“The 2019–20 season. I didn’t want people to think my selection for the Olympic team in 2018 was just luck.” Kaori Sakamoto reflected on her most challenging season

Kaori Sakamoto, silver medalist at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, reflected on her most challenging season.

original source: sponichi.co.jp dd. 13th May 2026

Kaori Sakamoto (26), the silver medalist in women’s figure skating at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, held her retirement press conference in Kobe on the 13th. She reflected on her most challenging season and how the COVID-19 pandemic changed her outlook. Here’s a translation of her comments.

When asked about her most difficult season, Sakamoto recalled, “The 2019–20 season.” It was the season following her first Olympic appearance at the PyeongChang Games. “I didn’t want people to think my selection for the team was just luck. I spent the year working hard as an Olympian. On top of that, the World Championships were held in Japan, so I pushed myself a lot. The backlash from all that effort hit me right at that time,” she said, explaining that she struggled to maintain her motivation and her results suffered.

That same season, the global COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. “I felt like I was given a legitimate break. At first, I thought, ‘Yay! I finally get some rest!’ for the first month. But when everyone was unable to skate, I started thinking, ‘If I work hard on off-ice training now, when I can skate again, I won’t have to start from scratch – I’ll be able to jump right in and keep improving.’ That’s when my mindset became much more positive,” she confessed, describing how the pandemic brought about a change in her attitude.

“I spent a month and a half not skating, just training hard. After returning, I was able to approach practice with a much more positive attitude. The turning point was not being able to skate because of COVID,” she reflected.

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