Yuna Nagaoka
| Yuna Nagaoka | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | 長岡 柚奈 | ||||||||
| Born | July 13, 2005 Hokkaido, Japan | ||||||||
| Hometown | Kyoto, Japan | ||||||||
| Height | 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in) | ||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||
| Country |  Japan | ||||||||
| Discipline | Pair skating (since 2023) Women's singles (2016–23) | ||||||||
| Partner | Sumitada Moriguchi (since 2023) | ||||||||
| Coach | Bruno Marcotte Brian Shales Mie Hamada Cathy Reed Satsuki Muramoto Hiroaki Sato | ||||||||
| Skating club | Kinoshita Academy | ||||||||
| Began skating | 2012 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Yuna Nagaoka (長岡 柚奈, Nagaoka Yuna, born July 13, 2005) is a Japanese pair skater. With partner, Sumitada Moriguchi, she is the 2023–24 Japan national champion and the 2024–25 Japan national silver medalist.[1]
Personal life
[edit]Nagaoka was born on July 13, 2005 in Hokkaido, Japan.[2]
In 2024, she graduated from Fuji Women's Junior and Senior High School.[3]
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]Nagaoka began figure skating in 2012.[2] Originally a singles skater, she trained at the ROYCE'F･S･C in Sapporo, Hokkaido, coached by Mami Yamada, the childhood coach of Yuzuru Hanyu. Nagaoka got to meet Hanyu when he visited her training rink to personally thank Yamada and have a Q&A session with Yamada's students following his second Olympic gold medal win in 2018.[4][5]
In 2019, a member of the Japan Skating Federation approached a fourteen-year old Nagaoka, asking if she would be interested in skating in the pairs discipline due to her small stature. Following the encounter, Nagaoka, who did not know much about pair skating at the time, decided to attend the 2019 Japan Eastern Sectional Championships to watch then newly formed team, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara, compete. The experience made Nagaoka want try competing in the pairs discipline, however, at the time it was difficult to find a Japanese male skater that was interested in teaming up with her. Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 caused numerous Japanese skating rinks to close down, making pair skating tryout opportunities even more difficult to come by.[6][7] That same year, remaining in Sapporo, Nagaoka moved her training to Fuji Women's University, where Naomi Takagi became her new coach.[8][9]
Nagaoka would compete at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships in the women's singles event, where she finished twenty-third.[10]
Partnership with Moriguchi
[edit]2023–2024 season
[edit]In April 2023, the Japan Skating Federation organized a training camp, which Nagaoka decided to attend. During the camp, she met the pair skating coach of Miura/Kihara, Bruno Marcotte, who immediately noticed her potential as a pair skater. Marcotte ended up introducing Nagaoka to his other student, Sumitada Moriguchi, whose previous pair partnership had recently dissolved. Following a successful tryout, the pair decided to team up with their long-term goal being to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Nagaoka left her hometown of Hokkaido and relocated to Uji, Kyoto, the city where Moriguchi primarily trained at. They were officially announced as a pair team in May 2022. It was also announced that Nagaoka/Moriguchi would primarily train at the Kinoshita Academy, where they would work with coaches, Mie Hamada, Cathy Reed, Satsuki Muramoto, and Hiroaki Sato, while also making frequent trips to Oakville, Ontario, Canada to work with pair skating coaches, Bruno Marcotte and Brian Shales, at the Oakville Skating Club.[6][11][12][13][2]
It was announced in May 2023 that the pair would split their time between training in Kyoto with Nagaoka/Moriguchi debuted as a pair at the Japan Eastern Sectionals, which they won. Elected as a host pick, Nagaoka/Moriguchi made their Grand Prix debut at the 2023 NHK Trophy. They scored 45.36 for their short program, 90.03 for their free, and 135.39 overall, placing eighth. They went on to win gold at the 2023–24 Japanese National Championships.[14]
They were named to the 2024 World team on the condition that they could obtain their technical minimums at the 2024 Bavarian Open or the 2024 International Challenge Cup.[15][16] At these events, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished fourth and sixth respectively. Although the pair scored the scored the minimum technical element score needed for the free skate, they failed to score the minimum technical element score for the short program. As a result, they were unable to compete at the 2024 World Championships.[17][1]
2024–2025 season
[edit]Nagaoka/Moriguchi began their season by competing at the 2024 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition, where they finished eighth.[1] Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, Nagaoka/Moriguchi scored personal bests in all competition segments at the 2024 NHK Trophy and finish in seventh place overall.[14] The team would also surpass the minimum technical element score, making them eligible to compete at the World Championships.[18] Initially only assigned one Grand Prix event, Nagaoka/Moriguchi's names were assigned to the 2024 Finlandia Trophy days before the event following the withdrawal of Australian pair team, Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore.[19][20] At the event, the pair place eighth of the eight pair teams in the short program but would score a personal best free skate by almost eight points, finishing third in that competition segment and moving up to sixth place overall.[14][21]
In late December, the pair won the silver medal at the 2024–25 Japan Championships behind Miura/Kihara.[22]
Programs
[edit]With Moriguchi
[edit]| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–2025 [23] |
|
|
|
| 2023–2024 [2] |
|
Singles skating
[edit]| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–2023 [8] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
[edit]Pairs with Moriguchi
[edit]- GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
- CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
- TBD – Assigned
- WD – Withdrew from competition
| International[14][1][24] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 23–24 | 24–25 | |
| GP Finland | 6th | ||
| GP NHK Trophy | 8th | 7th | |
| CS John Nicks Pairs | 8th | ||
| Asian Winter Games | TBD | ||
| Challenge Cup | 6th | ||
| Bavarian Open | 4th | ||
| National [14] | |||
| Japan | 1st | 2nd | |
| TBD = Assigned | |||
Singles skating
[edit]| National[10] | |
|---|---|
| Event | 22–23 |
| Japan Junior | 23rd |
Detailed results
[edit]| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 172.47 | 2024 NHK Trophy |
| Short program | TSS | 60.32 | 2024 NHK Trophy |
| TES | 32.87 | 2024 NHK Trophy | |
| PCS | 27.45 | 2024 NHK Trophy | |
| Free skating | TSS | 120.05 | 2024 Finlandia Trophy |
| TES | 64.27 | 2024 Finlandia Trophy | |
| PCS | 56.18 | 2024 NHK Trophy |
Pair skating
[edit]With Moriguchi
[edit]Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Sep 3–4, 2024 |  2024 CS John Nicks Pairs
|
8 | 55.92 | 8 | 102.98 | 8 | 158.90 |
| Nov 8–10, 2024 | 2024 NHK Trophy
|
5 | 60.32 | 7 | 112.15 | 7 | 172.47 |
| Nov 15–17, 2024 |  2024 Finlandia Trophy
|
8 | 51.75 | 3 | 120.05 | 6 | 171.80 |
| Dec 19–22, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships
|
2 | 61.82 | 2 | 114.86 | 2 | 176.68 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Nov 24–26, 2023 | 2023 NHK Trophy
|
8 | 45.36 | 8 | 90.03 | 8 | 135.39 |
| Dec 20–24, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships
|
1 | 56.07 | 1 | 117.57 | 1 | 173.64 |
| Jan 30–Feb 4, 2024 |  2024 Bavarian Open
|
5 | 48.90 | 4 | 100.35 | 4 | 149.25 |
| Feb 22–25, 2024 |  2024 Challenge Cup
|
6 | 51.98 | 4 | 106.46 | 6 | 158.44 |
Singles skating
[edit]| 2022–23 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 25–27, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships | 22 45.20 |
23 77.32 |
23 122.52 |
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI: Competition Results". International Skating Union. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 22, 2024.
- ^ "Yuna Nagaoka, who placed 8th in the 2023 NHK Trophy Figure Pairs and won the Pairs at the 92nd All Japan Figure Skating Championships, has graduated from our school. We wish her continued success in the future". Facebook. Fuji Girls' Junior and Senior High School. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "190823 Every 羽生结弦向恩师报告蝉联奥运冠军". Weibo. news every. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ "2019 東北・北海道選手権大 会ジュニア女子 - 最終結果". Japan Skating Federation. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ a b "長岡柚奈選手＆森口澄士選手「（長岡選手は）恐怖心を乗り越えられそうな選手だと思った」 フィギュアスケーターのオアシス♪ KENJIの部屋". J Sports. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ ""りくりゅう先輩"がきっかけに…日本ペアの新星、長岡柚奈19歳＆森口澄士22歳が成長中！「隣に信頼してる人がいる」結成2季目の関係性". Bunshin. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ a b "2022全日本ジュニアフィギュアスケート選手権 （11/25～27）" (PDF). Fuji TV. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "2020 東北・北海道選手権大会 ジュニア女子 - 最終結果". Japan Skating Federation. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ a b "Yuna Nagaoka". Skating Scores. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
- ^ "【フィギュア】「"ゆなすみ"でいきましょう！」長岡柚奈、森口澄士組がペア新結成の経緯明かす". Nikkan Sports. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "【フィギュア】注目の新ペア誕生 長岡柚奈と森口澄士「２人で成長していけるように」". Nikkan Sports. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "長岡柚奈選手＆森口澄士選手「夢であるオリンピックで金メダルを獲ることを追い続ける」 フィギュアスケーターのオアシス♪ KENJIの部屋". J Sports. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f "JPN-Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi". Skating Scores.
- ^ @skatejapanews (December 24, 2023). "Junior Worlds Assignments✨" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @skatejapanews (January 18, 2024). "Pairs entries for Bavarian Open 2023" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ 仁志, 倉沢. "ペア「ゆなすみ」インタビュー「来年は一緒に世界選手権出ようねって」". Manichi. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- ^ "【フィギュアNHK杯】『ゆなすみ』ペア、世界選手権ミニマムスコア突破 長岡柚奈「自信にもつながる」". Chunichi. Chunichi. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
- ^ @AnythingGOE (November 7, 2024). "🇦🇺 Anastasia Golubeva / Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have withdrawn from Finlandia Trophy due to Golubeva suffering with poor health after falling ill with COVID" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Update: Yuna NAGAOKA/Sumitada MORIGUCHI will be competing at GP Finland 2024 next week". X. Skate Japan News. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
- ^ "2024 GP Finlandia Trophy - Pair Final Results". Skating Scores. Skating Scores. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "2025 Japanese Nationals - Pairs Final Results". Skating Scores. Skating Scores. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
- ^ "Yuna NAGAOKA / Sumitada MORIGUCHI: 2024/2025". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 25, 2024.
- ^ "長岡 柚奈 Yuna NAGAOKA / 森口 澄士 Sumitada MORIGUCHI". Fuji TV. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
External links
[edit]- Yuna Nagaoka / Sumitada Moriguchi at the International Skating Union
- NAGAOKA Yuna at Japan Skating Federation
- Yuna Nagaoka on Instagram
- Yuna Nagaoka / Sumitada Moriguchi at SkatingScores.com
- Yuna Nagaoka at SkatingScores.com