Mone Chiba

is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2025 World bronze medalist, the 2024 Four Continents champion, the 2023 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2024-25 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, the 2025 World University Games silver medalist, the 2024 NHK Trophy silver medalist, the 2024 Cup of China silver medalist, and the 2023 Japanese national silver medalist.

Competing at the junior level, she is the 2022 JGP Poland I silver medalist, a two-time Japanese Junior medalist and two-time Challenge Cup junior champion.

Early life and education

Chiba was born on May 1, 2005, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. She graduated from Tohoku High School and enrolled in Waseda University, studying Human Sciences, in March 2024.

Chiba grew up idolizing Olympic gold medalist and Sendai hometown hero Yuzuru Hanyu; they met on the ice several times and he was "like a big brother" for her before he moved to Toronto, Canada to further his training.

Career

Early years

Chiba began skating in 2010 and was coached by Soshi Tanaka at the Sendai Ice Rink from the ages of six to eighteen.

She would place twenty-first at 2015–16 Japan Novice B Championships and twenty-ninth at 2016–17 Japan Novice A Championships. She made her first international appearance at the 2017 Asian Open in the advanced novice category and was first after the short program. In the free program, she downgraded a jump and had a fall. She finished in fifth place. Chiba placed sixth at 2017–18 Japan Novice A Championships.

Making her junior national championship debut at the 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, Chiba finished in eighteenth place. The following year, she placed sixth at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships and was then invited to compete in the senior event because fourth place Momoka Hatasaki was still a novice skater. She finished in eighteenth place. In the junior category, she won the 2020 Challenge Cup.

2020–21 season

She finished eighth place at the 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships and was invited to the 2020–21 Japan Championships, placing in twentieth there.

2021–22 season

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Japan Skating Federation opted not to send junior skaters out internationally in the fall of 2021. As a result, Chiba did not have the opportunity to compete on the Junior Grand Prix. At 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, Chiba was seventh after the short. However, after a clean free program, she won the bronze medal behind Rion Sumiyoshi and Mao Shimada. She finished eleventh at the senior event.

Chiba was selected to 2022 Challenge Cup in the junior category and again won the competition. Two months later, she was sent to 2022 Egna Trophy, now competing in the senior category. Chiba got third place behind South Korea's Hae-in Lee and Japan's Hana Yoshida.

2022–23 season

Chiba was initially scheduled to make her Junior Grand Prix debut at the Armenian stop on the 2022–23 circuit. However, that was cancelled as a result of the September conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and skaters meant to attend were reassigned elsewhere. Instead, she debuted at the Junior Grand Prix event in Gdańsk, Poland. In her short program, she received an edge call on her combination but otherwise gave a clean skate, placing her first with a score of 70.16 points. During the free skate, Chiba landed all her jumps, albeit with a Lutz landed on a quarter. Chiba finished in second place behind Mao Shimada. At her second assignment, the 2022 JGP Italy, Chiba finished third in the short program, but dropped to fourth place after making several errors. She was named the first of three alternates for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Appearing next at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships, Chiba won the silver medal behind Shimada. She then competed at the senior level, finishing a surprise third in the short program with a 71.06 score. She said that she "went into the short program with the frustration of last year," when she had finished eleventh in that segment. Chiba struggled in the free skate, coming seventh in that segment and dropping to fifth place overall. Despite being the third-highest-ranked senior-eligible qualifier, she was not assigned to compete at the 2023 World Championships, that going instead to Rinka Watanabe. She was assigned to compete at the 2023 Four Continents Championships.

At the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Chiba was seventh in the short program. However, a new personal best score in the free skate vaulted her into third overall, winning the bronze medal. Saying she had "never dreamed of getting a bronze medal," she assessed that "my skating maybe was not as grand as I would have liked it, but I am still satisfied."

Chiba ended her season with a gold medal at the 2023 Coupe du Printemps.

In May 2023, it was announced that Chiba had relocated from Sendai to Uji, Kyoto, where she would be coached by Mie Hamada at the Kinoshita Academy.

2023–24 season

Chiba began the season on the Challenger circuit, coming sixth at the 2023 CS Autumn Classic International. She made her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Skate America, where she finished in sixth place. At her second assignment, the 2023 Grand Prix de France, she came ninth. Chiba said afterward that she had struggled with dizziness prior to the free skate, but "after the second half of my performance, I think I was able to jump well."

At the 2023–24 Japan Championships, Chiba finished third in the short program, less than two points back of second-place Mako Yamashita but also less than a point ahead of two other skaters. She admitted after the segment that she had felt "a little unwell" since the French Grand Prix, but said that she had been able to recover adequately, while self-critiquing that "with my current skating skills, I'm only able to express half of the emotions. However, I did everything I was capable of." In the free skate, she rose to second place to claim the silver medal. Of the result, Chiba said she "trained very hard and everything paid off."

Chiba won the short program at the 2024 Four Continents Championships, the only error being an incorrect edge call on her triple Lutz. Her 71.10 point score was a new personal best. She said that nervousness had impacted her artistic performance, joking that "my eyebrows looked like a figure eight from start to finish." She went on to win the free skate as well, receiving another Lutz edge call and a quarter underrotation call on a triple flip, setting additional new personal bests in the free skate (143.88) and total score (214.98) and winning the gold medal. Chiba assessed that she "tried to focus myself solely on the competition, that is how I could get this ideal result."

Entering the 2024 World Championships in Montreal with medal hopes, Chiba encountered difficulty in the short program after singling a planned triple Lutz, coming thirteenth in the segment. She spoke afterward of struggling with nerves at her first World Championship appearance. Chiba performed better in the free skate, coming fifth in the segment and rising to seventh overall.

2024–25 season

Chiba started the season by finishing fourth at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. She began the Grand Prix series at the 2024 NHK Trophy, where she gained a new personal best score in the short program of 71.69. Scoring 140.85 in the free skate and 212.54 overall, Chiba won her first Grand Prix medal, a silver, as part of a Japanese team sweep, alongside Kaori Sakamoto, and Yuna Aoki. At her second Grand Prix event, the Cup of China, Chiba led in the short program by .02 points over Amber Glenn. In the free skate, she landed her jumps cleanly, but she tripped and fell in her step sequence. She finished both the free skate and the competition overall in second place and qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

At the Grand Prix Final in December, she finished in second place in both the short and free programs and came in second place overall to win the silver medal. While she said that she was happy with the result, she also expressed frustration and said that she wished she had taken second place with a stronger performance. Two weeks later, Chiba finished fourth at the 2024–25 Japan Championships. Due to her success on the Grand Prix circuit as well as national silver medalist, Mao Shimada, being age ineligible to compete on the senior level, Chiba was named to the Four Continents and World teams.

In mid-January, Chiba competed at the 2025 Winter World University Games in Turin, Italy, where she won the silver medal behind teammate, Rion Sumiyoshi. One month later, she competed at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea. After placing second in the short program, Chiba began showing symptoms of gastroenteritis. Despite this, she did compete in the free skate segment, where she struggled throughout the performance, including falling twice. She placed seventh in that segment and fell to sixth place overall. Following the event, she said, "It’s really frustrating that due to health issues, I couldn’t perform at my true level. It made me realize just how crucial it is to maintain the right conditions and health to be able to express all the hard work I’ve put into training. Going forward, I want to manage my health thoroughly."

In March, at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, Chiba finished second in the short program and third in the free skate to win the bronze medal behind three time champion, Kaori Sakamoto, and surprise winner, Alysa Liu. A couple weeks later, Chiba competed for Team Japan at the 2025 World Team Trophy. She placed fourth in the women's short program and fifth in the free skate. With these placements, Team Japan went on to win the silver medal overall.

Programs

Competitive highlights

Senior level

Junior level

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level

References

External links

*

CHIBA Mone
at the Japan Skating Federation

Mone Chiba
at SkatingScores.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiba, Mone
Japanese female single skaters
Living people
2005 births
Figure skaters from Sendai
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists
21st-century Japanese sportswomen
Waseda University alumni
Competitors at the 2025 Winter World University Games
Medalists at the 2025 Winter World University Games
Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating
FISU World University Games silver medalists for Japan