is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2023 World University Games silver medalist and 2022 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist. He is also the 2022 World Junior bronze medalist and 2018–19 Japan junior national champion.

Personal life

Tatsuya Tsuboi was born in

Okazaki, Aichi is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 386,999 in 164,087 households, and a population density of 999 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Okazaki is in the coastal plains o ...

. As of 2022, he is a student at

Kobe University , also known in the Kansai region as , is a leading Japanese national university located in the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo. It was established in 1949, but the academic origins of Kobe University trace back to the establishment of Kobe Higher Comme ...

Career

Early career

Tsuboi began to skate at the age of 7. After making his international junior debut at the 2017 edition of the Coupe du Printemps toward the end of the 2016–17 season, Tsuboi made his

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 ...

debut the following autumn, placing fifth at both the 2017 JGP Belarus and 2017 JGP Italy. After winning the bronze medal at the 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships, he finished thirteen at the senior level. He returned to the Coupe du Printemps, this time winning gold. Tsuboi did not compete on the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix, but won the junior silver medal at the Asian Open Trophy. He won gold at the 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, and finished seventh at the senior level, as a result of which he was assigned to compete at the 2019 World Junior Championships. Tsuboi finished fourteen there.

2021–2022 season: Junior World bronze

After appearing only domestically over the following two seasons, partially as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Tsuboi became more active in the 2021–22 season, even though Japan opted not to assign skaters to the

. He was the silver medalist at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, and placed ninth at the senior edition. These placements earned him an assignment to the 2022 World Junior Championships. Also given precursor assignments to the Bavarian Open and the Coupe du Printemps, he won gold at the former at the junior level and silver at latter at the senior level. The World Junior Championships were originally scheduled for March in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

. However, as a result of both the

Omicron variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...

and the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...

, they could not be held in their original location, and were moved to

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

in April. As well, the

International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, N ...

banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing, significantly altering the figure skating field. Tsuboi finished fifth in the short program with a new personal best score. He was third in the free skate, rising to third overall to win the bronze medal.

2022–2023 season: Senior debut

Moving to the senior level permanently, Tsuboi was assigned to make his

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 ...

debut at the

MK John Wilson Trophy The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...

, where he finished fifth. At his second event, the

Grand Prix of Espoo The Grand Prix of Finland, known in certain years as the Grand Prix of Helsinki, Grand Prix of Espoo or Grand Prix Espoo is one of the series of six senior-level, international figure skating competitions held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Fi ...

, he was fifth in the short program but rose to fourth after the free skate, where he set new personal bests in that segment and overall. He described nothing but "happiness" with the results. Tsuboi finished ninth at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, and was subsequently assigned to compete at the

2023 Winter World University Games The 2023 FISU Winter World University Games, officially known as the XXX Winter Universiade, and commonly known as Lake Placid 2023, is a collegiate multi-sport winter sports event scheduled to be held from 12 to 22 January 2023 in Lake Placid, ...

. He won the silver medal.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

2016–17 season to present

Earlier seasons

Detailed results

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

Senior level

Junior level

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuboi, Tatsuya Japanese male single skaters 2002 births Living people People from Okazaki, Aichi World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Competitors at the 2023 Winter World University Games Medalists at the 2023 Winter World University Games 21st-century Japanese people Universiade medalists in figure skating Universiade silver medalists for Japan