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Yuna Nagaoka
Japanese pair skater From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Yuna Nagaoka (長岡 柚奈, Nagaoka Yuna; born July 13, 2005) is a Japanese pair skater. With partner, Sumitada Moriguchi, she is the 2025 Asian Winter Games bronze medalist, the 2023–24 Japan national champion and the 2024–25 Japan national silver medalist.[1]
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Personal life
Nagaoka was born on July 13, 2005 in Hokkaido, Japan.[2]
In 2024, she graduated from Fuji Women's Junior and Senior High School.[3]
Career
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Early career
Nagaoka began figure skating in 2012.[2] Originally a singles skater, she trained at the ROYCE'F･S･C in Sapporo, Hokkaido, coached by Mami Yamada, the childhood coach of Yuzuru Hanyu. Nagaoka got to meet Hanyu when he visited her training rink to personally thank Yamada and have a Q&A session with Yamada's students following his second Olympic gold medal win in 2018.[4][5]
In 2019, a member of the Japan Skating Federation approached a fourteen-year old Nagaoka, asking if she would be interested in skating in the pairs discipline due to her small stature. Following the encounter, Nagaoka, who did not know much about pair skating at the time, decided to attend the 2019 Japan Eastern Sectional Championships to watch then newly formed team, Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara, compete. The experience made Nagaoka want try competing in the pairs discipline, however, at the time it was difficult to find a Japanese male skater that was interested in teaming up with her. Additionally, the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 caused numerous Japanese skating rinks to close down, making pair skating tryout opportunities even more difficult to come by.[6][7] That same year, remaining in Sapporo, Nagaoka moved her training to Fuji Women's University, where Naomi Takagi became her new coach.[8][9]
Nagaoka would compete at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships in the women's singles event, where she finished twenty-third.[10]
Partnership with Moriguchi
2023–2024 season
In April 2023, the Japan Skating Federation organized a training camp, which Nagaoka decided to attend. During the camp, she met the pair skating coach of Miura/Kihara, Bruno Marcotte, who immediately noticed her potential as a pair skater. Marcotte ended up introducing Nagaoka to his other student, Sumitada Moriguchi, whose previous pair partnership had recently dissolved. Following a successful tryout, the pair decided to team up with their long-term goal being to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Nagaoka left her hometown of Hokkaido and relocated to Uji, Kyoto, the city where Moriguchi primarily trained at. They were officially announced as a pair team in May 2022. It was also announced that Nagaoka/Moriguchi would primarily train at the Kinoshita Academy, where they would work with coaches, Mie Hamada, Cathy Reed, Satsuki Muramoto, and Hiroaki Sato, while also making frequent trips to Oakville, Ontario, Canada to work with pair skating coaches, Bruno Marcotte and Brian Shales, at the Oakville Skating Club.[6][11][12][13][2]
It was announced in May 2023 that the pair would split their time between training in Kyoto with Nagaoka/Moriguchi debuted as a pair at the Japan Eastern Sectionals, which they won. Elected as a host pick, Nagaoka/Moriguchi made their Grand Prix debut at the 2023 NHK Trophy. They scored 45.36 for their short program, 90.03 for their free, and 135.39 overall, placing eighth. They went on to win gold at the 2023–24 Japanese National Championships.[14]
They were named to the 2024 World team on the condition that they could obtain their technical minimums at the 2024 Bavarian Open or the 2024 International Challenge Cup.[15][16] At these events, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished fourth and sixth respectively. Although the pair scored the scored the minimum technical element score needed for the free skate, they failed to score the minimum technical element score for the short program. As a result, they were unable to compete at the 2024 World Championships.[17][1]
2024–2025 season
Nagaoka/Moriguchi began their season by competing at the 2024 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition, where they finished eighth.[1] Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, Nagaoka/Moriguchi scored personal bests in all competition segments at the 2024 NHK Trophy and finish in seventh place overall.[14] The team would also surpass the minimum technical element score, making them eligible to compete at the World Championships.[18] Initially only assigned one Grand Prix event, Nagaoka/Moriguchi's names were assigned to the 2024 Finlandia Trophy days before the event following the withdrawal of Australian pair team, Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore.[19][20] At the event, the pair place eighth of the eight pair teams in the short program but would score a personal best free skate by almost eight points, finishing third in that competition segment and moving up to sixth place overall.[14][21]
In late December, the pair won the silver medal at the 2024–25 Japan Championships behind Miura/Kihara.[22][23] They were subsequently named to the Four Continents and World teams.[24][25]
Selected to compete at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, Nagaoka/Moriguchi won the bronze medal behind Geynish/Chigirev and Ryom/Han.[26]
At the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished in seventh place following a ninth-place short program and a sixth-place free skate. Going on to compete at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States the following month, Nagaoka/Moriguchi placed twenty-second in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.[14]
2025–2026 season
In late July, it was announced that Nagaoka/Moriguchi had made a coaching change from Bruno Marcotte and Brian Shales to Dmitri Savin, Fedor Klimov, and Sofia Evdokimova[27]
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Programs
With Moriguchi
Singles skating
Competitive highlights
Pairs with Moriguchi
- GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
- CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
- TBD – Assigned
- WD – Withdrew from competition
Singles skating
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Detailed results
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Pair skating
With Moriguchi
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.
Singles skating
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References
External links
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