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The plan is simple for Figure Skater Satoko Miyahara as she eyes up the most important season of her already glittering career: go out and enjoy every moment.

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Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

From sharing the joy she feels when performing her new Short Program to bouncing off the buzz created by the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and even embracing the challenges presented by COVID-19, the Japanese star is determined to channel positivity at every turn.

“I am feeling very good,” the double ISU World Figure Skating Championships winning medallist – a guest on the most recent episode of The Ice Skating Podcast – told the ISU recently. “I am still in Japan but I am able to skate, to practise a lot and I am having a great time every day.”

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Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) Kaetlyn Osmond (CAN) and Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

It may be three years since Miyahara won the last of those ISU World Figure Skating Championships medals – taking bronze in 2018 in Milan, Italy – but the 23-year-old is ready to break her duck and claim a first Olympic medal.

Getting the opportunity to see what the Olympic Games really mean to the public has provided the spark that has perhaps been missing at times in recent seasons.

“My whole family were really enjoying the Olympics more and more,” said Miyahara, who was performing in ice shows all over Japan during her home Games. “I think all of the Japanese people were having fun.”

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Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

The 2016 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating champion revealed that she had spent every minute between performances keeping up-to-date with all the latest Olympic action on her phone. And while she was captivated by all sorts of sports, with Japanese athletes grabbing so many medals, two caught her attention in particular.

“Many of my friends were performing in table tennis and artistic gymnastics. I texted them beforehand and told them to go for it,” Miyahara said, before revealing she is no danger of swapping her skates for a racket or leotard any time soon.

“I am so bad, terrible at table tennis and I have never done artistic gymnastics, never.”

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Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

The self-deprecating smile which accompanied these revelations is never far from Miyahara’s face and indicates just where she is at mentally. Training is intense but fun, as she works on integrating more jumps into her routine, with those looming Olympic Games in mind.

“Yes there are lots of bruises and it’s hard work,” she said. “But the work is making me very active and positive. And I need the practice.”

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Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021©International Skating Union (ISU)

The impact of COVID-19 means legendary Canadian choreographer Lori Nichol can only join her on Zoom but backed by exhortations to “skate big” and “fly”, Miyahara is adamant she is loving the challenge. Her new Short Program is her “favourite ever” and she cannot wait to share that sense of joy with an audience.

“Once the music turns on I can feel the whole speed of this Program and special moment of this Program,” she said.

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Satoko Miyahara (JPN) at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

The Kyoto native is set to skate as much as possible between now and Beijing 2022. Debilitating nerves have made her feel “shaky” and “stiff” on the ice in the past, but as she told The Ice Skating Podcast, she has found a solution with a change of approach and focus.

“I think I am a totally different person. I mean I am myself but I think it’s a really different person compared to three years ago,” she said. 

“I think I can find something new going towards the Olympics.”

Listen to the podcast here: