Rinka Watanabe
Rinka Watanabe (渡辺 倫果, Watanabe Rinka, born 19 July 2002) is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2022 Skate Canada International champion and the 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy champion.
| Rinka Watanabe | |
|---|---|
Watanabe at the 2022–23 Grand Prix Final. | |
| Native name | 渡辺倫果 |
| Born | 19 July 2002 Chiba, Japan |
| Hometown | Tokyo, Japan |
| Height | 1.53 m (5 ft 0 in) |
| Figure skating career | |
| Country | Japan |
| Coach | Kensuke Nakaniwa Makoto Nakata Momoe Naguma Aya Tanoue |
| Skating club | Hosei University |
| Began skating | 2006 |
Personal life edit
Watanabe was born on 19 July 2002 in Chiba.[1]
Watanabe learned to speak English from her time living and training in Vancouver.[2]
Skating career edit
Early years edit
Watanabe began figure skating at the age of three after watching Shizuka Arakawa win gold at the 2006 Winter Olympics on TV.
After winning the 2013 Japanese national novice B gold medal, she was invited to skate in the gala at the 2013 NHK Trophy.
In 2017, Watanabe moved to Vancouver, Canada, after her longtime coach, Megumu Seki, moved from Chiba to coach there.[3][4]
Given few international assignments in the early years of her junior career, she won the junior silver medal at the 2018 Bavarian Open and gold in the junior competition in the 2019 Coupe du Printemps.[1]
Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the rink that Watanabe trained at in Vancouver closed down, forcing her to move her training back to Japan. Watanabe was briefly coached by Mie Hamada until a rink in her hometown of Chiba reopened in the spring of 2021. Kensuke Nakaniwa, Makoto Nakata, Momoe Naguma, and Aya Tanoue became her coaches.[5][1]
2021–2022 season edit
In her final season of international junior eligibility, Watanabe was not able to participate in the Junior Grand Prix because the Japan Skating Federation opted not to send singles skaters abroad in the fall.[6] She finished sixth at the Japan Championships, earning international assignments for the second half of the season.[1]
Watanabe competed in the junior division at the Bavarian Open, winning the silver medal and earning the technical minimums needed for the 2022 World Junior Championships. She then appeared at the Coupe du Printemps at the senior level, winning gold, before placing tenth at the World Junior Championships to conclude the season.[1]
2022–2023 season edit
Watanabe began the season by making her Challenger series debut at the 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy, where she unexpectedly won the gold over reigning World and Japanese champion Kaori Sakamoto. She also cleared the 200-point threshold for the first time internationally.[7]
Following her success at the Lombardia Trophy, she was selected to replace Wakaba Higuchi at both of her Grand Prix assignments when the latter withdrew due to an injury.[8] Making her Grand Prix debut at the 2022 Skate Canada International, she was considered a favourite going in but placed sixth in the short program due to rotation issues on some triple jumps.[9] She rebounded in the free skate, winning that segment and taking the gold medal.[10] Watanabe was pleased afterward, noting, "this is my first time at the Grand Prix, and I did pretty good. I was very nervous. I was told only one week ago that I would participate, and it was hard to adjust my training."[11] Following her win, she entered the 2022 NHK Trophy as a podium favourite but ran into trouble in the short program, where she fell on her triple Axel attempt and then singled an intended triple loop. As a result, she placed ninth in the segment, almost ten points behind third-place Rion Sumiyoshi.[12] She rallied in the free skate, landing a slightly underrotated triple Axel and placing third in that segment, and rose to fifth overall, 5.05 points behind bronze medalist Sumiyoshi.[13][14]
Watanabe's results on the Grand Prix qualified her for the Grand Prix Final in Torino, one of three Japanese women attending, alongside Kaori Sakamoto and Mai Mihara. She finished fourth in the short program after her triple Axel attempt was called a quarter underrotated.[15] In a "turbulent" free skate segment that saw many skaters underperform markedly, Watanabe finished third in that segment and very narrowly fourth overall, only 0.34 points behind bronze medalist Loena Hendrickx of Belgium. Assessing the Final, she said she "liked the overall experience and hope to come back to another.[16][17]
Watanabe struggled in the short program of the 2022–23 Japan Championships, coming eighteenth in that segment.[18] She rose to twelfth place after the free skate. Despite this poor showing at the national championship, her international results earned her assignments to the 2023 Four Continents and 2023 World Championships.[19]
At the Four Continents Championship in Colorado Springs, errors saw Watanabe place eighth in the short program. In the free skate, she was one of only three skaters to attempt a triple Axel, and the only one to land it cleanly, though she made errors on both attempted triple Lutz jumps. Fourth in that segment, she moved up to fifth overall.[20][21] At the World Championships, held on home ice in Saitama, Watanabe placed fifteenth in the short program, but rose to tenth overall with a seventh-place free skate.[22] She expressed that her desire during her competitive career was to challenge herself "to the limit."[23]
During the off-season, Watanabe was cast to play Tony Tony Chopper in the summer show One Piece on Ice.[24]
2023–2024 season edit
Watanabe chose as the thematic subject of her free program "the dark times and struggles with injuries" of her junior career.[25] In her first international competition of the season, she won the silver medal at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy in her first appearance of the season.[1]
On the flight to Vancouver for the 2023 Skate Canada International, her first Grand Prix assignment, she watched Avatar: The Way of Water, whose score was the source of her short program music. She subsequently said she felt that understanding the story made her step sequence "more powerful." Watanabe fell on her triple loop attempt in the short program, placing seventh in the segment. She made only one mistake in the free skate, singling a planned triple Lutz, rising to sixth overall.[25] She finished second in the short program at the 2023 Cup of China despite slight underrotation calls on both parts of her jump combination, setting a new season's best score of 65.09.[26] She was second in the free skate as well, winning the silver medal and finishing only 0.75 points behind gold medalist Hana Yoshida. Watanabe said she had been "very regretful" of her performance in Vancouver, adding "today I feel better because I worked so hard."[27]
Programs edit
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–2024 [28] |
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| 2022–2023 [29] |
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| 2021–2022 [30] |
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| 2020–2021 |
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Competitive highlights edit
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series
Seasons: 2017–18 to present edit
| International[1] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | ||||
| Worlds | 10th | ||||||||||
| Four Continents | 5th | ||||||||||
| GP Final | 4th | ||||||||||
| GP Cup of China | 2nd | ||||||||||
| GP NHK Trophy | 5th | ||||||||||
| GP Skate Canada | 1st | 6th | |||||||||
| CS Finlandia | 2nd | ||||||||||
| CS Lombardia | 1st | ||||||||||
| Coupe du Printemps | 1st | ||||||||||
| International: Junior[1] | |||||||||||
| Junior Worlds | 10th | ||||||||||
| Bavarian Open | 2nd | 2nd | |||||||||
| Printemps | 1st | ||||||||||
| National[1][31] | |||||||||||
| Japan | 19th | 18th | 27th | 6th | 12th | ||||||
| Japan Junior | 5th | 4th | |||||||||
| Eastern Sect. | 1st J | 5th J | 16th J | 3rd | 1st | ||||||
| Tohoku-Hokkaido Reg.. | 1st J | 3rd J | 3rd J | 1st | |||||||
| Tokyo Reg. | 2nd | 3rd | 6th | ||||||||
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew Levels: J = Junior | |||||||||||
Seasons: 2012–13 through 2016–17 edit
Detailed results edit
| 2023–2024 season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 10–12, 2023 | 2023 Cup of China | 2 65.09 | 2 138.13 | 2 203.22 |
| October 27–29, 2023 | 2023 Skate Canada International | 7 57.52 | 6 124.56 | 6 182.08 |
| October 4–9, 2023 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy | 3 62.73 | 4 117.63 | 2 180.36 |
| 2022–23 season | ||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 20–26 March 2023 | 2023 World Championships | 15 60.90 | 7 131.91 | 10 192.81 |
| 7–12 February 2023 | 2023 Four Continents Championships | 8 65.60 | 4 134.90 | 5 200.50 |
| 21–25 December 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Championships | 18 56.23 | 9 127.76 | 12 183.99 |
| 8–11 December 2022 | 2022–23 Grand Prix Final | 4 72.58 | 3 123.43 | 4 196.01 |
| 18–20 November 2022 | 2022 NHK Trophy | 9 58.36 | 3 129.71 | 5 188.07 |
| 28–30 October 2022 | 2022 Skate Canada International | 6 63.27 | 1 134.32 | 1 197.59 |
| 16–19 September 2022 | 2022 CS Lombardia Trophy | 2 66.83 | 1 146.31 | 1 213.14 |
| 2021–22 season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 13–17 April 2022 | 2022 World Junior Championships | Junior | 11 59.96 | 11 105.48 | 10 165.44 |
| 18–20 March 2022 | 2022 Coupe du Printemps | Senior | 1 64.07 | 1 126.77 | 1 190.84 |
| 18–23 January 2022 | 2022 Bavarian Open | Junior | 2 59.57 | 2 124.12 | 2 183.69 |
| 22–26 December 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Championships | Senior | 8 65.07 | 4 134.08 | 6 199.15 |
| 2020–21 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 24–27 December 2020 | 2020–21 Japan Championships | Senior | 27 46.18 | – | 27 46.18 |
| 2018–19 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 15–17 March 2019 | 2019 Coupe du Printemps | Junior | 1 58.79 | 1 94.50 | 1 153.29 |
| 20–24 December 2018 | 2018–19 Japan Championships | Senior | 23 50.47 | 14 111.52 | 18 161.99 |
| 23–25 November 2018 | 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships | Junior | 6 54.16 | 5 103.54 | 4 157.70 |
| 2017–18 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 26–31 January 2018 | 2018 Bavarian Open | Junior | 2 57.41 | 2 106.95 | 2 164.36 |
| 21–24 December 2017 | 2017–18 Japan Championships | Senior | 19 55.46 | 18 106.45 | 19 161.91 |
| 24–26 November 2017 | 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships | Junior | 4 59.45 | 5 109.17 | 5 168.62 |
| 2015–16 season | |||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| 21–23 November 2015 | 2015–16 Japan Junior Championships | Junior | 9 53.35 | 17 87.55 | 13 140.90 |
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Rinka WATANABE: Competition Results". International Skating Union. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ^ a b "Rinka Watanabe – 2022 Skate Canada". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b Asano, Yumi. "法政大の渡辺倫果、4回転に意気込み 中学時代からカナダ拠点「自立できた」". 4 Years. 4 Years. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Japan's Watanabe wins women's gold at Skate Canada". TSN. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b Asano, Yumi. "法政大・渡辺倫果、必然の「ミラクル」 世界ジュニアではばたく". 4 Years. 4 Years. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ a b "2021 Junior Grand Prix Series". International Figure Skating. 5 July 2021.
- ^ a b Tone, Florentina (7 October 2022). "On dreams, goals and confidence. Notes on the women's event at Lombardia Trophy". Inside Skating.
- ^ a b Kano, Shintaro (5 October 2022). "Higuchi Wakaba to miss 2022–23 figure skating season with lingering effects from stress fracture". Olympic Channel.
- ^ a b McCarvel, Nick (28 October 2022). "Home hopes lead women's event at Skate Canada with Schizas, Daleman going 1–2 in short program". Olympic Channel.
- ^ a b McCarvel, Nick. "In Grand Prix debut, Japan's Watanabe Rinka stuns for Skate Canada title". Olympic Channel. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (29 October 2022). "Watanabe rebounds to gold at Skate Canada". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b "Kim (KOR) skates clean to beat World Champion Sakamoto (JPN) in Sapporo Short Program". International Skating Union. 18 November 2022.
- ^ a b "Lucky 13 as Kim beats World Champion Sakamoto (JPN) to end Korea's long wait for an ISU Grand Prix title". International Skating Union. 19 November 2022.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (19 November 2022). "Kim edges out Sakamoto for women's title at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (9 December 2022). "Japan's Sakamoto takes short program in Torino". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b "Mihara (JPN) wins on Grand Prix Final debut after turbulent Women's competition". International Skating Union. 10 December 2022.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (11 December 2022). "Mihara surprises in Torino; captures gold". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b Gallagher, Jack (22 December 2022). "Kaori Sakamoto Seizes Lead after Short Program at Japan Championships". Japan Forward.
- ^ a b Mitsuoka, Maria-Laura (24 December 2022). "Japan's Kaori Sakamoto reclaims national title". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (11 February 2023). "Haein Lee catapults to gold at Four Continents". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b "Haein Lee (KOR) surges from sixth to take Four Continents gold". International Skating Union. 10 February 2023.
- ^ a b Gallagher, Jack (25 March 2023). "Kaori Sakamoto Makes History by Winning Second Consecutive World Title". Japan Forward.
- ^ a b Slater, Paula (24 March 2023). "Kaori Sakamoto defends World title". Golden Skate.
- ^ a b Harding, Daryl. "Four More Ice-Skating Superstars Join ONE PIECE ON ICE ~Episode of Alabasta~". Crunchyroll. Crunchyroll. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
- ^ a b c Slater, Paula (29 October 2023). "Japan's Kaori Sakamoto seizes Skate Canada gold". Golden Skate. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Loena Hendrickx (BEL) leads Women's Short Program in Chongqing Cup of China". International Skating Union. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Hana Yoshida (JPN) storms to first ISU Grand Prix gold at Cup of China". International Skating Union. 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
- ^ a b "Rinka WATANABE: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. International Skating Union. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
- ^ a b . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
- ^ a b . International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022.
- ^ a b "JPN-Rinka WATANABE". SkatingScores.
External links edit
- Rinka Watanabe at the International Skating Union
- Rinka Watanabe on Instagram