is a Japanese

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. She is the

2022 Skate Canada International The 2022 Skate Canada International is the second event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It will be held at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario ...

champion and the

2022 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy Memorial Anna Grandolfi was held on September 16–18, 2022 in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, and ice da ...

champion.

Personal life

Watanabe was born on 19 July 2002 in

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

. Watanabe learned to speak

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

from her time living and training in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Skating career

Early years

Watanabe began figure skating at the age of three after watching Shizuka Arakawa win

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

on TV. After winning the 2013 Japanese national novice B gold medal, she was invited to skate in the gala at the 2013 NHK Trophy. In 2017, Watanabe moved to

, Canada, after her longtime coach, Megumu Seki, moved from

to coach there. Given few international assignments in the early years of her junior career, she won the junior silver medal at the 2018

Bavarian Open The Bavarian Open is an annual international figure skating competition organized by the Skating Union of Bavaria. Since 2011, it is sanctioned by the Deutsche Eislauf Union and the International Skating Union. The event is held in February at Eiss ...

and gold in the junior competition in the 2019

Coupe du Printemps The ISU Coupe du Printemps ( French for ''Spring Cup'') is an annual figure skating competition held in March in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg. The competition may include men's singles, ladies' singles, and pairs from senior to novice levels, and re ...

. Following the outbreak of the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic in 2020, the rink that Watanabe trained at in Vancouver closed down, forcing her to move her training back to Japan. Watanabe was briefly coached by Mie Hamada until the MF Figure Skating Academy opened in her hometown of Chiba in the spring of 2021.

Kensuke Nakaniwa is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. He is a two-time Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion, the 2003 Winter Universiade bronze medalist, and a three-time Japan national medalist. He finished in the top ten at three Four Continents Champi ...

, Makoto Nakata, Momoe Naguma, and Aya Tanoue became her coaches.

2021–2022 season

In her final season of international junior eligibility, Watanabe was not able to participate in the

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

because the

Japan Skating Federation The Japan Skating Federation ( ja, 日本スケート連盟) is the sports governing body of Japan for figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in 1929. The current president (since 2019) is Akihisa Nagashima, a ...

opted not to send singles skaters abroad in the fall. She finished sixth at the Japan Championships, earning international assignments for the second half of the season. Watanabe competed in the junior division at the

, winning the silver medal and earning the technical minimums needed for the 2022 World Junior Championships. She then appeared at the

at the senior level, winning gold, before placing tenth at the World Junior Championships to conclude the season.

2022–2023 season

2022_Figure_Skating_Grand_Prix_Final_Rinka_Watanabe_CroppedEdit

Watanabe began the season by making her Challenger series debut at the

, where she unexpectedly won the gold over reigning

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

and Japanese champion

Kaori Sakamoto is a Japanese competitive figure skater. She is the 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2022 World champion, the 2018 Four Continents champion, a two-time NHK Trophy champion, the 2022 Skate America champion, and a three-time Japanese national ...

. She also cleared the 200-point threshold for the first time internationally. Following her success at the Lombardia Trophy, she was selected to replace

Wakaba Higuchi is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2018 World silver medalist and a five-time Japanese national medalist (bronze in 2015, silver in 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2022). On the junior level, she is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist (2015, ...

at both of her

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

assignments when the latter withdrew due to an injury. Making her Grand Prix debut at the

, she was considered a favourite going in but placed sixth in the short program due to rotation issues on some triple jumps. She rebounded in the free skate, winning that segment and taking the gold medal. Watanabe was pleased afterward, noting, "this is my first time at the Grand Prix, and I did pretty good. I was very nervous. I was told only one week ago that I would participate, and it was hard to adjust my training." Following her win, she entered the 2022 NHK Trophy as a podium favourite but ran into trouble in the short program, where she fell on her triple Axel attempt and then singled an intended triple loop. As a result, she placed ninth in the segment, almost ten points behind third-place

Rion Sumiyoshi is a Japanese figure skater. She is a four-time ISU Grand Prix medalist and the 2022 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist. Earlier in her career, she won bronze at the 2018 JGP Canada and silver at the 2021–22 Japanese Junior Championships. ...

. She rallied in the free skate, landing a slightly underrotated triple Axel and placing third in that segment, and rose to fifth overall, 5.05 points behind bronze medalist Sumiyoshi. Watanabe's results on the Grand Prix qualified her for the

Grand Prix Final The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (formerly Champions Series Final), often shortened to ''Grand Prix Final'' and abbreviated as ''GPF'', is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Medals are awarded in men's singles, ladies' ...

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, one of three Japanese women attending, alongside

and

Mai Mihara is a Japanese competitive figure skater. She is the 2022 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time Four Continents champion (2017, 2022), the 2018 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2019 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2022 MK John Wilson ...

. She finished fourth in the short program after her triple Axel attempt was called a quarter underrotated. In a "turbulent" free skate segment that saw many skaters underperform markedly, Watanabe finished third in that segment and very narrowly fourth overall, only 0.34 points behind bronze medalist

Loena Hendrickx Loena Hendrickx (; born 5 November 1999) is a Belgian figure skater. She is the 2022 World silver medalist, the 2023 European silver medalist, the 2022–23 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2022 Grand Prix de France champion, a two-time ...

of Belgium. Assessing the Final, she said she "liked the overall experience and hope to come back to another. Watanabe struggled in the short program of the 2022–23 Japan Championships, coming eighteenth in that segment. She rose to twelfth place after the free skate. Despite this poor showing at the national championship, her international results earned her assignments to the 2023 Four Continents and 2023 World Championships. At the Four Continents Championship in Colorado Springs, errors saw Watanabe place eighth in the short program. In the free skate, she was one of only three skaters to attempt a triple Axel, and the only one to land it cleanly, though she made errors on both attempted triple Lutz jumps. Fourth in that segment, she moved up to fifth overall. At the World Championships, held on home ice in Saitama, Watanabe placed fifteenth in the short program, but rose to tenth overall with a seventh-place free skate. She expressed that her desire during her competitive career was to challenge herself "to the limit." During the off-season, Watanabe was cast to play

Tony Tony Chopper is a fictional character in the manga series ''One Piece'' by Eiichiro Oda. He is the fifth member to join and the doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates. Chopper is frequently featured on official merchandise, serving as a mascot for the series. The ...

in the summer show '' One Piece on Ice''.

2023–2024 season

Watanabe chose as the thematic subject of her free program "the dark times and struggles with injuries" of her junior career. In her first international competition of the season, she won the silver medal at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy in her first appearance of the season. On the flight to

for the

2023 Skate Canada International The 2023 Skate Canada International was the second event of the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in Vancouver, Br ...

, her first

assignment, she watched '' Avatar: The Way of Water'', whose score was the source of her short program music. She subsequently said she felt that understanding the story made her step sequence "more powerful." Watanabe fell on her triple

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

attempt in the short program, placing seventh in the segment. She made only one mistake in the free skate, singling a planned triple Lutz, rising to sixth overall. She finished second in the short program at the

2023 Cup of China The 2023 Cup of China was the fourth event of the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Center in Chongqing from November 10 ...

despite slight underrotation calls on both parts of her jump combination, setting a new season's best score of 65.09. She was second in the free skate as well, winning the silver medal and finishing only 0.75 points behind gold medalist

Hana Yoshida is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2022 JGP Italy champion, the 2022 JGP France champion, the 2022 Bavarian Open Junior champion, the 2022 Egna Spring Trophy champion, the 2019 Japanese Junior National bronze medalist, and the 2020 J ...

. Watanabe said she had been "very regretful" of her performance in Vancouver, adding "today I feel better because I worked so hard." Watanabe revised her training regimen in advance of the 2023–24 Japan Championships, where she placed sixth.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series''

Seasons: 2017–18 to present

Seasons: 2012–13 through 2016–17

Detailed results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watanabe, Rinka 2002 births Living people Japanese female single skaters Sportspeople from Chiba Prefecture 21st-century Japanese women