Kanako Murakami

Kanako Murakami (村上 佳菜子) is a Japanese retired figure skater.

Murakami was born on November 7, 1994, in Naka-ku, Nagoya.

Making her first international appearance, Murakami won the silver medal in the spring girls category at the Mladost Trophy in the 2004–05 season.

In the 2005–06 season, she won silver at the 2005–06 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice B category, which is the lower of the novice levels.

This medal earned her a trip to compete in the spring competition, the Gardena Spring Trophy, which she won on the novice level.

Murakami competed at the 2006–07 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice A category and placed 7th, and at the 2007–08 Japan Novice Championships in the Novice A category, she placed 5th.

Murakami debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix.

She won the bronze medal at her first event in Madrid, Spain.

At her second event, in Sheffield, England, she won the competition.

She was the 4th qualifier for the 2008–09 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.

Prior to the JGP Final, Murakami competed at the 2008–09 Japan Junior Championships, which served both as the junior national championships and the qualifier for the Japanese team to the World Junior Championships.

Murakami placed 7th in the short program and won the free skating to take the bronze medal, which earned her an invitation to compete at the 2008–09 senior national championships.

Following the Final, Murakami competed at the 2008–09 Japan Championships, where she placed 7th in the short program, 8th in the free skating, and 7th overall.

However, as Japan had earned only two berths to the 2009 World Junior Championships, Murakami did not qualify.

At the JGP Final, she placed 2nd in the short program and 3rd in the free skating to place 4th overall.

In the 2009–10 season, Murakami competed on the 2009–10 ISU Junior Grand Prix and won both her events to qualify for the 2009–10 Junior Grand Prix Final.

And she won a gold medal at the JGP Final.

At the 2009–10 Japan Junior Championships, she won both segments of the competition to win the title overall.

The win qualified her for the 2009–10 Japan Championship, where she placed fifth overall, behind Mao Asada, Akiko Suzuki, Yukari Nakano, and Miki Ando.

She is the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 Four Continents champion, 2010 World Junior champion, 2009–10 JGP Final champion, and a four-time Japanese national medalist (bronze in 2010, 2011; silver in 2012, 2013).

She was assigned to compete at the 2010 World Junior Championships, where she won the title after placing second in the short program and first in the free skating.

Murakami moved up to the senior ISU Grand Prix for the 2010–11 season.

Her assignments for the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix season were the 2010 NHK Trophy and the 2010 Skate America.

At the 2010 NHK Trophy, she placed second in the short program behind Carolina Kostner, and fifth in the free skating to capture the bronze medal.

During both programs, she landed a triple toe-triple toe combination cleanly.

At the 2010 Skate America, she placed second in the short program after singling her double Axel.

She placed second in the free skate behind Rachael Flatt and won the gold medal.

Murakami qualified for the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final.

She placed third in the short program and second in the free skate on her way to the bronze medal.

In the 2011–12 Grand Prix season, Murakami finished sixth overall at the 2011 Cup of China and fourth at the 2011 Trophée Éric Bompard.

She earned her second consecutive bronze medal at the 2011 Japan Championships.

Murakami placed fourth at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and fifth at the 2012 World Championships.

She was part of the ladies' team representing Japan at the 2012 ISU World Team Trophy.

She placed 3rd in the short program but 8th in the free skating and finished 6th overall.

Murakami started her season with bronze at the 2012 Skate Canada International and finished 4th at her next event, the 2012 Cup of Russia.

She placed second at the 2012–13 Japan Championships.

She won the bronze medal in her third appearance at the 2013 Four Continents Championships with fellow Japanese medalists Mao Asada and Akiko Suzuki taking the gold and silver medal respectively.

Murakami finished 4th at the 2013 World Championships setting a personal best score of 189.73 points.

Murakami finished 4th at her first Grand Prix event of the season, the 2013 Cup of China, and then 7th at the 2013 Rostelecom Cup.

At 2013–14 Japan Championships, she finished second behind Akiko Suzuki.