Tatsuya Tsuboi

Tatsuya Tsuboi (壷井 達也, Tsuboi Tatsuya, born December 17, 2002) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2024–25 Japan national bronze medalist, the 2024 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, the 2023 World University Games silver medalist, and the 2022 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist.

Tatsuya Tsuboi
Tsuboi at the 2019 World Junior Championships
Native name	壷井 達也
Born	(2002-12-17) December 17, 2002 (age 22) Okazaki, Japan
Hometown	Hyogo
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Coach	Sonoko Nakano Mitsuko Graham Sei Kawahara
Skating club	Sysmex Corporation
Began skating	2009
Medal record
Japan Championships 2024–25 Osaka Singles World Junior Championships 2022 Tallinn Singles

On the junior level, he is the 2022 World Junior bronze medalist and 2018–19 Japan junior national champion.

Personal life

Tatsuya Tsuboi was born in Okazaki, Aichi.^[1] As of 2022, he is a student at Kobe University, studying in the International Human Sciences Department.^[2]

Career

Early career

Tsuboi began to skate at the age of 7.

After making his international junior debut at the 2017 edition of the Coupe du Printemps toward the end of the 2016–17 season, Tsuboi made his Junior Grand Prix debut the following autumn, placing fifth at both the 2017 JGP Belarus and 2017 JGP Italy. After winning the bronze medal at the 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships, he finished thirteenth at the senior level. He returned to the Coupe du Printemps, this time winning gold.^[3]

Tsuboi did not compete on the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix, but won the junior silver medal at the Asian Open Trophy. He won gold at the 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, and finished seventh at the senior level, as a result of which he was assigned to compete at the 2019 World Junior Championships. Tsuboi finished fourteenth there.^[3] Then, he was invited to skate in the gala at the 2019 World Team Trophy as the reigning Japan junior national champion.

2021–2022 season: Junior World bronze

After appearing only domestically over the following two seasons, partially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsuboi became more active in the 2021–22 season, even though Japan opted not to assign skaters to the Junior Grand Prix.^[4] He was the silver medalist at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, and placed ninth at the senior edition. These placements earned him an assignment to the 2022 World Junior Championships. Also given precursor assignments to the Bavarian Open and the Coupe du Printemps, he won gold at the former at the junior level and silver at latter at the senior level.^[3]

The World Junior Championships were originally scheduled for March in Sofia. However, as a result of both the Omicron variant and the Russo-Ukrainian War, they could not be held in their original location, and were moved to Tallinn in April. As well, the International Skating Union banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing, significantly altering the figure skating field.^[5][6][7] Tsuboi finished fifth in the short program with a new personal best score.^[8] He was third in the free skate, rising to third overall to win the bronze medal.^[9]

2022–2023 season: Senior debut

Moving to the senior level permanently, Tsuboi was assigned to make his Grand Prix debut at the MK John Wilson Trophy, where he finished fifth.^[3] At his second event, the Grand Prix of Espoo, he was fifth in the short program but rose to fourth after the free skate, where he set new personal bests in that segment and overall. He described nothing but "happiness" with the results.^[10][11]

Tsuboi finished ninth at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, and was subsequently assigned to compete at the 2023 Winter World University Games.^[12] He won the silver medal.^[13]

2023–2024 season

Given two assignments on the Grand Prix, Tsuboi finished eighth at the 2023 Skate America and ninth at the 2023 NHK Trophy.^[14][15] He went on to finish seventh at the 2023–24 Japan Championships before closing his season with a silver medal win at the 2024 Challenge Cup.^[16][3]

2024–2025 season

Tsuboi started the season by finishing fifth at the 2024 Asian Open Trophy. Selected as a host pick at the 2024 NHK Trophy, Tsuboi placed third in both the short program and free skate, scoring personal bests in all competition segments. He would walk away with the bronze medal overall.^[17][18] Pleased with this result, Tsuboi said in an interview afterwards, "I didn't even think that I would end up third. With the short and free program and free skating, I knew I had to do everything I can, put my best out there and give it my all. The day in day out efforts I've been making have paid off. This is my first podium in the senior Grand Prix series, so it's been a great confidence booster."^[19]

In late December, Tsuboi competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships. During the short program, Tsuboi finished a disappointing fourteenth place after landing his quadruple salchow on the quarter and popping his triple axel attempt into a single. During the free skate the following day, however, Tsuboi delivered a solid free skate, placing third in that segment of the competition. Due to several skaters that placed ahead of him in the short program faltering during the free skate, Tsuboi managed to move up to the bronze medal position overall.^[18][20][21] Due to this result, Tsuboi was named to the Four Continents and World teams.^[22][23]

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2024–2025 [24][25]	En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor by Joaquín Rodrigo performed by Il Divo choreo. by Zachary Donohue Adore Anima by Luca D'Alberto choreo. by Masahiro Kawagoe	I Pagliacci Vesti la giubba Preludio No, Pagliaccio non son Suvvia, coserribile by Ruggero Leoncavallo choreo. by Massimo Scali	Stairway to Heaven (2012 Remaster) by Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven performed by Rodrigo y Gabriela choreo. by Misao Sato
2023–2024 [26]	En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor by Joaquín Rodrigo performed by Il Divo choreo. by Zachary Donohue	Torn (Redux) (from High Strung) by Nathan Lanier, Phil Thornalley, Anne Preven, Scott Cutler choreo. by Massimo Scali	Johanna (from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) performed by Jamie Campbell Bower
2022–2023 [27]	Stairway to Heaven (2012 Remaster) by Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven performed by Rodrigo y Gabriela choreo. by Misao Sato
2021–2022 [28]	The Tree of Life by Alexandre Desplat choreo. by Kohei Yoshino	Preludes, Op. 23 No. 7: Prelude in C minor No. 5: Prelude in G minor No. 4: Prelude in D major by Sergei Rachmaninoff choreo. by Kohei Yoshino
2020–2021	Puttin' On The Ritz by Irving Berlin choreo. by Akiko Suzuki
2019–2020 [29]		Preludes, Op. 23 No. 5: Prelude in G minor No. 4: Prelude in D major by Sergei Rachmaninoff choreo. by Kohei Yoshino Symphony No. 9 From the New World by Antonín Dvořák choreo. by Yuko Hongo
2018–2019 [1][29]	Your Song by Elton John choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Symphony No. 9 From the New World by Antonín Dvořák choreo. by Yuko Hongo
2017–2018 [30]		Rurouni Kenshin by Nasoki Sato

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

2016–17 season to present

International[3]
Event	16–17	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21	21–22	22–23	23–24	24–25
Worlds									TBD
Four Continents									5th
GP Finland							4th
GP NHK Trophy								9th	3rd
GP Skate America								8th
GP Wilson Trophy							5th
Asian Open Trophy									5th
Challenge Cup							8th	2nd
Printemps						2nd
Universiade							2nd
International: Junior[3]
Junior Worlds			14th			3rd
JGP Belarus		5th
JGP Italy		5th
Asian Open			2nd
Bavarian Open						1st
Printemps	2nd	1st
National[3][31][32]
Japan	10th	13th	7th	WD		9th	9th	7th	3rd
Japan Junior	5th	3rd	1st	4th	7th	2nd

Earlier seasons

Event	15–16
National[31][32]
Japan Junior	14th

Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System 

Segment	Type	Score	Event
Total	TSS	251.52	2024 NHK Trophy
Short program	TSS	85.02	2024 NHK Trophy
	TES	48.47	2024 NHK Trophy
	PCS	37.28	2022 MK John Wilson Trophy
Free skating	TSS	166.50	2024 NHK Trophy
	TES	89.28	2024 NHK Trophy
	PCS	78.62	2022 Grand Prix of Espoo

Senior level

Results in the 2024-25 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 2–6, 2024	2024 Asian Open Trophy	2	82.37	7	122.61	5	204.98
Nov 8–10, 2024	2024 NHK Trophy	3	85.02	3	166.50	3	251.52
Dec 19–22, 2024	2024–25 Japan Championships	14	73.94	3	173.37	3	247.31
Feb 19–23, 2025	2025 Four Continents Championships	6	78.07	5	156.86	5	234.93

2023–24 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
February 22–25, 2024	2024 Challenge Cup	1 85.80	2 169.01	2 254.81
December 20–24, 2023	2023–24 Japan Championships	7 85.85	7 166.49	7 252.34
November 24–26, 2023	2023 NHK Trophy	12 64.63	5 151.99	9 216.62
October 20–22, 2023	2023 Skate America	9 72.57	8 144.41	8 216.98
2022–23 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
February 23–26, 2023	2023 Challenge Cup	12 67.16	5 145.18	8 212.34
January 12–22, 2023	2023 Winter World University Games	2 84.48	2 159.34	2 243.82
December 21–25, 2022	2022–23 Japan Championships	11 74.84	9 146.33	9 221.17
November 25–27, 2022	2022 Grand Prix of Espoo	5 78.82	4 166.08	4 244.90
November 11–13, 2022	2022 MK John Wilson Trophy	7 76.75	5 149.38	5 226.13
2021–22 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 22–26, 2021	2021–22 Japan Championships	12 77.31	8 157.90	9 235.21
2018–19 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 20–24, 2018	2018–19 Japan Championships	11 69.95	5 144.92	7 214.87
2017–18 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 21–23, 2017	2017–18 Japan Championships	14 63.35	11 135.36	13 198.71
2016–17 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 22–25, 2016	2016–17 Japan Championships	15 59.49	8 127.54	10 187.03

Junior level

2021–22 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
April 13–17, 2022	2022 World Junior Championships	5 79.15	3 154.67	3 233.82
March 18–20, 2022	2022 Coupe du Printemps	2 77.35	2 148.29	2 225.64
January 18–22, 2022	2021 Bavarian Open	1 81.92	1 156.42	1 238.34
November 19–21, 2021	2021–22 Japan Junior Championships	1 81.05	2 146.55	2 227.60
2020–21 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
November 21–23, 2020	2020–21 Japan Junior Championships	4 73.18	10 107.38	7 180.56
2019–20 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
November 15–17, 2019	2019–20 Japan Junior Championships	6 68.83	3 123.94	4 192.77
2018–19 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 4–10, 2019	2019 World Junior Championships	20 62.59	10 133.29	14 195.88
November 23–25, 2018	2018–19 Japan Junior Championships	2 78.23	2 144.56	1 222.79
August 1–5, 2018	2018 Asian Open Trophy	2 50.87	2 117.14	2 168.01
2017–18 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 16–18, 2018	2018 Coupe du Printemps	1 64.43	1 131.40	1 195.83
November 24–26, 2017	2017–18 Japan Junior Championships	5 63.53	2 125.62	3 189.15
October 11–14, 2017	2017 JGP Italy	6 65.98	5 132.46	5 198.44
September 20–24, 2017	2017 JGP Belarus	5 66.49	5 118.70	5 185.19
2016–17 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
March 10–12, 2017	2017 Coupe du Printemps	2 51.72	2 104.63	2 156.35
November 23–25, 2016	2016–17 Japan Junior Championships	6 56.07	5 121.55	5 177.62
2015–16 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
November 21–23, 2015	2015–16 Japan Junior Championships	14 48.89	14 96.69	14 145.58

References

1. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on August 9, 2019.
2. "壷井達也さんが全日本フィギュアスケート選手権に出場します". Kobe University. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
3. "Competition Results: Tatsuya TSUBOI". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on January 5, 2020.
4. "2021 Junior Grand Prix Series". International Figure Skating. July 5, 2021.
5. "ISU Statement on the Ukrainian Crisis – Participation in International Competitions of Skaters and Officials from Russia and Belarus". International Skating Union. March 1, 2022.
6. "ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2022 Allotted to Tallinn (EST)". International Skating Union. March 4, 2022.
7. "2022 World Junior Championships". International Figure Skating.
8. Slater, Paula (April 14, 2022). "USA's Ilia Malinin Sets Record at Junior Worlds". Golden Skate.
9. Slater, Paula (April 16, 2022). "USA's Ilia Malinin Takes Gold in Tallinn". Golden Skate.
10. "Malinin (USA) Seizes Gold in Espoo and Leaps Right into Grand Prix Final". International Skating Union. November 26, 2022.
11. Slater, Paula (November 26, 2022). "Malinin Pockets Another Gold in Espoo". Golden Skate.
12. Gallagher, Jack (December 27, 2022). "Shoma Uno Is Unhappy with Team Selection Process for World Championships". Japan Forward.
13. Gallagher, Jack (January 18, 2023). "Mihara and Yamamoto Lead Japan Medal Rush at the Winter World University Games". Japan Forward.
14. Gallagher, Jack (October 24, 2023). "Shun Sato Earns Third-Place Finish at Skate America". Japan Forward. Retrieved October 25, 2023.
15. Slater, Paula (November 26, 2023). "Yuma Kagiyama Reclaims NHK Trophy Title". Golden Skate. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
16. Di Sanzio, Chloé (December 23, 2023). "Shoma Uno Captures Sixth National Title". Golden Skate. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
17. "Yuna Aoki and Tatsuya Tsuboi 🇯🇵 Were Added to the #GPFigure #NHKTrophy Lineup". Instagram. Golden Skate. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
18. "Tatsuya Tsuboi". Skating Scores. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
19. "Tatsuya Tsuboi JPN 166.50 PB/251.52". Instagram. Golden Skate. Retrieved November 10, 2024.
20. "2025 Japanese Nationals - Men's Short Program". Skating Scores. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
21. "2025 Japanese Nationals - Men's Free Skate". Skating Scores. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
22. "🇯🇵 Japan's Assignments for #4ContsFigure". X. Anything GOEs. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
23. "🇯🇵 Japan's Assignments for #WorldFigure". X. Anything GOEs. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
24. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2024/2025 (1st SP)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on September 15, 2024.
25. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2024/2025 (2nd SP)". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 10, 2024.
26. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on October 23, 2023.
27. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022.
28. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 9, 2022.
29. "壷井 達也 ｜ スケート∞リンク ～フジスケ～". フジテレビ (in Japanese). Retrieved June 10, 2020.
30. "Tatsuya TSUBOI: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018.
31. "Tatsuya TSUBOI". rinkresults.com.
32. "壷井 達也" [TSUBOI Tatsuya] (in Japanese). Japan Skating Federation. Archived from the original on November 30, 2019.

External links

• Tatsuya Tsuboi at the International Skating Union