(born March 9, 1990) is a Japanese retired

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, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. He is the 2014 World silver medalist, the 2010 Four Continents silver medalist, and the 2013–14 Japanese national silver medalist. Machida is the winner of four Grand Prix events — the 2012 Cup of China,

2013 Skate America The 2013 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan on October ...

, 2013 Rostelecom Cup, and

2014 Skate America The 2014 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois on Oct ...

Personal life

Tatsuki Machida was born in

Kawasaki, Kanagawa Kawasaki, officially Kawasaki City, is a Cities of Japan, city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, one of the main cities of the Greater Tokyo Area and Keihin Industrial Area. It is the second most populated city in Kanagawa Prefecture after Yokohama ...

, Japan. He studied literature at

Kansai University , abbreviated as or , is a Private school, private non-sectarian and coeducational university with its main campus in Suita, Osaka, Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka, Japan and two sub-campuses in Sakai, Osaka, Sakai and Takatsuki, Osaka. Founded as ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. In 2015, he began a Master's program in

sport management Sport management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiz ...

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

's Graduate School of Sciences.

Career

In 2011, Machida moved to the U.S. to train at

Lake Arrowhead, California Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, and surrounding the eponymous Lake Arrowhe ...

's Ice Castle, where he was coached mainly by Anthony Liu. Machida won his first senior Grand Prix medal, bronze, at the

2012 Skate America The 2012 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on October 19� ...

. He won his first senior GP title at the 2012 Cup of China, where he beat former World champion

Daisuke Takahashi is a retired Japanese figure skater ( men's singles and ice dance) and ice show producer. As a singles skater, he is the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2010 World champion, the 2012–13 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time (2008, 2011) ...

. These results qualified him for the Grand Prix Final, where he finished sixth overall. At the

, Machida won his second GP title. He placed first in the short and free programs, setting personal bests in both and winning by 25 points over second-place finisher,

Adam Rippon Adam Richard Rippon (born November 11, 1989) is a retired American competitive Figure skating, figure skater and media personality. He is the Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team eve ...

of the United States. At 2013 Rostelecom Cup, Machida was second after the short program behind Maxim Kovtun of Russia. However, he won the free skate by over 25 points to win the competition – over 16 points ahead of Kovtun. This meant that he qualified for the Grand Prix Final in second overall, behind Patrick Chan of Canada. At the Grand Prix Final he recovered from a rough short program to skate a very strong long program, and finish 4th. He would finish 2nd at the 2013–14 Japan Figure Skating Championships, securing a spot on the Japanese Olympic and World teams for the first time. At the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, Machida placed 11th in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fifth overall. Machida significantly improved his personal best short program score at the 2014 World Championships in

Saitama, Japan is the capital and largest city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. , the city had an estimated population of 1,324,854 ...

and ranked first in the segment. He placed second in the free skate and was awarded the silver medal, finishing behind

Yuzuru Hanyu is a Japanese figure skater and ice show producer. Universally regarded as one of the greatest figure skaters in history for his well-rounded skills, achievements, innovations, longevity, popularity, and impact on the sport, he started skat ...

by a margin of 0.33 of a point. For the 2014–15 season, Machida was assigned to the

and

2014 Trophée Éric Bompard The 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard was the fifth event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Meriadeck Ice Rink in Bordeaux on November 21–23. Meda ...

. Skating to his second Skate America title, he placed first in the short and free programs, setting personal bests in both, and won by 30 points over the second-place finisher, Jason Brown of the United States. It was Machida's fourth GP title. At the 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard, he placed second in both the short program and the free program to finish second overall behind Maxim Kovtun. This qualified him for the Grand Prix Final for the third consecutive year. After finishing second in the short program, he struggled in the long program, finishing sixth in that segment and overall. Machida finished fourth at the 2014–15 Japan Championships and was selected for the 2015 World team. However, he announced his retirement from competitive skating to focus on his studies, and Takahito Mura was given his World spot. In June 2018, Machida announced that his final appearance as a show skater would be Japan Open 2018 and Carnival on Ice 2018 on October 6, 2018. After his retirement, his focus would be on his studies.

Cultural references

It has been reported that Machida was the inspiration for the character of Yuri Katsuki in the 2016 figure-skating

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

'' Yuri on Ice'', due to the similarities between Machida's real-life career and Katsuki's fictional career. The series author, Mitsurō Kubo, is a fan of Tatsuki.

Programs

Competitive highlights

* GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Machida, Tatsuki Japanese male single skaters 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Kawasaki, Kanagawa Sportspeople from Hiroshima Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Japan Figure skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Kansai University alumni World Figure Skating Championships medalists Competitors at the 2009 Winter Universiade