There is an old adage in show business that advises performers to always leave them wanting more.
Kaori Sakamoto of Japan did that Friday at the World Championships in Prague.
Alas, there will be no more of Sakamoto in competition. At 25, she is leaving that side of figure skating with a fourth world title and an indelible legacy of greatness.
“If you want me to talk about her achievements, you wouldn’t be able to stop me from going on forever,” said her teammate, Mone Chiba, who finished second.
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Kaori Sakamoto became the first women’s singles skater since Michelle Kwan to win four or more world titles.
She saved the best — at least by scoring standards — for last, winning with a personal best in the free skate and the highest component scores ever in both the free and short programs.
A month after sobbing in disappointment when the omission of one planned jump cost her the Olympic gold medal that went to Alysa Liu of the United States, the emotive Sakamoto once again had tears rolling down her cheeks.
This time, she was both overjoyed and overwhelmed, bouncing off a bench and then jumping up and down several times after her free skate score was announced. Chiba, sitting in the leader’s chair when Sakamoto skated, also was moved to tears by her countrywoman’s brilliance.
“We were all crying,” said Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone, the surprise bronze medalist. “It was so special to see it one more time, and she did so well. It’s unbelievable what she does and what she brings to skating. We will all miss her.”
Sakamoto finished with 238.28 points to 228.47 for Chiba and 215.20 for Pinzarrone.
It was the first time Japanese women went one-two at worlds since Miki Ando and Mao Asada in 2007.
The top two U.S. women, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, both were left to face disappointment.
Glenn’s was the more crushing because her first global medal had seemed in reach after placing third in the short program, the first time she had been better than ninth in the short at her three previous world meets or her Olympic appearance last month.
As has so often been the case the last two seasons, Glenn masterfully executed her triple Axel to open the free skate and rolled through the next two jumping passes before coming undone. She made mistakes on her final four jumping passes, the costliest a single rather than triple loop.
Glenn 6th at World Figure Skating Championships
Amber Glenn followed up the third-best short program at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships with the ninth-best free skate in Prague, Czechia to finish 6th overall in women’s singles.
Glenn’s final pose called for her to balance on her left hand and right knee. She immediately collapsed onto her elbows and both knees and buried her anguished face in both hands. She finished ninth in the free skate and sixth overall, nearly 13 points from a medal.
“I just lost focus,” Glenn told NBC Sports’ Andrea Joyce. “I did the hard things and let the easy things kind of get away from me. (The feeling) was just overall shock.”
Levito hung onto her fourth place from the short program despite a seventh-place free skate with two significant errors.
“I was very confident going in today,” Levito said. “I was very surprised and disappointed it didn’t go the way that would logically make sense.”
Levito 4th at World Figure Skating Championships
Entering the free skate in 4th, Isabeau Levito registered a score of 134.83 points to finish 4th overall (206.99) at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechia.
No one was a match for Sakamoto as she won a fourth world title, becoming the first woman to do that since Michelle Kwan of the U.S. won her fourth of five in 2002.
Over the past five seasons, Sakamoto racked up one achievement after another: three previous world titles, Olympic bronze and silver medals, five straight national titles against consistently great competition. It is the stuff legends are made of.
“I’m very grateful when people call me the GOAT or one of the greatest of all time,” she said through an interpreter. “But I also feel a little bit embarrassed about it.”
Chiba, also speaking through an interpreter, probably added to that embarrassment when she was asked what Sakamoto had meant to the sport and what made her special.
“Her greatest strength is her wonderful skating skills and her flow,” Chiba said. “And then you have these huge jumps that travel great distances.
“Her performance shows us what the beauty of figure skating is. Watching her skate is almost an overwhelming experience.”
Sakamoto will go on to skate shows and get the license needed to coach children. She is retiring at the peak of her command of the blades. It almost seems a shame, but she has no second thoughts.
“It’s exactly how my music goes,” she said, referring to the Edith Piaf song, “No, I Have No Regrets,” that ended her free skate.
“This,” Sakamoto said, “is really how I feel.”
(Philip Hersh, who has covered figure skating at the last 13 Winter Olympics, is a special contributor to NBCSports.com)
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