Sumitada Moriguchi

2022–23 season: Debut of Murakami/Moriguchi, first Japan national title

At the suggestion of Mie Hamada, Moriguchi decided to team up with fellow Hamada student Haruna Murakami. Coached by Hamada, Narumi Takahashi, Bruno Marcotte, and Brian Shales, the pair debuted on the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix.^[11][3] The finished fourth at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic and third at the 2022 JGP Poland I. They then went on to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships, winning the gold medal.^[3]

Although initially listed as alternates to compete at the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final in Turin, Italy, they were ultimately called up to compete due to the withdrawal of Canadian pair team, Ava Kemp / Yonathan Elizarov.^[12] At the Final, Murakami/Moriguchi placed fifth in the short program and third in the free skate, finishing in fourth place overall.

They went on to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, which they won, after Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara were forced to withdraw due to flight delays.^[13][3] Moriguchi also competed in the men's singles event at Nationals and finished seventh, his highest result to date.

Selected to compete at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Murakami/Moriguchi finished fourth after placing sixth in the short program and fourth in the free skate.^[3]

Moriguchi went on to compete at the 2023 Triglav Trophy, where he won the silver medal behind Nozomu Yoshioka.

Following the season, it was announced that Murakami/Moriguchi had parted ways due to Moriguchi no longer being age eligible to compete on the junior level and Murakami being age ineligible to compete on the senior level for another three years.^[14]

2023–2024 season: Debut of Nagaoka/Moriguchi

In April 2023, pairs coach, Bruno Marcotte suggested that Moriguchi try pair skating with Yuna Nagaoka after noticing her potential as a pairs skater during a training camp that was organized by the Japan Skating Federation. Following a successful tryout, the pair decided to team up with their long-term goal being to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics. They were officially announced as a pair team in May 2022. It was also announced that Nagaoka/Moriguchi would primarily train at the Kinoshita Academy, where they would work with coaches Mie Hamada, Cathy Reed, Satsuki Muramoto, and Hiroaki Sato, while also making frequent trips to Oakville, Ontario, Canada to work with pair skating coaches Bruno Marcotte and Brian Shales at the Oakville Skating Club.^{[7][15][16][17][18]}

They debuted as a pair at the Japan Eastern Sectionals, which they won. Elected as a host pick, Nagaoka/Moriguchi made their Grand Prix debut at the 2023 NHK Trophy. They scored 45.36 for their short program, 90.03 for their free, and 135.39 overall, placing eighth. They went on to win gold at the 2023–24 Japanese National Championships.^[19]

They were named to the 2024 World team on the condition that they could obtain their technical minimums at the 2024 Bavarian Open or the 2024 International Challenge Cup.^[20][21] At these events, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished fourth and sixth respectively. Although the pair scored the scored the minimum technical element score needed for the free skate, they failed to score the minimum technical element score for the short program. As a result, they were unable to compete at the 2024 World Championships.^[22][1]

2024–2025 season

Nagaoka/Moriguchi began their season by competing at the 2024 CS John Nicks International Pairs Competition, where they finished eighth.^[1] Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, Nagaoka/Moriguchi scored personal bests in all competition segments at the 2024 NHK Trophy and finish in seventh place overall.^[19] The team would also surpass the minimum technical element score, making them eligible to compete at the World Championships.^[23] Initially only assigned one Grand Prix event, Nagaoka/Moriguchi's names were assigned to the 2024 Finlandia Trophy days before the event following the withdrawal of Australian pair team Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore.^[24][25] At the event, the pair place eighth of the eight pair teams in the short program but would score a personal best free skate by almost eight points, finishing third in that competition segment and moving up to sixth place overall.^[19][26]

In late December, the pair won the silver medal at the 2024–25 Japan Championships behind Miura/Kihara.^[27][28] They were subsequently named to the Four Continents and World teams.^[29][30]

Selected to compete at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, Nagaoka/Moriguchi won the bronze medal behind Geynish/Chigirev and Ryom/Han.^[31]

At the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished in seventh place following a ninth-place short program and a sixth-place free skate. Going on to compete at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States the following month, Nagaoka/Moriguchi placed twenty-second in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.^[19] Following this disappointing result, Nagaoka considered quitting the sport but decided to continue following the encouragement of Moriguchi.^[32]

Feeling the need for a change and hoping to improve their consistency, Nagaoka/Moriguchi decided to make a coaching change from Bruno Marcotte and Brian Shales to Dmitri Savin, Fedor Klimov, and Sofia Evdokimova.^[33][32]

2025–2026 season: Milano Cortina Olympics, Four Continents bronze

Nagaoka/Moriguchi kicked off their season by winning the bronze medal at the 2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup. A couple weeks following that event, they competed at the ISU Skate to Milano, the final qualifying event for the 2026 Winter Olympics. There, they managed to capture the bronze medal thus securing a second Olympic berth for Japanese pair skating.^[34][19]

The following month, Nagaoka/Moriguchi placed fourth at 2025 NHK Trophy, earning new personal bests in the short program, free skate, and total scores in the process.^[35] Two weeks later, Nagaoka/Moriguchi finished fourth at 2025 Finlandia Trophy. "We are very glad that the technical score and the PCS were both over 60," Moriguchi said after the free skate. "We know that there is room to improve on the throw jumps and also on the levels."^[36]

In December, they competed at the 2025–26 Japan Championships, winning their second national title.^[37] Following the event, Nagaoka/Moriguchi were officially selected to Japan's 2026 Winter Olympic team.^[19][38]

The following month, Nagaoka and Moriguchi took the bronze medal at the 2026 Four Continents Championships in Beijing, China. "This is our first Four Continents championships medal," noted Moriguchi. "We are generally happy about that. So, this medal will be embedded in our skating career memory."^[39]

Senior results

Junior results