Kaoruko Wada

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Kaoruko Wada
Native name和田薫子
Born (2009-05-13) May 13, 2009 (age 15)
Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
Hometown Nagoya
Height1.48 m (4 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
CountryFlag of Japan.svg  Japan
Coach Machiko Yamada
Yuko Hongo
Soshi Tanaka
Skating clubGrand-Prix Tokai FSC
Began skating2014
Junior Grand Prix Final
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2024–25 Grenoble Singles

Kaoruko Wada (和田薫子, Wada Kaoruko, born May 13, 2009) is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, 2024 JGP Czech Republic champion, the 2024 JGP Poland silver medalist, and the 2024–25 Japanese Junior national silver medalist.

Contents

Personal life

Wada was born on May 13, 2009, in Nagoya, Japan. [1] She is currently a student at Nagoya Municipal Maezu Junior High School. [2] [3]

Career

Early career

Wada began figure skating in 2014 at the age of five after watching Mao Asada compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics and subsequently getting Asada's autograph. Soon after beginning to skate, she began training under Machiko Yamada, who had previously coached Asada during the early years of her career. [4] [5] [3]

On the basic novice level, Wada finished twenty-fourth at the 2018–19 Japan Novice B Championships and the following year, finished fourth at the 2019–20 Japan Novice B Championships. [6]

As an advanced novice skater, she placed sixth at the 2020–21 Japan Novice A Championships and won the silver at the 2021–22 Japan Novice A Championships. Following the latter event, Wada competed at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, where she finished eleventh. [6]

During the subsequent seasons, Wada would finish tenth at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships and thirteenth at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships. [6]

2024–25 season

Making her international debut on the 2024–25 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, Wada unexpectedly took gold at 2024 JGP Czech Republic, defeating reigning World Junior bronze medalist Rena Uezono. Following the event, she said, "I didn't expect to win this title, and I enjoyed performing the short program and the free skating. It was amazing. I found some room to improve through this competition, so I will practice more and I want to enjoy performing more and show better performances to the audience." [7] Wada would go on to take silver behind reigning World Junior champion Mao Shimada at 2024 JGP Poland. [8] [5] With these results, Wada qualified for the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final. [9]

In late November, Wada competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where she won the silver medal. [6] Weeks later, Wada competed at the JGP Final in Grenoble, France. She placed second in both the short program and free skate, winning the silver medal overall and sharing the podium with fellow Japanese skaters, Mao Shimada and Ami Nakai. Wada expressed delight at this result, saying that this "was my first participation in the JGP final but Ami and Mao helped me a lot. This is why I think it was possible to achieve this result as a team." [10] Two weeks later, Wada made her senior level debut at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where she finished in tenth place. [6]

Wada finished her season at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, where she placed fifth in the short program, less than three points back of third place. [11] The free skate proved more difficult, and she dropped to eighth overall. [12]

Programs

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2024–2025
[1]
2023–2024
[13]
2022–2023
[14]

Competitive highlights

International: Junior [15] [6]
Event 21–22 22–23 23–24 24–25
Junior Worlds 8th
JGP Final 2nd
JGP Czech Republic 1st
JGP Poland 2nd
National [15] [6]
Japan 10th
Japan Junior 11th10th13th2nd

Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System [6]
SegmentTypeScoreEvent
TotalTSS198.22 2024 JGP Poland
Short program TSS70.582024 JGP Poland
TES40.652024 JGP Poland
PCS29.932024 JGP Poland
Free skating TSS127.642024 JGP Poland
TES68.40 2024 JGP Czech Republic
PCS59.542024 JGP Poland

Senior level

2024–25 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
December 19–22, 2024 2024–25 Japan Championships 10
66.70
8
128.93
10
195.63

Junior level

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

2024–25 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
February 25–March 2, 2025 2025 World Junior Championships 5
64.35
9
117.30
8
181.65
December 5–8, 2024 2024–25 JGP Final 2
67.77
2
123.98
2
191.75
November 15–17, 2024 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships 2
66.40
4
123.77
2
190.17
September 25–28, 2024 2024 JGP Poland 2
70.58
2
127.64
2
198.22
September 4–9, 2024 2024 JGP Czech Republic 1
67.21
1
126.93
1
194.14
2023–24 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
November 17–19, 2023 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships 7
60.26
15
97.61
13
157.87
2022–23 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
November 25–27, 2022 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships 9
57.37
10
101.21
10
158.58
2021–22 season
DateEvent SP FS Total
November 19–21, 2021 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships 12
52.89
9
103.88
11
156.77

References