HALIFAX, Canada (Kyodo) — Japan’s three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto led after the women’s short program Friday at Skate Canada International, the second event of the ISU Grand Prix series.

Sakamoto scored 74.97 points in Halifax in her first heat outing of the season and took a commanding lead over second-place American Alysa Liu, the 2022 World Championships bronze medalist who recorded 67.68 on his return to competition after two seasons of absence.

“I was given more points than I expected. I shouldn’t feel satisfied,” Sakamoto said after underrotating the second part of her triple flip-triple toe loop combination, with which she was having trouble in training.

The 24-year-old was also not satisfied with her expression of tango since she is trying it for the first time in her career.

“It hasn’t clicked yet. I would give a score of 55 out of 100,” Sakamoto said. “I hope to do it perfectly in training so that I can achieve it with confidence.”

Kimmy Repond of Switzerland placed third with 66.94, followed by Hana Yoshida of Japan with 65.32. Rino Matsuike finished 10th with 52.31 among 12 skaters.