Rika Hongo

Rika Hongo was born on September 6, 1996, in Sendai, Japan.^[1] Her mother, Yuko, is a former figure skater.^[2] Her father is from the United Kingdom.^[3] In 2015, Hongo attended Chukyo University.^[4]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Hongo began skating in 2001.^[1] She moved to Nagoya at age nine to train under coach Hiroshi Nagakubo.^[5] Shizuka Arakawa was named as an influence in a 2006 report.^[5]

Hongo debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series in the 2012–13 season. She won a silver medal in Courchevel, France and placed fifth in Croatia. Along with Satoko Miyahara, she was selected to represent Japan at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Milan, Italy. Hongo placed seventh in the short program, tenth in the free skate, and finished ninth overall.

Hongo started the 2013–14 season with a fourth-place finish at JGP Mexico and then won a bronze medal at JGP Belarus. At the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, she placed eleventh in the short program, seventh in the free skate, and eighth overall. Making her senior international debut, Hongo won gold at the 2014 Triglav Trophy, her final event of the season.

Hongo began the 2014–15 season with gold at the Asian Open and then bronze at the 2014 Finlandia Trophy, an ISU Challenger Series event. Making her senior Grand Prix debut, she finished fifth at the 2014 Skate Canada International after placing fifth in the short program and free skate. At her second Grand Prix event, the 2014 Rostelecom Cup, Hongo won the gold medal ahead of Russia's Anna Pogorilaya by 4.57 points after placing second in the short program and winning the free skate.^[6] Hongo was first alternate to the Grand Prix Final^[7] and was later called on to compete after qualifier Gracie Gold withdrew with a foot injury. She finished sixth overall after placing fifth in the short and free programs.

At the Japan Championships, Hongo won the short program and placed second in the free skate, winning the silver medal behind Satoko Miyahara and earning her first medal at Japanese Nationals. At the 2015 Four Continents, she placed third in the short and long programs, capturing the bronze medal behind gold medalist Polina Edmunds and silver medalist Miyahara.

Hongo made her senior worlds debut at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai, where she earned personal bests in all segments of the competition. She finished sixth overall after placing fifth in both segments.

Hongo began her season by winning both segments in a domestic competition called the Summer Cup, held in Shiga prefecture, Japan. Two months later, she outscored Yulia Lipnitskaya by 15.12 points to win gold at a Challenger Series event, the 2015 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she obtained a personal best total score of 187.45 points. Hongo then won silver at 2015 Cup of China, but placed fifth at 2015 Rostelecom Cup, and as a result, did not qualify for the Grand Prix Final.^[8] She placed 4th at the Japan Championships.

Ranked 4th in the short and 5th in the free, Hongo came away with the bronze medal at the 2016 Four Continents in Taipei, behind Satoko Miyahara and Mirai Nagasu. She finished 8th at the 2016 World Championships in Boston.^{[citation needed]}

Hongo finished 4th at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International and 6th at her first GP event of the season, 2016 Skate Canada International. She placed 5th at both of her December competitions, the 2016 Cup of China and the Japan Figure Skating Championships.

Hongo replaced the injured Satoko Miyahara at the 2017 Four Continents Championships, finishing 10th.^[9]

Hongo began her season with a silver medal at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.

Hongo decided to take a hiatus from skating, despite having had a new “Ghost in the Shell”-themed free skate choreographed for her by Shae-Lynn Bourne in May 2019. It was unknown whether she would return to competitive skating.^[10][11]

Hongo competed at the Chubu Regionals, a qualifier for the 2020–21 Japan Championships and placed second behind Mako Yamashita and ahead of Rin Nitaya. She finished first in the free skate. She later placed eighteenth at the Japan Championships.

Hongo announced her retirement from competitive skating on June 15, 2021.^[12]

In the spring of 2023, Hongo was cast to play Bon Clay in the summer show, One Piece on Ice.^[13]

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2020–2021	The Song of My Brother (from Crash Landing on You) choreo. by Yuko Hongo	Reawakening from (Ghost in the Shell) by Kenji Kawai choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne
2019–2020	Did not compete in this season
2018–2019 [14]	Battle Without Honor or Humanity by Tomoyasu Hotei choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne	Child of Nazareth by Maxime Rodriguez choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto
2017–2018 [15]	Carmina Burana by Carl Orff choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne	Frida by Elliot Goldenthal choreo. by Shae-Lynn Bourne	Blackpink medley choreo. by Misha Ge[16]
2016–2017 [1]		Reel Around The Sun by Bill Whelan choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto Lawrence of Arabia by Maurice Jarre choreo. by Akiko Suzuki	The Sky and the Dawn and the Sun by Celtic Woman
2015–2016 [17][18][19]	Incantation (from Quidam) by Benoît Jutras choreo. by Akiko Suzuki	Reel Around The Sun by Bill Whelan choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez
2014–2015 [20]	Le Corsaire by Adolphe Adam, Ludwig Minkus choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Carmen by Georges Bizet choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Let's Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez Thriller by Michael Jackson Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus
2013–2014 [21]	Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus	Miss Saigon by Claude-Michel Schönberg	Yozakura Oshichi by Fukumi Sakamoto
2012–2013 [22]	Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns	Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky	Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus

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

International[23]
Event	10–11	12–13	13–14	14–15	15–16	16–17	17–18	18–19	20–21
Worlds				6th	8th	16th
Four Continents				3rd	3rd	10th
GP Final				6th
GP Cup of China					2nd	5th
GP Finland								10th
GP NHK Trophy							7th
GP Rostelecom				1st	5th
GP Skate Canada				5th		6th	6th
CS Autumn Classic						4th
CS Finlandia				3rd	1st			16th
CS Ondrej Nepela							2nd
Asian Games						4th
Asian Open				1st
Challenge Cup							2nd
Printemps						1st
Triglav Trophy			1st
International: Junior[23]
Junior Worlds		9th	8th
JGP Belarus			3rd
JGP Croatia		5th
JGP France		2nd
JGP Mexico			4th
National[24]
Japan		5th	6th	2nd	4th	5th	6th	17th	18th
Japan Junior	19th	3rd	1st
Team events
Team Challenge Cup					3rd T 7th P