Sakamoto goals to exit on a excessive after Liu withdrawsrevealed at 13:36 GMT 27 March
Emma Smith
BBC Sport journalist
Image supply, Getty ImagesJust as on the Olympics, anticipate the ladies’s competitors to be a struggle between USA and Japan for the medal locations.
However the steadiness has been tipped again in favour of the Japanese after Liu, the reigning world champion who added Olympic gold last month with a shocking free skate routine, withdrew from competitors.
It accomplished an unimaginable comeback for Liu, who give up the game aged 16 after the 2022 Olympics as she was not having fun with herself.
Since the Olympics, Liu has grow to be a mainstream superstar within the USA – she was lately seen on the Oscars – however admits she has not had sufficient prep time to compete successfully on the Worlds.
“There’s so many commitments I have and activities that are overlapping with the Worlds,” she informed NBC. “And then also I don’t have much time training, so I was like, I can’t be doing the Worlds. I don’t think I would be able to put out my best performance.”
Most more likely to step as much as the highest of the rostrum is Milan silver medallist and three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, in her last efficiency earlier than retirement.
Her Japanese compatriot and inheritor obvious is 17-12 months-previous Ami Nakai, whose Olympic bronze marked her as a star of the longer term.
Meanwhile American champion Amber Glenn might be in search of atonement after a catastrophe in Milan, the place an invalid aspect in her quick program scuppered her medal probabilities.
