After curling for 25 years, Sayaka Yoshimura has decided to step away from high-performance competition. 

The veteran Japanese women’s fours skip competed in multiple Pacific-Asia and world championships, and her performances managed to overshadow rival Satsuki Fujisawa over the past two seasons. 

In the end, Yoshimura’s crowing achievement – and longtime goal – was last February’s appearance for Japan at the Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games.

“Balancing childcare, competitive sports, and work made my days far busier than I imagined, but they were also incredibly fulfilling,” Yoshimura said in a social media post. 

Yoshimura explained that over time spent competing, her feelings started to change and “that change was a growing desire to cherish time with my children and family.”

Yoshimura had decided prior to the 2025-2026 season that this would be her last go at the Olympics and her attitude was “go to the Olympics no matter what!”

“The results at the Olympics were far from satisfactory, and I was left with many regrets, but the fact that I was able to persevere and challenge myself until the very end is a great source of pride for both myself and the team,” Yoshimura posted.

The skip is thankful for her experiences and memories and says “25 years since I started curling, I have been able to continue competing with the support of so many people. I have experienced countless happy, joyful, frustrating, and painful things, and each of them has been a precious time that has helped me grow.”

Yoshimura will continue working with Team Fortius “by being involved in the team’s public relations efforts, including spreading, fostering, and contributing to the community.” 

Yoshimura captured the 2025 national title, the first of three championships held at the new Yokohama BUNTAI, but finished third in her last on-ice appearance two weeks ago.

Yoshimura follows former coach Niklas Edin into retirement, as well as the rival third for Team Fujisawa, Chinami Yoshida.