Taiga Nishino
Japanese figure skater (born 2008)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taiga Nishino (西野 太翔, Nishino Taiga; born 16 October 2009) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2026 World Junior bronze medalist, a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, and a two-time Japanese junior national medalist.
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | 西野 太翔 | |||||
| Other names | Nishino Taiga | |||||
| Born | 16 October 2009 | |||||
| Home town | Yokohama | |||||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) | |||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||
| Country |  Japan | |||||
| Coach | Misao Sato Akiko Sato | |||||
| Skating club | Seisa International High School Yokohama Kanagawa Figure Skating Club | |||||
| Began skating | 2014 | |||||
| Medal record | ||||||
| ||||||
Personal life
Nishino was born on 16 October 2009 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.[1]
He cites Yuzuru Hanyu and Yuma Kagiyama as his greatest skating influences.[2] His hobbies include cooking, shopping and napping.[3]
Career
Early career
Nishino began skating at age five, inspired by his older sister and watching Yuzuru Hanyu's Parisienne Walkways short program at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[4][5] His first coach was Eri Kikkawa.[6]
Nishino debuted as a basic novice skater at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, winning the silver medal and winning bronze the following year.[7]
During the 2021–22 season, Nishino moved up to the advanced novice level, winning silver at the 2021–22 Japan Championships. With that result, he was selected to compete at the Japan Junior Championships, where he finished in twenty-fifth place.[7]
Prior to the 2022–23 season, Misao Sato became Nishino's new coach.[8] He subsequently went on to win silver on the advanced novice level and finished twelfth on the junior level at the 2022–23 Japan Championships.[7]
2023–24 season: Junior international debut
Nishino made his junior international debut in August at the 2023 JGP Austria, where he finished in ninth place. A couple months later, he competed at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships, finishing fifth overall. Selected to compete on the senior level at the 2023–24 Japan Championships in December, Nishino placed thirtieth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.[7]
2024–25 season
Nishino opened his season by finishing sixth at 2024 JGP Czech Republic.[7] He went on to compete at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, winning the bronze medal behind Rio Nakata and Sena Takahashi.[9]
In December, Nishino competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where he placed twelfth overall.[7]
2025–26 season: World Junior bronze
Nishino began his season by winning the gold medal at 2025 JGP Italy. During his free skate at the event, he successfully completed both a quadruple toe loop and a quadruple salchow, breaking his personal bests in both the free skate and combined total scores.[7][10] He went on to compete at 2025 JGP Poland, winning the silver medal. With these results, Nishino qualified for the 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final.[7]
In November, Nishino competed at the 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships, where he won the silver medal behind Rio Nakata.[11]
The following month, he competed at the 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan, placing fifth overall.[12] Two weeks later, Nishino competed on the senior level at the 2025–26 Japan Championships, finishing in eleventh place overall.[13]
Selected to compete at the 2026 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, Nishino placed fourth in the short program and second in the free skate to win the bronze medal overall behind Rio Nakata and Seo Min-kyu as well as scoring personal bests in all competition segments.[14][7] "The good thing about this free skate was that I managed to skate a clean program and fight until the end. That was good," he said during a press conference following the event.[15]
2026-2027 season
Nishino starts out his season at the 2026 JGP Thailand where he singled out his planned triple axel in the short program placing him in 13th place.
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026–2027 [16][17] |
|
|
|
| 2025–2026 [1] |
|
|
|
| 2024–2025 [18] |
|
|
|
| 2023–2024 [19][20] |
|
|
|
| 2022–2023 [21][8] |
|
|
|
| 2021–2022 [6] |
|
|
Competitive highlights
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
- TBD – Assigned
- WD – Withdrew from competition
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 | 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 3rd | |||||
| Junior Grand Prix Final | 5th | |||||
| Japan Championships | 25th | 12th | 5th | 3rd | 2nd | |
| JGP Austria | 9th | |||||
| JGP Czech Republic | 6th | |||||
| JGP Italy | 1st | |||||
| JGP Poland | 2nd | |||||
| JGP Slovenia | 3rd | |||||
| JGP Thailand | 4th |
Detailed results
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 241.23 | 2026 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TSS | 84.29 | 2026 JGP Slovenia |
| TES | 48.14 | 2026 JGP Slovenia | |
| PCS | 37.23 | 2025 JGP Poland | |
| Free skating | TSS | 160.09 | 2026 World Junior Championships |
| TES | 87.06 | 2026 World Junior Championships | |
| PCS | 73.76 | 2025 JGP Italy |
Senior level
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Dec 20–24, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships |
30 | 50.77 | N/a | N/a | 30 | 50.77 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Dec 19–22, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships |
9 | 77.58 | 14 | 135.49 | 12 | 213.07 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Dec 18–21, 2025 | 2025–26 Japan Championships |
17 | 70.18 | 8 | 140.93 | 11 | 211.11 |
Junior level
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Nov 19–21, 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Championships (Junior) |
25 | 46.41 | N/a | N/a | 25 | 46.41 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Nov 25–27, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Championships (Junior) |
12 | 56.37 | 11 | 114.37 | 12 | 170.74 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Aug 30 – Sep 2, 2023 |  2023 JGP Austria |
16 | 49.65 | 6 | 126.25 | 9 | 175.90 |
| Nov 17–19, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships (Junior) |
8 | 63.52 | 3 | 132.19 | 5 | 195.71 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Sep 4–7, 2024 |  2024 JGP Czech Republic |
2 | 77.20 | 6 | 123.03 | 6 | 200.23 |
| Nov 15–17, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships (Junior) |
3 | 75.85 | 5 | 132.64 | 3 | 208.49 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Sep 3–6, 2025 |  2025 JGP Italy |
2 | 75.97 | 1 | 157.53 | 1 | 233.50 |
| Oct 1–4, 2025 |  2025 JGP Poland |
1 | 78.81 | 3 | 140.54 | 2 | 219.35 |
| Nov 22–24, 2025 | 2025–26 Japan Championships (Junior) |
2 | 79.95 | 2 | 155.69 | 2 | 235.64 |
| Dec 4–7, 2025 | 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final |
6 | 64.01 | 5 | 138.59 | 5 | 202.60 |
| Mar 3–8, 2026 |  2026 World Junior Championships |
4 | 81.14 | 2 | 160.09 | 3 | 241.23 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Sep 3–5, 2026 |  2026 JGP Thailand |
13 | 59.09 | 3 | 150.69 | 4 | 209.78 |
| Oct 1–3, 2026 |  2026 JGP Slovenia |
2 | 84.29 | 3 | 142.99 | 3 | 227.28 |