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

. She is the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 Four Continents champion, 2010 World Junior champion, 2009–10 JGP Final champion, and a four-time Japanese national medalist (bronze in 2010, 2011; silver in 2012, 2013).

Personal life

Murakami was born on November 7, 1994, in Naka-ku,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

. In September 2024, Murakami married her boyfriend, Yutaka, in a ceremony held at

Miyako Island is the largest and the most populous island among the Miyako Islands of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Miyako Island is administered as part of the City of Miyako Island, which includes not only Miyako Island, but also five other islands. Geogra ...

Career

Early career

Making her first international appearance, Murakami won the silver medal in the spring girls category at the Mladost Trophy in the 2004–05 season. In the 2005–06 season, she won silver at the 2005–06 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice B category, which is the lower of the novice levels. This medal earned her a trip to compete in the spring competition, the

Gardena Spring Trophy The Egna Spring Trophy (formerly the Gardena Spring Trophy) is an annual international figure skating competition which is generally held every spring in Val Gardena in Italy. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, and pair skat ...

, which she won on the novice level. Murakami competed at the 2006–07 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice A category and placed 7th, and at the 2007–08 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice A category, she placed 5th.

2008–09 season: Junior international debut

Murakami debuted on the

ISU 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 figure skating competition, junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded ...

. She won the bronze medal at her first event in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. At her second event, in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, she won the competition. She was the 4th qualifier for the 2008–09 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final. Prior to the JGP Final, Murakami competed at the 2008–09 Japan Junior Championships, which served both as the junior national championships and the qualifier for the Japanese team to the World Junior Championships. Murakami placed 7th in the short program and won the free skating to take the bronze medal, which earned her an invitation to compete at the 2008–09 senior national championships. However, as Japan had earned only two berths to the 2009 World Junior Championships, Murakami did not qualify. At the JGP Final, she placed 2nd in the short program and 3rd in the free skating to place 4th overall. Following the Final, Murakami competed at the 2008–09 Japan Championships, where she placed 7th in the short program, 8th in the free skating, and 7th overall.

2009–10 season: JGP Final and World Junior title

In the 2009–10 season, Murakami competed on the

2009–10 ISU Junior Grand Prix The 2009–10 ISU Junior Grand Prix was the 13th season of the ISU Junior Grand Prix, a series of international junior level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. It was the Junior-level complement to the 2009–10 ISU Grand ...

and won both her events to qualify for the 2009–10 Junior Grand Prix Final. And she won a gold medal at the JGP Final. At the 2009–10 Japan Junior Championships, she won both segments of the competition to win the title overall. The win qualified her for the 2009–10 Japan Championship, where she placed fifth overall, behind

Mao Asada is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2010 Winter Olympics - Ladies' singles, 2010 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Figure Skating Championships, World champion (2008, 2010, 2014), a three-t ...

Akiko Suzuki (born March 28, 1985) is a Japanese figure skating choreographer and retired competitive figure skater. She is the 2012 World Championships bronze medalist, a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist (2011 silver, 2009 & 2012 bronze), a two-time F ...

Yukari Nakano is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2003 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2005–06 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2007 Asian Winter Games champion, and a three-time ...

, and

Miki Ando is a retired Japanese figure skater. She is the 2007 World Figure Skating Championships, 2007 and 2011 World Figure Skating Championships, 2011 World champion, 2011 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, 2011 Four Continents champion, 2 ...

She was assigned to compete at the 2010 World Junior Championships, where she won the title after placing second in the short program and first in the free skating.

2010–11 season: Senior debut

Murakami moved up to the senior

ISU Grand Prix 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 ...

for the 2010–11 season. Her assignments for the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix season were the

2010 NHK Trophy The 2010 NHK Trophy was the first event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Nippon Gaishi Ice Arena in Nagoya on October 22–24. Medals were aw ...

and the

2010 Skate America The 2010 Skate America was the fourth event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon on November 11–14. Med ...

. At the 2010 NHK Trophy, she placed second in the short program behind Carolina Kostner, and fifth in the free skating to capture the bronze medal. During both programs, she landed a triple toe-triple toe combination cleanly. At the 2010 Skate America, she placed second in the short program after singling her double Axel. She placed second in the free skate behind Rachael Flatt and won the gold medal. Murakami qualified for the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final. She placed third in the short program and second in the free skate on her way to the bronze medal.

2011–12 season

In the 2011–12 Grand Prix season, Murakami finished sixth overall at the

2011 Cup of China The 2011 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai on November 3–6. Med ...

and fourth at the

2011 Trophée Éric Bompard The 2011 Trophée Éric Bompard was the fifth event of six in the 2011–12 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris on November 17 ...

. She earned her second consecutive bronze medal at the 2011 Japan Championships. Murakami placed fourth at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and fifth at the 2012 World Championships. 2012 ISU World Team Trophy - podium

She was part of the ladies' team representing Japan at the 2012 ISU World Team Trophy. She placed 3rd in the short program but 8th in the free skating and finished 6th overall.

2012–13 season

Murakami started her season with bronze at the 2012 Skate Canada International and finished 4th at her next event, the 2012 Cup of Russia. She placed second at the 2012–13 Japan Championships. She won the bronze medal in her third appearance at the 2013 Four Continents Championships with fellow Japanese medalists

and

taking the gold and silver medal respectively. Murakami finished 4th at the 2013 World Championships setting a personal best score of 189.73 points.

2013–14 season: Four Continents champion

Murakami finished 4th at her first Grand Prix event of the season, the

2013 Cup of China The 2013 Cup of China was the third 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 Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 1–3. Medals were a ...

, and then 7th at the 2013 Rostelecom Cup. At 2013–14 Japan Championships, she finished second behind Akiko Suzuki. After the event, she began wearing new boots which caused swelling in her right ankle. Murakami won the 2014 Four Continents Championships setting a new personal best overall score of 196.91 points, as well as a personal best in the free skating with 132.18 points. At her Olympic debut in Sochi, Russia, Murakami placed 15th in the short program, 12th in the free skating, and placed 12th overall. She finished 10th at the 2014 World Championships.

2014–15 season

Murakami started off her season by competing at Japan Open, where she placed 4th in the ladies' event and Team Japan finished 3rd overall. She then won a medal on the Grand Prix series, taking bronze at the

2014 Cup of China Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

after placing third in both segments. At the

2014 NHK Trophy The 2014 NHK Trophy was the final 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 Namihaya Dome in Osaka on November 28–30. Medals were awarded in t ...

, she finished 4th after placing 3rd in the short program and 7th in the free skating. With those results, she was the third alternate for the 2014-15 Grand Prix Final. At the 2014–15 Japan Championships, Murakami placed 9th in the short program, 4th in the free skate, and fourth overall. She was selected to compete at the 2015 World Championships due to her placements in her Grand Prix events. At Worlds, she placed 4th in the short program, 8th in the free skate and 7th overall, earning season's best scores in all segments. Murakami then competed at 2015 World Team Trophy where she finished 6th and Team Japan placed third overall. After twisting her ankle during an ice show in late April 2015, she cancelled the rest of her post-season skating appearances.

2015–16 season

Murakami resumed regular training in September 2015. She began her season on the Challenger Series, placing 7th at the

U.S. Classic The U.S. Classic is an annual summer gymnastics meet for elite Artistic gymnastics, artistic gymnasts of the United States. The meet occurs before USA Gymnastics National Championships, Nationals and is a qualifier for it. In Olympic years, the afo ...

. Her Grand Prix assignments were the

2015 Skate Canada International The 2015 Skate Canada International was the second event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the ENMAX Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta on October 30 ...

and 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard. She finished fourth at both events. In France, the second day of competition was cancelled due to the Paris attacks and the short program standings were deemed the final results. Murakami placed 6th at the Japanese Championships and 7th at the 2016 Four Continents.

2016–17 season

Murakami performed an exhibition program as a special guest at the 2017 World Team Trophy and announced her retirement.

Endorsements and public life

Murakami is sponsored by Adidas Japan,

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. ANA operates services to both domestic and international destinations and is Japan's largest airline, ahead of its main rival flag carrier Japan Airlines. the airline has approximate ...

(ANA),

Nichirei is one of Japan's top producers of frozen foods and a leader in cold storage warehousing, headquartered in Tokyo. Operating through around 80 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, its businesses include processed food; logistics; marine produc ...

Brother Industries is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational electronics and electrical equipment company headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. Its products include Printer (computing), printers, multifunction printers, desktop computers, consumer and indu ...

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. (), abbreviated OPC, is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Osaka and Naruto, Tokushima, Naruto, Japan. The company was established August 10, 1964. History OPC's parent company Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd. joined the Tokyo Stock Excha ...

, and Nippon Menard Cosmetic Co., Ltd, in addition to several local companies. Following her win at the 2010 World Junior Championships, Murakami has taken part in many local events including the first pitch ceremony of

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011 ...

, a professional baseball team based in

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Programs

Competitive highlights

* GP:

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

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 ...

Detailed results

Small medals for short program and free skating awarded only at ISU Championships.

Senior results

Junior results

Novice results

References

Ice Challenge Senior Ladies results

External links

kanako-murakami.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murakami, Kanako 1994 births Living people Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in figure skating Figure skaters at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists Japanese female single skaters Medalists at the 2011 Asian Winter Games Olympic figure skaters for Japan Figure skaters from Nagoya World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Japanese sportswomen