2025-26 Japanese Pairs and Ice Dance

[mikeko666]

Pairs

Special National Trainees
Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara aka "RikuRyu" (ISU, GS thread, SkatingScores)

National Trainees B
Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi aka "YunaSumi" (ISU, GS thread, SkatingScores)

Other teams
Miyu Yunoki & Tristan Taylor
Ayumi Kagotani & Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (NEW)


Ice Dance

National Trainees B
Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita aka "UtaMasa" (ISU, GS thread, SkatingScores)
Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama aka "AzuShin" (ISU, GS thread, SkatingScores) - Split, Azusa retired

Other teams
Ayano Sasaki & Yoshimitsu Ikeda
Ikura Kushida & Koshiro Shimada (NEW)
Chisato Uramatsu & Atsuhiko Tamura (NEW)
Sumire Yoshida & Ibuki Ogahara aka "SumiIbu"* (ISU, SkatingScores)
Kaho Yamashita & Yuto Nagata aka "KahoYu"* (ISU, SkatingScores)
Ayumi Shibayama & Tomoki Kimura aka "AyuTomo"*
* Junior teams

 

[rabidline]

Azushin split.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Azushin split.

Because of Azusa's lingering injuries, I assume? So sad, they had much more potential than they were able to show.

 

[rabidline]

Azusa Tanaka retires from competitive skating, Shingo Nishiyama will continue ice dancing and will seek new partner to compete with.

 

[cocteautwin]

Sad to hear the news, Azusa has such beatufil skills but I guess injuries played their part in her decision. I wonder if Shingo and Sara Kishimito could be and option to team up as she's been training in Montreal as well and her partnership ended some time ago. Considering she already has some experience, who knows.

 

[yuki@thelake]

I doubt Kishimoto would want to team up with someone senior, as the reason she split from her partner was because he aged out of junior, and she wants to stay junior

 

[mikeko666]

I heard that Sara and Atsuhiko split because she grew too tall for him (Sara 156 cm, Atsuhiko 167 cm, according to their ISU bio).
Shingo is 172 cm.

 

[synesthesia]

I heard that Sara and Atsuhiko split because she grew too tall for him (Sara 156 cm, Atsuhiko 167 cm, according to their ISU bio).
Shingo is 172 cm.

That's within the "normal range" of height differences in dance, though. Utana (154 cm) and Masaya (165 cm) have the exact same height difference, for example.

Kaho and Yuto are basically the same height now (and Kaho even used to be slightly taller than Yuto before his growth spurt, I think).

But of course every couple is different and maybe Sara and Atsuhiko felt that they were no longer compatible. Whatever the reasons, I'm still sad about their split. They had so much potential.

 

[yuki@thelake]

Sara is still very petite compared to Atsu. The height was never an issue in the split.

Atsu turned 21 in January, so he aged out of junior. He's still training in Montreal, as Sara. Atsu is looking for a partner to skate senior, and Sara has been doing tryouts with junior-level boys so she can find a partner and continue to skate junior.

 

[Silevril Ilumire]

Do Utana & Masaya get to compete for an Olympic slot at the upcoming qualifier?

 

[saine]

Do Utana & Masaya get to compete for an Olympic slot at the upcoming qualifier?

They should be competing there, they would have the best chance at qualifying a spot.

 

[denise3lz]

Chisato URAMATSU who retired as single skater at end of last season, team up with Atsuhiko TAMURA.

https://x.com/chitose_0806/status/1946535563902718403

We are pleased to announce


I am pleased to announce that I will be forming an ice dance couple with Atsuhiko Tamura.
From now on, we will be based in Montreal as our training base, and we will do our best together.
We are very happy to be able to perform at competitions again.


 

[rabidline]

Chisato!!! What a delightful surprise I still remember watching her on the JGP stream back in 2019.

 

[rabidline]

Challenger Assignments are out, reported by figure365 / Nikkan (click for full thread at X):



▪︎ Kinoshita Group Cup (Sept 5–7, Kansai Airport)

Men: Tatsuya Tsuboi, Kazuki Tomono, Kao Miura, Sota Yamamoto
Women: Kaori Sakamoto, Wakaba Higuchi, Mone Chiba, Rinka Watanabe, Hana Yoshida
Pairs: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara, Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi
Ice Dance: Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita

▪︎ Lombardia Trophy (Sept 11–14, Bergamo)

Men: Yuma Kagiyama, Shun Sato, Kao Miura
Women: Rino Matsuike, Rion Sumiyoshi, Ami Nakai

▪︎ Nebelhorn Trophy (Sept 25–27, Oberstdorf)

Men: Tatsuya Tsuboi, Kazuki Tomono
Women: Mone Chiba, Hana Yoshida
Pairs: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara


▪︎ Trialeti Cup (Oct 8–11, Tbilisi)

Men: Sota Yamamoto
Women: Wakaba Higuchi, Rinka Watanabe
Ice Dance: Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita

 

[saine]

Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita and Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara are entered in Skate Ontario August. They're listed as representing Ontario, but that's Ontario defaulting to the Canadian club they're training at. This will be a paid stream.

Mizuho Sugimoto and Eisuke Kumano are entered in Junior Dance under Skate Mariposa. I think they're a new team?

 

[denise3lz]

Eisuke Kumano competed Ice Dance with several partners years but frankly,
they're always at the bottom of the list, so they don't get a lot of attention.

 

[saine]

I noticed that Miyu Yunoki and Tristan Taylor are on the entry list for Sask Skate in October (3-5) - https://skatecanadasaskatchewan.com/userdata/files/550/Sask Skate/2025/Entries 08.11.25.pdf

They don't have a club listed, it's also a week before Canadian Thanksgiving so I'm inclined to think it's getting a competition in while visiting family.

 

[yuki@thelake]

Sara Kishimoto will switch federations from Japan to Germany to skate with Michail Savitskiy. They will make the official announcement soon, though not too sure if Sara has gotten the release.

This is Savitskiy's last year at juniors but with him partnering with Sara, they'd be country locked this year. So when they debut, they will skate seniors.

 

[lileychristie]

Sara Kishimoto will switch federations from Japan to Germany to skate with Michail Savitskiy. They will make the official announcement soon, though not too sure if Sara has gotten the release.

This is Savitskiy's last year at juniors but with him partnering with Sara, they'd be country locked this year. So when they debut, they will skate seniors.

Wow, what a plot twist.....

A bit ironic since the mentioned reason of SaraAtsu split is because Sara still wants to do junior. But I guess that mustn't have been the whole story. I wish the best for Sara & Michail, both are very talented skaters - I hope they find joy & successes in their partnership

And for other dancers & pairs still looking for a partner, I wish them luck in finding new partners And hope JSF will invest more money in pairs & dance!

 

[lileychristie]

Speaking of new pairing, AnythingGOEs did a nice interview with Chisato Uramatsu & Atsuhiko Tamura (is their nickname ChisaAtsu now? )

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