Kaori Sakamoto: “Before, there were three Russians, and I competed with the feeling of wanting to be among them. Thinking that this feeling will revive excites me tremendously. But now, it’s not only Russia, other countries like the US are also strong.”
Kaori Sakamoto about Japanese Nationals.
original source: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp dd. 24th December 2024 by Yoshimi Oriyama
In the interview posted on Web Sportiva, Kaori Sakamoto talks about challenges in preparation for the Japanese Nationals. Here’s a translation of her comments.
“The week after the GP Final was a rollercoaster,” she said. Just before returning home, she suffered from gastroenteritis, and after she came back, she was completely down for a whole day. Nevertheless, she managed to recover gradually from there.
“It felt like restarting from a state where my strength had completely dropped. When I first got on the ice, I couldn’t brace myself at all, and I wondered if I’d be okay in a week. But then I was able to rebuild my body, so my condition improved even compared to before the Final,” she explained.
“I’m really happy to be gradually approaching my personal best (80.32 points at the 2022 World Championships – ed.), and even though there are still parts where I’m dropping points, the fact that there’s room for growth is very motivating,” she said about her SP at Nationals.
As for the free skate, she reflected, “The realization that my best performances come when I firmly decide to go for the win is something I’ve learned from experiencing various competitions. It was really great that during the period from the Final to Nationals, I was able to remind myself to stay assertive.”
Her determination was unwavering, and she scored high in the early jumps. However, she admitted to playing it safe in the latter part of the program. “I was really unsure whether to go for a triple or a double loop in the combination. I didn’t want to risk it and then potentially affect the following triple Lutz and triple loop, which would ruin everything if I failed. That’s something I regret a bit,” she noted.
Despite this, she scored 149.76 points, bringing her total to 228.68 points for a solid victory. After her performance, the pose with clenched fists was, “not a celebration but more of a feeling of frustration,” Sakamoto explained.
Speaking about becoming just the ninth person to achieve four consecutive victories, she calmly stated, “Last season I was competing with the aim of achieving three consecutive victories, so I was happy, but this season four consecutive victories was not the main objective. I don’t feel as much sense of accomplishment as last season.
I want to think about this season and next season as two continuous years. When you think of it as a two-year period, the ultimate goal is the Olympics. The competitions before that, I want to treat as stepping stones, so I don’t want to place as much importance on them as before. However, I haven’t forgotten the desire to definitely win.”
During the Japanese Nationals, it became known that the International Skating Union announced that Russian skaters can took part in the Olympic qualification competition next season and will be able to participate in the Olympics, with one male and one female in singles, and one pair and one ice dance team.
Sakamoto said, “Before, there were three Russians, and I competed with the feeling of wanting to be among them. Thinking that this feeling will revive excites me tremendously. But now, it’s not only Russia, other countries like the US are also strong. I am really fired up to compete among many strong athletes.”
“From this season, I changed the layout in the free skate to include two flips and two lutzes, and since the NHK Trophy, it has stabilized a lot. I am working to include triple + triple combinations in the second half to increase the base value even more. Changing this layout was to expand my own possibilities. I can feel that what I am doing is not a mistake.”
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