Beijing Winter Olympic bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan was in the lead after Wednesday's women's short program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France.

Skating to music from the film "Gladiator", Sakamoto completed a huge double Axel, triple Lutz and triple flip-triple toe to hit a personal best of 80.32 points, more than five points clear of Belgium's Loena Hendrickx, and nearly eight ahead of Mariah Bell of the United States. The performance boosts her chances of winning the title after the free skating on Friday.

"Regarding today's performance, it's actually the first time for me to score above 80, so I am actually very happy about that. I think my performance was very speedy and I was able to land all three jumps, so I think it's probably the best performance that I am capable of doing," Sakamoto said.

With Russian skaters absent, 21-year-old Sakamoto is the favorite. If she wins, it will be a Japanese skater's first world title in eight years, breaking the monopoly of Russians.

Multiple Belgian champion Hendrickx, who finished seventh in Beijing, also posted her personal best of 75.00 points to the music of "Caruso." 

Later in the pairs short program, which did not feature the top five finishers at Beijing 2022, the United States completed a one-two finish with Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier taking top spot with 76.88, ahead of teammates Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc with 75.85. Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara finished third with 71.58.

Knierim and Frazier's personal best performance is the first time that U.S. pairs have led at a world championship in 43 years. 

The tournament's first medals will be awarded in the pairs after the free skating on Thursday.

(With input from Xinhua)