Women’s keirin world champion Mina Sato capped a near-perfect 2025 with a decisive victory in Monday’s Girls Grand Prix event at Hiratsuka.

Racing in her home region of Kanagawa, the 27-year-old entered the race as the overwhelming favourite, having won all of 2025’s G1 events: the remaining participants were therefore based on prize money ranking over the year.

Things began in ponderous fashion, with big gaps in the line as the pacer made his exit. But Sato 1 was in no mood to mess around: she powered out of the final bend as the bell rang to take the lead, then surged again with half a lap left, clearly wary of attacks from behind.

But nobody could match her power, and she won by almost a bike-length from the 40-year-old Mutsumi Ozaki 5, with Uta Kume 3 coming through traffic to win the chase for third.

‘I’m not the type to think about plans too much in advance, so I thought I’d watch the race and make a decision on the spot,’ she said afterwards (in translation). ‘I barely remember the race.’

She admitted the prospect of taking a historic Grand Prix Slam – all G1 events, plus the Grand Prix – had been a pressure on her; but she could now race a little more relaxed next year. That probably isn’t good news for her rivals.

It gave the 2024 and 2025 UCI world champion her second Girls Grand Prix title, and made up for a disappointing second place in 2024. She finishes 2025 with 15 wins from 16 starts in domestic Japanese keirin, with only a second-place in April blotting her record. She also currently tops the UCI’s world rankings of women sprinters.

She wins a prize of 15.3 million JPY (US$ 98,000) – an increase of around 7.5% on last year, but still far short of the prize money on offer for the men’s event the following day.

Asked about her plans for 2026, Sato said she was particularly looking forward to the Keirin World Series, which will see international riders returning to Japanese competition for the first time since 2019. The first races involving foreign stars are set for early June.