Ito placed 5th at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In Calgary, she performed a double loop-triple loop in the short program, and seven triples in the free skating: Lutz, flip, double Axel-half loop-triple Salchow combination, loop, triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, and another Salchow. She received the best technical scores given, two 5.8 and seven 5.9 marks, despite skating before the final flight. Her successful seven triple jumps were two more than any of the other skaters even attempted. Later that same year, she perfected the triple Axel, which she had been working on since her early teens, and landed it at a regional competition in the Aichi prefecture. She became the first woman to land it in international competition at the 1988 NHK Trophy. She then repeated the feat at the World Championships in 1989. Ito thus became the first woman to execute all six possible triple jumps in World competition: Axel, Lutz, flip, loop, Salchow, and toe loop. She was 6th in the compulsory figures but made up for it. She won the gold medal with a flawless free skating when she received 6.0s for technical merit from five of the nine judges, receiving 5.9s from the rest. Her win at the 1989 World Championships was the first world title in the sport for an Asian competitor.