Yuma Kagiyama

Yuma Kagiyama (鍵山 優真) is a Japanese figure skater.

He is the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, a two-time World silver medalist (2021, 2022), the 2024 Four Continents Champion, the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2020 Four Continents bronze medalist, a five-time Grand Prix medalist (4 gold, one bronze), a two-time ISU Challenger Series medalist (2 gold), an Olympic bronze medalist in the team event (2022), and a four-time Japanese national medalist.

Kagiyama slowly started to make a name for himself and won the gold in the Novice A Class at the 2014 Kanto Regional Figure Skating Championships at the age of 11.

Kagiyama's father and coach Masakazu suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage, was hospitalized for most of the season, and could not work on coaching the technical aspects.

He instead spent time working with choreographer Misao Sato to improve his expression during this period.

Kagiyama opened his season at the 2018 Asian Open Trophy, where he won the junior title ahead of his teammate Tatsuya Tsuboi.

He placed fourth at his first Junior Grand Prix event, 2018 JGP Canada.

Kagiyama won his first JGP medal, a silver, at 2018 JGP Armenia.

He placed fifth at the 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, and as a result, was invited to the senior championships.

Kagiyama placed sixth at the senior level and was chosen as the first alternate for the 2019 World Junior Championships team.

He competed as a senior at the 2019 International Challenge Cup and won the silver medal behind teammate Sōta Yamamoto.

Kagiyama won gold at 2019 JGP France with a new junior world record for the combined score.

His total was 34.16 points higher than that of silver medalist Aleksa Rakic of Canada.

His quadruple toe loop in the free skate set the junior record for the highest valued single jump, before being surpassed by Daniel Grassl's quadruple lutz at 2019 JGP Italy.

Kagiyama set a new junior world record in the free skating at 2019 JGP Poland, and surpassed his junior world record for the total score.

However, he eventually won silver behind Daniil Samsonov of Russia, who broke his junior world records for free skating and the total score after Kagiyama skated.

Kagiyama's results qualified him to the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final, where he placed fourth.

Kagiyama won gold at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships by over 37 points ahead of Shun Sato and Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda.

He was also invited to compete in the senior division at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, alongside the rest of the top six finishers in the junior division.

Competing at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, Kagiyama placed seventh in the short program and second in the free skate to win the senior national bronze medal.

At the junior level, Kagiyama is the 2020 Youth Olympic champion, the 2020 World Junior silver medalist, and the 2019–20 Japan Junior national champion.

Kagiyama is the former world junior record holder for the free skate and combined total score under the ISU Judging System.

He is known for his skating skills and consistency.

Yuma Kagiyama was born in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan, and is the son of two-time Olympian Masakazu Kagiyama.

He went to Karuizawa Chubu Elementary School before moving to Kanagawa Prefecture where he attended Rokkakubashi Junior High School in Yokohama.

Kagiyama graduated from SEISA Kokusai High School in Yokohama in 2022 and enrolled at Chukyo University in Nagoya later that year.

He is majoring in sports science.

Kagiyama's hobbies include gaming, listening to music, photography, and watching anime.

He looks up to Yuzuru Hanyu, Shoma Uno and Nathan Chen.

Kagiyama began skating at the age of 5 at the Kazakoshi Park Ice Arena in Karuizawa where his father was working as a coach.

He has been coached by his father since the beginning and describes his father, who treated him the same as his other students, as strict but says that is what allowed him to develop into the skater he is today.

As junior national champion, Kagiyama was named to represent Japan at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics and the 2020 World Junior Championships.

He was not selected to compete at the 2020 World Championships, but was assigned as one of Japan's three entries at the 2020 Four Continents Championships, in addition to his previously earned berth to the 2020 World Junior Championships.

Kagiyama was chosen by the Japanese Olympic Committee as the flag-bearer for the Japanese national team at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

He won gold at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics ahead of Russians Andrei Mozalev and Daniil Samsonov.

Kagiyama was selected by draw to be a member of Team Focus for the team event.

He won the men's free skating portion to help Team Focus win the silver medal.

At the Four Continents Championships, Kagiyama scored a personal-best 91.61 in his short program, beating his old mark by almost seven points and placing fifth in the segment.

He rose to the bronze medal overall in the free skate, his first senior ISU championship medal.

Finishing the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, Kagiyama won the short program ahead of Andrei Mozalev.