In 2011, Sato temporarily moved his training to Saitama after he and his family were forced to evacuate Sendai following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

At the JGP Final, he set new junior world records for the free skating and the combined score en route to winning the gold medal, ahead of Russians Andrei Mozalev and Daniil Samsonov.

"[9] Sato won the silver medal at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships, behind Yuma Kagiyama and ahead of Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda.

[14] Sato started the season competing at 2021 Japan Open, where he placed second in the men's free program after landing four quadruple jumps for the first time and won the gold medal with his teammates.

He was then assigned to participate in the 2021 Asian Open Trophy, which served as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he won a silver medal with unofficial personal bests in the short program and total score.

[15] At his first Grand Prix event, 2021 Skate America, Sato dislocated his left acromioclavicular joint on a fall during practice.

[16][17][18] At this second event, the 2021 Internationaux de France, Sato was fourth in the short program and third in the free skate, taking the silver medal overall, his first on the Grand Prix.

[21] He subsequently declined to compete in the World Junior Championships due to his left shoulder injury and was replaced by Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda.

"[25][26] Competing at the Final in Turin, Sato placed sixth of six skaters in the short program after falling on his opening quad Lutz attempt and performing only a quad-double jump combination.

[33] A clean free skate, but for an edge call on a triple flip jump, saw him place third in that segment and rise to third overall, taking the bronze medal.

[37] In the short program he fell on his quad Lutz attempt and managed only a quad-double jump combination, placing eleventh in the segment.

[40] In the free skate he landed only one of three quads cleanly, coming fourth in the segment, but he remained in third place overall and won the bronze medal.

[41] Sato was second in the short program at the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, but won the free skate with a new personal best score of 182.93; however, he remained second overall, 1.22 points behind Kao Miura.

[45] Sato began the season by competing at the 2024 CS Lombardia Trophy, where he won the bronze medal behind reigning World gold and silver medalists, Ilia Malinin and Yuma Kagiyama.

In the free skate, Sato would land three clean quad jumps and earn the highest technical score out of all the men in the event.

[49][50] Two weeks later, Sato competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where he faltered during his short and free program, finishing a disappointing seventh place overall.