Yuna Aoki ( born 10 January 2002) is a Japanese competitive

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

2024 NHK Trophy The 2024 NHK Trophy was the fourth event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan, from November 8–10. Medals w ...

bronze medalist, 2019

Bavarian Open The Bavarian Open is an international figure skating competition held in February at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf in Oberstdorf, Germany. It is organized by the Skating Union of Bavaria. Since 2011, it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eisla ...

silver medalist, the 2023

Triglav Trophy The Triglav Trophy is an international figure skating competition which is generally held in the spring in Jesenice, Slovenia. The competition takes its name from the nearby mountain Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. Medals may be awarded i ...

silver medalist, and the 2024

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

silver medalist.

Personal life

Aoki was born on January 10, 2002, in

Yokohama, Japan is the second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a population of 3.7 million in 2023. It lies on Tokyo B ...

. She graduated from

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

in 2024, where she earned a degree in the School of Sports Sciences. Aoki has expressed interest in becoming a choreographer after finishing her competitive skating career.

Career

Early career

Aoki started skating at age five after being inspired by Shizuka Arakawa's 2006 Olympic victory. Shoichiro Tsuzuki would begin coaching her at the age of six. As an advanced novice skater, Aoki won the silver medal at the 2013–14 Japanese Novice Championships and went on to place fifteenth at the Japan Junior Championships. The following season, she won the 2024–15 Japan Novice Championships before placing fifth at the 2014–15 Japan Junior Championships. During the 2015 World Team Trophy, Aoki was invited to perform in the gala.

2015–16 season: Junior debut and injury

Shortly before the 2015–16 season, Aoki developed

spondylolysis Spondylolysis also known as a pars defect or pars fracture, is a defect or stress fracture in the pars interarticularis of the vertebral arch. The vast majority of cases occur in the lower lumbar vertebrae (L5), but spondylolysis may also occur ...

following a hard fall on a triple axel attempt in practice. This injury greatly hindered her training. Looking back on this injury, Aoki stated, "It first took a year for my spine to separate, and then another year after that. It hurt when I was skating, and even moving back and forth in my daily life hurt. Jumping hurt, and spins and other movements that require a lot of bending are a strain on my body." She further detailed how her parents tried encouraging her to quit skating due to how much pain she was in but Aoki persisted onwards due to her love for the sport. In spite of this, Aoki 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 ...

circuit, placing seventh at 2015 JGP Latvia. She would then go on to finish seventh at the 2015–16 Japanese Junior Championships and sixteenth at the senior championships.

2016–17 season

Competing on the Junior Grand Prix series for a second time, Aoki finished fourth at 2016 JGP Czech Republic and fifth at 2016 JGP Germany. She then ended the season by finishing ninth at the 2016–17 Japanese Junior Championships.

2018–19, 2019–2020, & 2020–21 seasons: Struggles and injury

Aoki began the season by finishing seventh at 2018 JGP Canada. She then placed fifth at the Japan Junior Championships and fourteenth at the senior event. Aoki went on to make her senior international debut at the 2019 Bavarian Open, where she won the silver medal. Following the season, Aoki injured her left ankle and required surgery to treat it. This would cause her to miss the whole 2019–20 season. She would return to competition during the subsequent season and finished nineteenth at the 2020–21 Japan Championships. Competing at the 2021–22 Japan Championships the following year, Aoki placed thirtieth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate. She would later describe this to be a dark point in her life and had deliberated on whether or not she should continue skating. "Looking back, after going through a long and difficult period," Aoki later stated, "There were many times when I thought about quitting skating. I have had the support of many people and I have always loved skating. Figure skating is an indispensable part of me. I feel most confident on the ice." Upon deciding that she wanted to continue competing, Aoki decided that she was in need of a fresh start. In April 2022, she moved from her hometown of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

to Chiba so she could train under

Kensuke Nakaniwa is a Japanese figure skating coach and former competitive singles skater. He is a two-time Ondrej Nepela Memorial champion, the 2003 Winter Universiade bronze medalist, and a three-time Japan national medalist. He finished in the top ten at t ...

, Makoto Nakata, Momoe Naguma, and Aya Tanoue at the MF Skating Academy.

2022–23 season

At the Japan Championships, Aoki placed tenth in the short program and sixth in the free skate, finishing in seventh place overall. This was her first time finishing in the top ten at the senior national championships. She then competed at the 2023 Triglav Trophy, where she won the silver medal behind Hana Yoshida.

2023–24 season

Aoki was invited to make her Grand Prix debut at the 2023 NHK Trophy, where she placed eighth in the short program after receiving three underrotation calls on jumps, though she observed that despite this she landed them "comfortably." In the free skate she received only one quarter underrotation call, placing fifth in that segment and rising to fifth place overall. Aoki said she was "very happy to have been able to show my personal skating skills without mistakes on such a big stage." She went on to finish ninth at the 2023–24 Japan Championships, before closing her season with a silver medal win at the 2024 Challenge Cup.

2024–25 season

Beginning her season on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, Aoki finished seventh at 2024 Skate America. She then competed at the

as the host pick, where she gained a new personal best short program score by over eleven points, with 69.78. Aoki finished fifth in the free skate segment, but her lead from the short program put her third overall with a new personal best total score of 195.07, successfully taking her first Grand Prix medal, and rounding out a Japanese women's podium sweep at the competition alongside

Kaori Sakamoto is a Japanese figure skater. She is the Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, 2022 Olympic bronze medalist, a Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2022 Olympic team event silver medalist, a three-time World Figure Ska ...

and Mone Chiba. Following the event, Aoki expressed elation at the result saying, "I competed in the Junior Grand Prix but I never stood on the podium. So at this age, just standing on the podium, I'm so grateful for it. I'm so glad that I kept on going." Chloe Flower, the composer of Aoki's free program music, also took to her

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, where she praised Aoki's performance and thanked her for "bringing life to my song." In October 2024, Aoki joined forces with Olympic champion Shizuka Arakawa, Olympic bronze medalist

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) ...

, Kana Muramoto, Takahito Mura,

Kazuki Tomono is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2022 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, 2022 Four Continents silver medalist and a four-time ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, Grand Prix medalist. He has represented Japan at three World Figure S ...

Keiji Tanaka is a retired Japanese figure skater. He is the 2016 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, 2019 Skate Canada bronze medalist, three-time ISU Challenger Series medalist (including gold at the 2019 U.S. Classic), 2017 Winter Universiade silver medalist, ...

, Kosho Oshima, Yuto Kishina and Rena Uezono to launch the members-only official fan community
F-Ske
' on the platform
FANICON
'. Going on to compete at the 2024–25 Japan Championships in December, Aoki finished the event in fourteenth place.

Programs

Competitive highlights

Senior results

''GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series''

Junior results

''JGP: Junior Grand Prix''

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. At team events, medals are awarded for team results only. Bolded scores reflect an ISU personal best.

Senior level

Junior and novice level

References

External links

*
AOKI Yuna
at the

Japan Skating Federation The Japan Skating Federation () is the sports governing body of Japan for figure skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in 1929. The current president (since 2019) is Akihisa Nagashima, a member of the House of Rep ...

Yuna Aoki
at SkatingScores.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aoki, Yuna Japanese female single skaters Figure skaters from Yokohama 2002 births Living people Nihon University alumni 21st-century Japanese sportswomen