Japan's Sakamoto notches season-best short program to lead women's event at figure skating worlds

Kaori Sakamoto produced a near-flawless display to lead the field after the women's short program at the figure skating world championships in Saitama, Japan on Wednesday with a season's best score of 79.24.

Skating to "Rock With U" by Janet Jackson, the 22-year-old from Japan nailed her routine that included a double axel and a triple Lutz to move ahead of Lee Hae-in (73.62) and training mate Mai Mihara (73.46) with Friday's free skate to follow.

"I was pretty calm today and able to skate like my everyday practice," said Sakamoto, who aims to become the first woman to claim back-to-back world titles since Evgenia Medvedeva.

Japan's hopes in the men's competition took a hit as world champion Shoma Uno suffered a right ankle injury after falling on a quadruple Salchow in practice and the 25-year-old will be assessed before Thursday's short program.

Canadian champion Madeline Schizas, of Oakville, Ont., stumbled and placed 16th with a score of 60.02.

"I'm happy with the fight I showed after the fall but not super happy with the score," said Schizas. "I landed the triple-triple combo which is a make-or-break jump for me here, but I came here to get a top-10."

Earlier, home favourites Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara drew a standing ovation from the predominantly Japanese crowd at the Saitama Super Arena with an assured run to top the pairs event with a career-best 80.72 in the short program.

The 2022 worlds silver medallists have been in red-hot form having won the Grand Prix Final in Turin and last month's Four Continents Championship and dazzled again skating to "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Kihara said they were inspired by Japan's victory over the United States in the World Baseball Classic final.

"We wanted to watch the ninth inning but we had to prepare for the event, so we rushed out to grab lunch and by the time we got back it was over," Kihara said.

The Toronto-based duo — who became only the fifth team to cross the 80-point mark in their short program — can secure Japan's first ever world title in pairs with another strong showing in Thursday's free skate.

They lead reigning world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States, who overcame a fall by the latter during their side-by-side jumps to sit second with 74.64.

Knierim and Frazier are without coach Todd Sand as the two-times Olympian recovers from a heart attack.

Meanwhile, two Canadian pairs lingered just off of the podium. National champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps sat in fourth place, less than a point behind the Italians at 72.81.