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.
Canada's Madeline Schizas placed 16th with a score of 60.02 to qualify for the women's free skate. 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.