Tomoka Sato (born 22 August 2001) is a Japanese artistic swimmer. At the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

, she and her younger brother

Yotaro Sato Yotaro Sato (born 10 August 2004) is a Japanese artistic swimmer. He won the silver medal in the mixed duet technical routine at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships with his older sister Tomoka Sato, which was the first medal for Japan in th ...

became the first duo representing Japan to win a silver medal in the mixed duet technical routine, they also became the first representing Japan to win a silver medal in the mixed duet free routine. She also won a silver in the team technical routine and a bronze medal in the team free routine at the same Championships. Earlier in the year, she won a gold medal in the mixed duet technical routine and a gold medal and a silver medal in the mixed duet free routine as part of the

2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series The 2022 FINA Artistic Swimming World Series began on 19 March 2022 with a virtual event jointly hosted by the United States and Canada and ended on 22 May 2022 with an onsite super final event in Athens, Greece.Koos, Torin (7 March 2022)"FINA re ...

. At the 2018 World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships, she won three bronze medals in team events.

Background

Sato has a younger brother,

, who competes as her partner in mixed duet artistic swimming events.

Career

2018–2021

At the 2018 World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships, held in July in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, Sato won a bronze medal in the team technical routine with a team score of 89.0176 points, a bronze medal in the team free routine with a final score of 90.5667 points, and a bronze medal in the team free combination with a score of 90.5333 points, finishing behind the teams from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, who won the gold medals in all three events, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, who won the silver medals in all three events, in each event. FINA (22 July 2018)
"16th FINA World Junior Artistic Swimming Championships Budapest (HUN): Complete Results Book"
. ''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved 17 July 2022. The following year, she won a silver medal in the team free combination at the eighth leg the 2019 Artistic Swimming World Series, held mid-year in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, helping achieve a final mark of 87.5668 points to place behind the team from Ukraine and head of the team from Spain."FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2019 – Leg 8: Results Women Team Free Combination"
. FINA. 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2022. Two years later, she won silver medals in the team technical routine, with a score of 91.4460 points, and the team free routine, with a score of 93.1667 points, at the third leg of the 2021 Artistic Swimming World Series, hosted by Russia at the

Palace of Water Sports The Palace of Water Sports (; tt-Cyrl, Су спорт төрләре сара) is an indoor aquatics centre in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia which was built for the 2013 Summer Universiade. Located on the banks of the Kazanka River, the competitions i ...

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

in April, finishing only behind the team from Russia in each event."FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2021 – Leg 3: Results Women Team Technical"
. FINA. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022."FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2021 – Leg 3: Results Women Team Free"
. FINA. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

2022

2022 Artistic Swimming World Series

On the first leg of the

, hosted jointly by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as a virtual event in March, Sato and her partner, younger brother

, scored 82.7000 points in the mixed duet free routine to win the silver medal behind gold medalists Olesia Platonova and

Aleksandr Maltsev Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

of Russia, who competed as FINA independent athletes, and ahead of bronze medalists Nicolle Torrens and

Javier Ruisanchez Javier Enrique Ruisanchez Torres Zayas (born 8 February 1997) is a Puerto Rican artistic swimmer and former pool swimmer. He is a nine-time medalist at the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series, winning eight medals at the 2022 FINA Artistic S ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

.Hennigan, Caoimhe (20 March 2022)
"Creativity and composure on display during day two of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2022 opener"
. FINA. Retrieved 17 July 2022. For the fourth leg of the World Series, a virtual event hosted by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in May, she and her brother won the gold medal in the mixed duet technical routine, narrowly outscoring the silver medalists in the event,

Emma García Emma García García (born 13 January 1999) is a Spanish synchronised swimmer. She won a bronze medal in the free routine combination competition at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships The 2018 European Aquatics Championships took ...

and

Pau Ribes Pau Ribes Culla (born 1 September 1995) is a Spanish synchronised swimmer. He won a bronze medal in the mixed free routine competition at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships The 2018 European Aquatics Championships took place in Gla ...

of Spain, by less than one point with their final mark of 83.5156 points.Croes, Maureen (7 May 2022)
"FINA Artistic Swimming World Series for first time hosted virtualy by Australia"
. FINA. Retrieved 17 July 2022. In their second event, the mixed duet free routine, Sato and her brother won another gold medal, this time scoring 83.2667 points and finishing over one point ahead of the silver medalists, Claudia Coletti and Kenneth Gaudet of the United States."USA top the medal table of the FINA Artistic Swimming World Series 2022"
. FINA. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

2022 World Aquatics Championships

Day four of the

, with artistic swimming contested in June in Budapest, Hungary, Sato won her first medal of the Championships, a silver medal in the mixed duet technical routine with her brother Yotaro Sato and a final score of 86.5939 points, which was also marked the first time a duo representing Japan had ever won a silver medal in any mixed gender event at a FINA World Aquatics Championships."Artistic swimming: Sato siblings win mixed duet tech silver at worlds"
.

Kyodo News is a nonprofit cooperative news agency based in Minato, Tokyo. It was established in November 1945 and it distributes news to almost all newspapers, and radio and television networks in Japan. The newspapers using its news have about 50 millio ...

. 20 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022. FINA (20 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Technical Final Results"
. ''

''. Retrieved 17 July 2022."Sato siblings win mixed duet technical silver at FINA worlds"
. ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc.. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

''. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022."Artistic swimming: Japan wins team free combination silver at worlds"
. ''

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

''. 21 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022. The following day, she won a silver medal in the team technical routine, scoring 92.2261 points to finish less than two points ahead of the bronze medal team from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and less than three points behind the gold medal team from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. FINA (21 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Team Technical Final Results"
. ''

''. Retrieved 17 July 2022. Three days later, Sato helped achieve a final mark of 93.1333 points in the team free routine to win the bronze medal, placing behind the gold medal team from China and the silver medal team from Ukraine. FINA (24 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Team Free Final Results"
. ''

''. Retrieved 17 July 2022. The ninth and final day of artistic swimming competition, she and her brother won a first silver medal for Japan in the mixed duet free routine, finishing 1.2334 points behind

Lucrezia Ruggiero Lucrezia Ruggiero (born 7 June 2000) is an Italian artistic swimmer. She won one gold medal each at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in the mixed duet technical routine and the mixed duet free routine. At the 2022 European Aquatics Champi ...

and

Giorgio Minisini Giorgio Minisini (born 9 March 1996) is an Italian synchronised swimmer. He won two bronze medals in the inaugural mixed duet competition at the 2015 World Championships. He was world champion at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in the mix ...

of Italy and 1.3333 points ahead of Haoyu Shi and Yiyao Zhang of China with their score of 89.7333 points. FINA (25 June 2022)
"19th FINA World Championships Budapest (HUN): Mixed Duet Free Final Results"
. ''

''. Retrieved 17 July 2022."Artistic swimming: Japanese siblings win mixed duet silver at worlds"
.

. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022."Swimming, artistic swimming wave goodbye on day 8 of Budapest worlds"
''

China Internet Information Center China Internet Information Center (; or 中国网/网上中国) is a state-run web portal of the People's Republic of China and published under the auspices of the State Council Information Office and the China International Publishing Group. I ...

''. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022. The Sato siblings choreographed their free routine to music by Niconi Commons in the theme of "

Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

".Croes, Maureen (25 June 2022)
"Italy and Ukraine win last two gold medals; Italy overall winner"
. FINA. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

2023

2023 Artistic Swimming World Cup

At the inaugural Artistic Swimming World Cup conducted by

World Aquatics FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

, starting in March 2023 in Markham, Canada, Sato won a gold medal on day one in the mixed team technical event, helping achieve a final mark of 281.8896 points."World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup – Markham 2023: Results Mixed Team Technical"
''

''. 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023. Two days later, she won a silver medal in the mixed team acrobatic, where the Japan team of eight scored a total of 223.6875 points (artistic impression 89.4000 points, execution 134.2875 points, total difficulty 15.5500 points)."World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup – Markham 2023: Results Acrobatic"
''

''. 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.

International championships

World series and world cup circuits

The following medals Sato has won at Artistic Swimming World Series (through 2022) and Artistic Swimming World Cup (2023) circuits."Tomoka Sato: Medals"
. FINA. Retrieved 17 July 2022.

References

External links

*{{Sports links 2001 births Living people Japanese synchronized swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in synchronised swimming Artistic swimmers at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships 21st-century Japanese women