Rika Kihira Japanese figure skater Date of Birth: 21.07.2002 Country: Japan

1. Early Life and Career
2. Junior Career
3. Senior Career

Early Life and Career

Rika Kihira was born on July 21st, 2002, in Nishinomiya, Japan. She began skating in 2007. In the 2015-2016 season, she competed on the advanced novice level and won a gold medal at the Triglav Trophy international competition in Jesenice, Slovenia. Kihira trains in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, under coaches Mie Hamada, who previously coached Marin Honda, and Yamato Tamura, whose students include Satsuki Muramoto.

Junior Career

Kihira made her first JGP appearance in the 2016-2017 season. In early September, she won a silver medal in Ostrava, Czech Republic, finishing 0.08 points behind Russian Anastasia Gubanova. Later that month, she placed first in Ljubljana, Slovenia, beating the reigning junior world champion, Marin Honda, by 15.49 points. Kihira landed a triple Axel in her free skate. She qualified for the 2016-2017 JGP Final in Marseille, France, where she finished fourth.

Her 2017-2018 season began with a gold medal at the Asian Trophy in Hong Kong, again landing a triple Axel in her free skate. Kihira then competed in JGP events in Latvia and Italy. At her first event in Riga, she placed only sixth in the short program after falling on a triple Lutz. She led the free skate and finished second overall behind Daria Panenkova. At her next event in Egna, she placed third behind Sofia Samodurova and Alena Kostornaia.

Kihira's strong performances earned her a berth to her second JGP Final in Nagoya, where she became the first woman ever to land a triple Axel and a triple jump combination at an ISU competition. She also became the only non-Russian skater to qualify for the competition, finishing fourth after underrotating one of her jumps. She went on to win the bronze medal at the Japanese Championships after placing fifth in the short program and second in the free skate. Due to her young age, Kihira was ineligible for the senior world championships, so she competed at the junior championships in 2018 and finished eighth.

Senior Career

In the 2018-2019 season, Kihira finally made the transition to senior and competed at the Ondrej Nepela Trophy Challenger Series event. She placed first in both programs, despite a fall on her triple Axel attempt in the short program.

Making her Grand Prix debut at the 2018 NHK Trophy, the fourth stage of the 2018-2019 Grand Prix season, Kihira placed fifth in the short program due to an underrotated jump and another fall on her triple Axel attempt. However, she rebounded with a stellar free skate to win the gold medal overall.

With the victory, Kihira defeated her Japanese compatriot and reigning Japanese champion, Satoko Miyahara, as well as former world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who also landed a triple Axel in her free skate. At the Internationaux de France, Kihira placed second in the short program with 67.64 points and first in the free skate with 138.28 despite underrotating her triple Axel jump. After taking the gold medal overall, she stated that she was happy with the win but not satisfied with her performance.

At the 2018-2019 Grand Prix Final, Kihira broke a new world record by scoring 82.51 points in the short program. She surpassed Russian Alina Zagitova, who had received 80.78 points at a Grand Prix event in Moscow. Kihira said she was very surprised and had not imagined receiving such high marks.

Kihira is scheduled to compete in the free skate at the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver on December 9th.