is a Japanese
curler from
Sapporo
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...
. She currently
skip
Skip or Skips may refer to:
Acronyms
* SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene
* Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol
* SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aiding ...
s and throws third rocks on Team
Momoha Tabata,
known in Japan as the
Hokkaido Bank
is a Japanese regional bank that is headquartered in Sapporo, Hokkaidō. The Hokkaido Bank is a subsidiary of the Hokuhoku Financial Group as a result of a merger with the Hokuriku Bank on September 1, 2004. The Hokkaido Bank has 134 domesti ...
curling team.
Career
Nihira began curling in 2014 after being selected as one of the first group of students for the Hokkaido Talent Athlete Discovery Development Project.
Nihira joined Team Hokkaido Bank in 2021. Playing
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system
Places
* 3rd Street (di ...
on the team, skipped by Momoha Tabata, Nihira won a bronze medal at the
2022 Japan Curling Championships.
With Nihira taking over as skip, but throwing third stones, the rink won a silver medal at the
2024 Japan Curling Championships
The 2024 Japan Curling Championships (branded as the 41st Zen-Noh Japan Curling Championships) were held from January 28 to February 4 at the Hokkaido Bank Curling Stadium in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. The winning teams earned the right to repres ...
, losing in the final to SC Karuizawa Club, skipped by
Miyu Ueno.
Nihira skipped the Japanese team, which also consisted of Tabata,
Yuina Miura,
Mikoto Nakajima and
Yui Ueno, at the
2024 World Junior Curling Championships. There, she led the team to a 7–2 round robin record. In the playoffs, the team defeated Norway (skipped by
Torild Bjørnstad) in the semifinal before losing to Switzerland (
Xenia Schwaller) in the final, settling for a silver medal.
Following juniors, the rink had a strong
2024–25 curling season
The 2024–25 curling season began in May 2024 and ended in May 2025.
World Curling Federation events
Source:
Championships
Qualification events
Other events
Curling Canada events
Source:
Championships
Invitationals
Provincial ...
on the women's tour, winning the
Ice Gold Cup, the
Argo Graphics Cup, the
Saville Shootout, the
Red Deer Curling Classic and the Saville U25 Challenge events. The team made their
Grand Slam debut at the
2024 Tour Challenge Tier 2 event, where they lost in the semifinals to their compatriots,
Sayaka Yoshimura (Team Fortius). The team made their Tier 1 Grand Slam debut at the
2024 Canadian Open, where the finished with a win-less 0–4 record. At the next slam, the
2024 National, they improved to a 1–3 record.
And in the fourth slam of the year, the
2025 Masters, they improved once again, finishing the group stage with a 2–2 record. They then beat Team
Danielle Inglis in a tiebreaker,
before bowing out in the quarter finals to team
Anna Hasselborg
Anna Ellinor Hasselborg (born 5 May 1989) is a Swedish curler who is the 2018 Olympic Champion in women's curling and a former World Junior Champion skip. In November 2019, she became the first curler in history to reign as the simultaneous hol ...
, who earned the right to select Team Tabata as they playoff opponent in a draft.
The rink won another silver medal at the
2025 Japan Curling Championships
The 2025 Japan Curling Championships (日本カーリング選手権大会 横浜2025, branded as the 42nd Zen-Noh Japan Curling Championships) took place from February 2 to 9 at the jp:横浜BUNTAI, Yokohama Buntai in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefectu ...
, losing in the final to fellow Sapporo rink
Sayaka Yoshimura.
Personal life
She attended the
Hokkaido University of Education
is a national public university administered by the government of Japan. It has five campuses in Hokkaido, Japan.
The main campus is on the outskirts of Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido. Hokkaido University of Education, Sapporo (HUES) is the la ...
.
Before curling, Nihira competed in
karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...
for 10 years.
Grand Slam record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nihira, Miku
Living people
2002 births
Japanese female curlers
Curlers from Sapporo
21st-century Japanese sportswomen