Sakamoto leads after short program at figure skating worlds

MONTPELLIER, France (AP) — Olympic bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan took a comfortable lead over Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx and American figure skater Mariah Bell after the short program at the world championships. Sakamoto’s program featured a triple flip-triple toe loop and earned huge component marks for a score of 80.32 points. That was more than five points clear of Hendrickx, who was seventh at the Beijing Games last month, and nearly eight points ahead of Bell, who finished 11th at the Olympics. The top two finishers at the Beijing Olympics are missing from worlds because Russian athletes are banned following the invasion of Ukraine.