# Haru Kakiuchi

Haru Kakiuchi (垣内 珀琉, Kakiuchi Haru, born 18 April 2006) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2023 JGP Hungary bronze medalist and 2023 Challenge Cup silver medalist on the Junior level.

## Personal life

Kakiuchi was born on April 18, 2006, in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As hobbies, Kakiuchi enjoys listening to classical music as well as collecting rocks, old coins, and ukiyo-e.
He is currently a student at N High School.

## Career
### Early career

Kakiuchi began figure skating in 2010 at the age of three after his mother, Kaori, encouraged him as a way to help overcome his shyness. That same year, Kakiuchi began training at the Kansai University Skating Club in Takatsuki, Osaka after being invited by Mie Hamada to train there as her student.
He won the silver medal on the novice b level at the 2016–17 Japan Championships. The following season, Kakiuchi won the silver medal at the 2017–18 Japan Novice A Championships and placed twenty-first at the 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships.
After finishing fifth at the 2018–19 Japan Novice A Championships, Kakiuchi moved back to his hometown of Nishinomiya and began training at the Hyogo Nishinomiya Figure Skating Club with Sayaka Yodo and Keiji Tanaka becoming his new coaches. He would place eighteenth at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships and thirteenth at both the 2020–21 and 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships.

### 2022–2023 season

Making his junior international debut, Kakiuchi competed on the 2022–23 ISU Junior Grand Prix, finishing eighth at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic. He went on to finish sixth in the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships. Due to his top eight finish, Kakiuchi was selected to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Senior Championships.
He went on to compete at the Japan Eastern Sectional Championships, winning the gold medal. At the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships, Kakiuchi finished fifth and was selected to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Senior Championships due to this top eight finish. At those championships, Kakiuchi finished eighteenth.
Kakiuchi closed his season by winning silver on the junior level at the 2023 International Challenge Cup.

### 2023–2024 season

Competing on the 2023–24 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, Kakiuchi began his season by finishing seventh at the 2023 JGP Austria and winning bronze at the 2023 JGP Hungary.
He then finished fourth at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships. With this result, combined with his placements on the Junior Grand Prix series, Kakiuchi was selected to represent Japan at both the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics and the 2024 World Junior Championships. He was also selected to compete at the 2023–24 Japan Senior Championships due to his top eight finish at the junior championships. He finished eighteenth at the latter event.
He went on to finish seventh at the Youth Olympics and seventeenth at the World Junior Championships.

### 2024–25 season

Kakiuchi began the season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing fourth at 2024 JGP Thailand and eighth at 2024 JGP Slovenia.
In late November, he competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where he finished sixth. This result allowed him to qualify for the senior championships, where he finished seventeenth.

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating |
| 2024–2025 | Caruso by Lucio Dalla performed by Joseph Calleja choreo. by Kohei Yoshino | I giorni: Andante by Ludovico Einaudi performed by Daniel Hope, Jacques Ammon, & Kammerorchester Berlin Violin Concerto No. 2, Movement III by Philip Glass performed by Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica choreo. by Stéphane Lambiel |
| 2023–2024 | Caruso by Lucio Dalla performed by Joseph Calleja choreo. by Kohei Yoshino | Wake Me Up by Avicii performed by Avicii & Simply Three choreo. by Misao Sato |
| 2022–2023 | Libertango by Astor Piazzolla performed by Taro Hakase choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto | Wake Me Up by Avicii performed by Avicii & Simply Three choreo. by Misao Sato |
| 2021–2022 | Buzoku by DRUM TAO | La campanella (from Grandes études de Paganini) by Franz Liszt performed by Nobuyuki Tsujii |

## Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix
International: Junior :
| Event | 17–18 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 |
| Youth Olympics | | | | | | 7th | |
| Junior Worlds | | | | | | 17th | |
| JGP Austria | | | | | | 7th | |
| JGP Czech Republic | | | | | 8th | | |
| JGP Hungary | | | | | | 3rd | |
| JGP Slovenia | | | | | | | 8th |
| JGP Thailand | | | | | | | 4th |
| Challenge Cup | | | | | 2nd | | |
| National |||||||||||||
| Japan | | | | | 18th | 18th | 17th |
| Japan Junior | 21st | 20th | 13th | 14th | 6th | 4th | 6th |
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew |||||||||||||

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 209.50 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
| Short program | TSS | 69.99 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
| Short program | TES | 36.89 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
| Short program | PCS | 33.94 | 2023 JGP Austria |
| Free skating | TSS | 139.51 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
| Free skating | TES | 71.02 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
| Free skating | PCS | 68.49 | 2024 JGP Thailand |
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

### Senior level

2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| December 19–22, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships | 17 70.52 | 15 132.75 | 17 203.27 |
| 2023–24 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| December 20–24, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships | 21 64.58 | 14 131.72 | 18 196.30 |
| 2022–23 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| December 21–25, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Championships | 21 61.42 | 18 126.55 | 18 187.97 |

### Junior level

2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 15–17, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships | 15 58.05 | 6 129.88 | 6 187.93 |
| October 2–5, 2024 | 2024 JGP Slovenia | 7 68.07 | 8 126.31 | 8 194.38 |
| September 11–14, 2024 | 2024 JGP Thailand | 5 69.99 | 4 139.51 | 4 209.50 |
| 2023–24 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| February 26–March 3, 2024 | 2024 World Junior Championships | 16 65.49 | 13 127.33 | 17 192.82 |
| January 27–29, 2024 | 2024 Winter Youth Olympics | 8 61.11 | 5 124.77 | 7 185.88 |
| November 17–19, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships | 3 68.64 | 5 129.33 | 4 197.97 |
| September 20–23, 2023 | 2023 JGP Hungary | 4 66.95 | 3 133.87 | 3 200.82 |
| August 30–September 2, 2023 | 2023 JGP Austria | 4 69.39 | 11 111.12 | 7 180.51 |
| 2022–23 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| February 23–26, 2023 | 2023 International Challenge Cup | 2 59.15 | 1 115.00 | 2 174.15 |
| November 25–27, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships | 6 63.39 | 10 117.34 | 6 180.73 |
| August 31–September 3, 2022 | 2022 JGP Czech Republic | 8 64.58 | 9 113.43 | 8 178.01 |
| 2021–22 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 19–21, 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships | 13 56.00 | 16 93.46 | 14 149.46 |
| 2020–21 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 21–23, 2020 | 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships | 13 57.32 | 13 102.52 | 13 159.84 |
| 2019–20 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 15–17, 2019 | 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships | 18 47.88 | 20 84.97 | 20 132.85 |
| 2017–18 season |||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| November 24–26, 2017 | 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships | 22 41.86 | 20 88.38 | 21 130.24 |