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Kaoruko Wada
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. Personal lifeWada was born on May 13, 2009, in Nagoya, Japan.[1] She is currently a student at Nagoya Municipal Maezu Junior High School.[2][3] CareerEarly careerWada 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 seasonMaking 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] This result ensured her qualification to compete at the senior championships.[10] A couple 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.[11] Wada expressed delight at this result, saying, "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."[12] Two weeks later, Wada made her senior level debut at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where she finished in tenth place.[6] She was subsequently named to the World Junior team.[13] Programs
Competitive highlights
Detailed results
Senior level
Junior levelCurrent personal best scores are highlighted in bold.
References
External links
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