Kaori Sakamoto signs off with a 4th world figure skating title before retirement

PRAGUE (AP) — Kaori Sakamoto bid farewell to figure skating with a fourth world championship title before retirement as one of the most decorated skaters in decades.

Sakamoto took to the ice to cheers from a packed arena in Prague and delivered a typically artistic and consistent final free skate to stay ahead of her Japanese teammate Mone Chiba.

After signing off to Edith Piaf's “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” Sakamoto made a double fist pump as her coaches hugged rink-side and Chiba stood to applaud.

Minutes later, Sakamoto jumped up and danced in celebration at leaving on a personal-best total 238.28 points and embraced Chiba, who scored 228.47. “I'm so happy,” Sakamoto said to whoops from the crowd. “I'm grateful that I get to skate here."

Nina Pinzarrone took a surprise bronze on 215.20, a breakthrough moment after years of being overshadowed by her Belgian teammate, 2022 world silver medalist Loena Hendrickx.

Sakamoto broke through with individual bronze at the 2022 Olympics and won the first of three world titles in a row — a feat not seen in women's skating since the 1960s — soon after.

Sakamoto never won Olympic gold but leaves with four career Olympic medals including team and individual silvers from the Milan Cortina Olympics. She plans to become a coach.

Isabeau Levito was fourth for the United States and three-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn was still waiting for a first world medal in sixth after popping two jumps. Glenn had been third after the short program and started her free skate with a huge triple axel, but halfway through, a triple loop became a single, and then a double axel went missing too, leaving valuable points on the ice. “I lost my focus,” she said.

A Japanese podium sweep had seemed possible before the championships but Olympic bronze medalist Ami Nakai was only ninth after errors in both programs.

Alysa Liu withdrew from the world championships as she negotiates her rise to fame after winning the Olympic gold last month.

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France improved their rhythm dance to take a commanding lead in the ice dance.

The crowd in O2 Arena was applauding the Olympic champions before the start of their unrivaled dance to music by Madonna, and they delighted the spectators from the opening twizzle sequence to a rotational lift at the end.

Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron hugged after seeing their personal-best score of 92.74 points, which was better than the 90.18 they received for their rhythm dance at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

“It′s our first world championships together so we really wanted to have fun and we really enjoyed the crowd,” Fournier Beaudry said. “They were exchanging energy with us and it just reminds us why we do it, we wouldn′t be there without them. It′s just a very, very nice moment for us.”

Olympic bronze medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada were a distant second with 86.45 heading to Saturday′s free dance.

Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, third at last year's worlds, were third again with 85.09.

U.S. pair Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, fifth at the Olympics, were lying fourth, and teammates Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were seventh.

At the Olympics, Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron narrowly beat U.S. stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates to the gold in a result that sparked a furore over judging.

Chock and Bates decided not to pursue a fourth straight ice dance world championship, joining Olympic teammate Alysa Liu in withdrawing from the worlds, a common decision for skaters who compete at the Winter Games.

Cizeron said the skaters were not under as much pressure in Prague as they were in Milan, which helped their performance.

“What′s really fun of this championships is that, I think I can speak for everyone, we feel it′s more like a show and we're little bit less stressed maybe than at the Olympics," he said. “That extra magic from the crowd allows us to perform to our best.”

The French couple was created this season when Fournier Beaudry, who previously skated for Canada, was left without a partner after Nikolaj Sorensen faced allegations of sexual maltreatment. Fournier Beaudry teamed with multiple world champion Cizeron, who retired after winning the 2022 Olympics with Gabriella Papadakis.

AP Sports Writer James Ellingworth contributed to this report.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

Amber Glenn from the United States reacts at the end of her routine during the women free skating at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Mone Chiba from Japan competes during the women free skating at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Kaori Sakamoto from Japan reacts at the end of her routine during the women free skating at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Kaori Sakamoto from Japan reacts at the end of her routine during the women free skating at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko from the United States perform during the ice dance rhythm dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik from the United States perform during the ice dance rhythm dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson from Great Britain perform during the ice dance rhythm dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier from Canada perform during the ice dance rhythm dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron from France perform during the ice dance rhythm dance at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 7 million student loan borrowers who have been enrolled in a Biden-era repayment plan will receive notices beginning Friday with instructions to seek a new plan to repay their debt, the Education Department said.

Borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan, which was struck down by a federal court earlier this month, have been in forbearance since July 2024 as a legal battle played out in courts. Starting July 1, loan servicers will begin issuing notices giving borrowers 90 days to select a new repayment plan.

The available repayment plans will mean higher monthly payments for most of those borrowers.

When Alexis Arredondo graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2024 with a degree in microbiology, he struggled to find full-time work in research or public health. Instead, he began working part-time and freelancing for nonprofits in Southern California.

A first-generation college student, he took on roughly $40,000 in student debt and enrolled in the SAVE plan upon graduation. Now, he said, he has to choose between paying more per month, which would be a struggle to afford, or a longer repayment period, which would increase how much he pays in interest.

“It’s very difficult knowing where I’m going to be to able to get this money from,” he said.

The SAVE plan was among several initiatives launched by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to reduce Americans’ student debt burden.

Under President Donald Trump, a Republican, “The days of unlawful loan forgiveness are behind us,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said.

“Let me be clear, the Trump administration’s perspective is that when a student takes out a loan, they are responsible for repaying it,” Kent told The Associated Press.

The SAVE plan provided more lenient terms than other repayment plans, reducing loan payments to as little as 5% of a borrower's discretionary income and offering forgiveness for borrowers who made payments for at least 10 years and originally borrowed $12,000 or less.

While the court challenges played out, borrowers enrolled in the plan have not been required to make payments. But debt balances began accruing interest following a court ruling last summer that blocked implementation of the SAVE plan, meaning some students will see increases in the amount they owe.

Borrowers have felt whiplash as the challenges to the SAVE plan worked their way through court, said Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center.

“Over and over again, education officials of both parties made promises about fixing the broken student loan system and called student debt a crisis,” he said. “And yet today, these same borrowers are being told it’s time to pay and you have no good options.”

The most forgiving income-based repayment plan now is calculated off at least 10% of an individual’s discretionary income.

Last year, the Trump administration and Congress made several changes to student loan repayment options that will take effect over the next two years. For one, new student loans will no longer have the option of deferment because of unemployment or economic hardship.

“You’re talking about a pressing current affordability crisis, and you took away the most affordable plan option,” said Alexander Lundrigan, policy and advocacy manager at Young Invincibles, an advocacy group.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit struck down the SAVE plan. The Education Department's notices to borrowers beginning Friday will direct them to enroll in a plan and resume making payments as soon as this summer.

Borrowers will be contacted by their loan servicers in stages, with a new group receiving word every two weeks. Those who had been enrolled in the SAVE plan the longest will be the first to receive notices.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - The U.S. Department of Education building is seen in Washington, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)