Sakamoto takes gold in absence of Russians

MONTPELLIER (France) • Japan's Kaori Sakamoto on Friday added the world figure skating title to her Olympic bronze medal, capitalising on the absence of Russian rivals banned following the invasion of Ukraine.

The 21-year-old totalled 236.09 points with Belgium's Loena Hendrickx (217.70) taking silver and Alysa Liu (211.9) of the United States claiming bronze.

At the Beijing Winter Olympics last month, Russia took the gold and silver in the women's singles via Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova while Kamila Valieva was fourth after spending the Games embroiled in a drugs controversy.

A tearful Sakamoto improved her personal bests in both the short and free programmes in Montpellier, becoming the first Japanese world champion since Mao Asada in 2014.

"It was really difficult in training before the worlds. I was tired and on the verge of exhaustion after the Olympics, but most of us were in the same situation," she said.

"The hard training I had in the past helped me to hold on during this competition."

Hendrickx, 22, meanwhile, became the first Belgian skater to step onto a world podium.

Belgium has won only three world medals in figure skating - the previous two coming in pairs skating in 1947 and 1948.

At just 16, Liu is also a first-time world medallist, a month after a seventh place at the Olympics.

For Russian skating, Friday represented the end of an era of dominance. Since 2015 - with the exception of 2018 and the cancellation of the 2020 event because of the Covid-19 pandemic - Russia had a gold medallist in the women's competition every year.

Newly crowned Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron got their bid for a fifth world ice dancing title off to a perfect start on home ice, achieving a world record score in the rhythm dance section.

The French dancers were greeted with a standing ovation in Montpellier, weeks after achieving their first Olympic gold in Beijing.

Papadakis and Cizeron, whose future remains uncertain after this season, improved on their previous world record, set in Beijing, by more than two points with 92.73 points.

"We really had a lot of fun out there," said Cizeron after their skate to hip-hop and blues songs.

"The fact that our friends, our parents, our fans are there to support us, it really warms our hearts.

"That's one of the reasons why we wanted to come. Especially after the Games were almost behind closed doors, it feels really good."

They led two American pairs - Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (89.72), and Madison Chock and Evan Bates (87.51) - going into yesterday's free dance final.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE