished 4th in the short program, I felt the difficulty of maintaining my good form. It was a victory that made me realize that it’s not always about finishing 1st in both the short and free skate to win overall, and I felt the difficulty of winning consistently,” she concluded.
Related topics: Kaori Sakamoto, world championship
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