Chiaki Matsumura

Chiaki Matsumura (松村 千秋) is a Japanese curler from Nagano.

Matsumura made her international debut at the 2011 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships as alternate on the Japanese team skipped by Satsuki Fujisawa.

The team went 2–4 through the double round robin, placing them third in the preliminary round.

They then lost to Korea in the semifinal and New Zealand in the bronze medal game, settling for fourth.

The team returned the following season after winning the Japan Curling Championships and saw much better results.

She was a longtime member of the Chubu Electric Power curling team from 2012 to 2023.

With the team, she won five Japan Curling Championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2019.

At the international level, she has represented Japan three times at the World Women's Curling Championship and three times at the Pacific-Asia Curling Championships, winning a silver medal in both 2012 and 2019.

They went through the round robin of the 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships with a 6–4 record, again placing third.

They then defeated Korea's Kim Eun-jung in the semifinal before losing the final to China's Wang Bingyu.

Their silver medal placement was enough to earn them a spot at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship.

There, the team just missed the tiebreakers with a 5–6 record.

Chubu Electric Power defended their national title the following season, however would not represent Japan at the 2013 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships.

In September 2013, Team Fujisawa, who had won the last three straight national championships, participated in the national trials for the 2013 Olympic Qualification Event.

They lost the best-of-seven final of the trials to Ayumi Ogasawara's Sapporo-based rink in six games, which eliminated their chances of competing at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

Team Fujisawa did participated in the 2014 Continental Cup of Curling as part of Team World, where they lost to the North Americans.

In Grand Slam play, the team reached the semifinals of the 2014 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, where they were eliminated by Jennifer Jones.

Also during the 2016–17 season, Team Matsumura finished runner-up at the 2016 Canad Inns Women's Classic World Curling Tour event, falling in the final to Rachel Homan.

A few seasons later, Matsumura and her new team of Emi Shimizu, Ikue Kitazawa, Hasumi Ishigooka and Seina Nakajima won the 2017 Japan Curling Championships during the 2016–17 season.

After suffering defeats to former teammate Satsuki Fujisawa's new Loco Solare rink in both the round robin and 1 vs. 2 page playoff games, the team edged Fujisawa by a score of 7–5 in the final game.

Although they won the national championship, the team did not compete in the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship as Team Fujisawa failed to finish in the top two at the 2016 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships.

In September 2017, the 2017 Japanese Olympic Curling Trials were held between Japan's top two rinks, Loco Solare (Satsuki Fujisawa) and Chubu Electric Power (Matsumura) to determine Japan's representative in the women's event for the 2018 Winter Olympics.

After splitting the first two games, Team Fujisawa won the next two games to secure a 3–1 victory in the best-of-five series.

At the 2018 national championship, Team Matsumura could not defend their title as they fell in the semifinal game to Fujikyu (Tori Koana).

The following season, the team altered their lineup, moving Matsumura down to third and alternate Seina Nakajima to skip.

On the tour, the team reached the final of the Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic and the semifinals of both the Red Deer Curling Classic and the Karuizawa International.

At the 2019 Japan Championship, the team went undefeated through the round robin with a perfect 8–0 record.

They then defeated Loco Solare again in the 1 vs. 2 game to advance to the final, where they again faced Fujisawa.

In the final, Team Nakajima took four in the fifth end followed by a steal of three in the sixth, aiding them in securing their second Japanese championship.

By winning the Japanese championship, Matsumura and teammates Seina Nakajima, Ikue Kitazawa, Hasumi Ishigooka and Emi Shimizu represented Japan at the 2019 World Women's Curling Championship.

At the world championships, the team squeaked into the playoffs with a 6–6 record, before upsetting the third place Russian team in the quarterfinals.

They then lost to Sweden in the semifinal, and lost to South Korea in the bronze medal game, settling for fourth place.

Matsumura and her team represented Japan at the 2019 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships in Shenzhen, China the following season.

After going 6–1 in the round robin and defeating Hong Kong in the semifinal, they lost in the final to China's Han Yu.

The team lost in the final of the Advics Cup at the start of the season, and reached the semifinals of the International Bernese Ladies Cup.

At the 2020 Japan Curling Championships, Team Nakajima once again went undefeated through the round robin with an 8–0 record.

They then lost in the 1 vs. 2 game to Fujisawa, before bouncing back with a semifinal victory over Hokkaido Bank Fortius (Sayaka Yoshimura).

In a tight final game, Loco Solare scored a single in an extra end to win the national championship by a final score of 7–6.

Team Nakajima played in no World Curling Tour events during the abbreviated 2020–21 season as there were no events held in Japan or Asia.

The team would compete in the 2021 Japan Curling Championships, held from February 8 to 14, 2021 in Wakkanai, Hokkaido.