Sano became the Japanese national champion for the first time in the 1972–73 season. In 1973 and 1974, he stood on the podium at the Skate Canada International and Prize of Moscow News. He represented Japan at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria and finished ninth. The next season, he won his fifth consecutive national title and went on to win bronze at the 1977 World Championships in Tokyo. It was the first time that a Japanese representative stood on the world podium in any figure skating discipline. Japan would not win another world medal in men's singles until 2002 (bronze for Takeshi Honda).