Kajihara began practicing with no prior experience, and qualified to compete in the Inter-High School Championships in just two months.

On August 6, she competed in the women's madison track cycling event with Kisato Nakamura, but she was two laps behind and withdrew midway through, placing 13th.

[15] Aiming for the Paris Olympics, Kajihara relocated her training ground in Switzerland on February 2023 for about half a year, becoming the first Japanese woman to join the World Cycling Centre road team.

[16] After returning to Japan, she suffered a series of injuries, including damaging the ligaments in her left knee after falling off the bike during a race.

She competed in the pursuit qualifying round with Tsuyaka Uchino, Mizuki Ikeda and Maho Kakita, and finished with a total time of 4 minutes 13.818 seconds, which broke the Japanese record, but she was eliminated in 10th place overall.

[20] After the third event, when her chances of winning a medal seemed remote, she received a phone call from her mother telling her to "do your best until the end for yourself," which helped her change her mindset.