# Masaya Morita

Masaya Morita (森田 真沙也, Morita Masaya, born November 16, 2003) is a Japanese ice dancer who currently competes with Utana Yoshida. Together, they are the 2025 Asian Winter Games champions, the 2024–25 Japanese national champions and the 2023–24 Japanese national bronze medalists.
With his former partner, Nao Kida, he is a two-time Japan junior national champion (2021–22, 2022–23) and the 2022 JGP Czech Republic bronze medalist. They also competed at two World Junior Championships (2022, 2023).

## Personal life

Morita was born on November 16, 2003. In 2021, after graduating from Kyoto Ryōyō High School, he would enroll at Doshisha University's Faculty of Commerce.
He admires Japanese singles skater Kazuki Tomono and Canadian ice dance team Gilles/Poirier.

## Career
### Early career

Morita began figure skating in 2013. He originally competed as a singles skater and trained at the Kyoto Daigo Figure Skating Club, where he was coached by Hikako Watanabe. At the age of thirteen, Morita would make the decision to switch to the ice dance discipline due to his struggles with mastering jumps. Prior to the 2017–18 figure skating season, Morita would team up with Nagomi Okada. Together, they won silver on the novice level at the 2017–18 and the 2018–19 Japan Championships. The team parted ways in 2019 and Morita briefly returned to singles skating for the 2019–20 figure skating season.

### Partnership with Kida
#### 2020–2021 season

Prior to the season, Morita moved his training base to Kyoto's newly established Kinoshita Academy. There, former Japanese ice dancer Cathy Reed became his new coach. Subsequently, Morita teamed up with former singles skater Nao Kida.
Kida/Morita debuted as a team at the 2020–21 Japan Novice Championships, where they won the gold medal.

#### 2021–2022 season

Kida/Morita began the season in November by competing 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, winning the gold medal. They would go on to make their international debut at the 2022 Bavarian Open, where they placed ninth on the junior level.
Selected to compete at the 2022 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, the team finished in twelfth place.

#### 2022–2023 season

Kida/Morita started the season by competing on the 2022–23 ISU Junior Grand Prix. They won the bronze medal at 2022 JGP Czech Republic, becoming the first ice dance team from Japan to win a Junior Grand Prix medal. Subsequently, the team finished eighth at 2022 JGP Poland.
In November, Kida/Morita won the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships for a second consecutive time. They would then finish the season by placing sixteenth at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The pair parted ways following the season.

### Partnership with Yoshida
#### 2023–2024 season

In April 2023, Morita sent a message to the then-partnerless Utana Yoshida on Instagram, asking if she would be interested in having a tryout with him. Yoshida agreed to this and the two would met up at the Okayama International Skating Rink in Okayama, where their tryout was monitored by Morita's coach, Cathy Reed, and Yoshida's coach, Rie Arikawa. This tryout would prove successful and end with Yoshida/Morita agreeing to pair up on that same day. Yoshida moved to Uji, Kyoto to train with Morita at the Kinoshita Skate Academy under both of their coaches, Reed and Arikawa.
Yoshida/Morita made their international competitive debut on the Challenger circuit at the 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they finished in fifth place. They next competed at the 2023–24 Japan Championships, which proved to be a tight contest between them and two other senior teams. They finished third in the rhythm dance after Morita fell in their twizzle sequence, coming behind Yoshida's former partner Nishiyama and his new partner Azusa Tanaka and the four-time national champions Komatsubara/Koleto. Yoshida/Morita then won the free dance, but they remained in third place overall for the bronze medal. Yoshida said that they were "happy to have skated at Nationals," but admitted they had come just short of their goal of hitting 110 points in the free dance.
With the close result at the national championships, the Japan Skating Federation opted to postpone assigning Japan's lone berth at the 2024 World Championships pending the results of all three teams at the 2024 Four Continents Championships. After traveling to Shanghai to compete, Yoshida/Morita finished tenth overall but more than sixteen points behind national champions Komatsubara/Koleto.

#### 2024–25 season

Yoshita/Morita started the season by competing at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they finished in fifth place. Going on to make their Grand Prix series debut, the duo finished ninth at the 2024 NHK Trophy.
In late December, Yoshida/Morita won the national title at the 2024–25 Japan Championships. They were subsequently named to the Four Continents and World teams.

## Programs
### Ice dance with Utana Yoshida

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
| 2024–2025 | Be-Bop-a-Lula by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps & Tex Davis Be-Bop-a-Lula (Original Artist Re-Recording) by Gene Vincent & Tex Davis Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On by Dave Williams & Roy Hall performed by Elvis Presley choreo. by Cathy Reed | Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64 The Deaths of the Lovers Introduction Juliet’s Room Dance of the Knights Balcony Scene Tybalt Interrupts Dance of the Knights by Sergei Prokofiev choreo. by Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell, Adrián Díaz | Apt. by Rosé & Bruno Mars Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man |
| 2023–2024 | Real Wild Child (Wild One) by Iggy Pop & Johnny O’Keefe Wild Thing by X & Chip Taylor Wild Side by Mötley Crüe, Tommy Lee, & Nikki Sixx choreo. by Cathy Reed, Kaitlyn Weaver | Rise of the Phoenix by Jennifer Thomas X-X by Hans Zimmer Rise of the Phoenix by Quantum Infinity, Daniel O'Borne, & Matthew Cooper choreo. by Massimo Scali | |

### Ice dance with Nao Kida

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2022–2023 | Sentimientos by Jaime Wilensky, Andrés Linetzky, & Ernesto Romeo Toca Tango by Juan Carlos Cáceres choreo. by Cathy Reed | Red Notice (from Red Notice) by Steve Jablonsky Who Can You Trust (from Spy) by Theodore Shapiro & Craig Wedren performed by Ivy Levan Rogue (from Spy Hunter) by Ryan Shore choreo. by Cathy Reed |
| 2021–2022 | FourFiveSeconds by Rihanna, Kanye West, & Paul McCartney Diamonds by Rihanna, Sia, Benny Blanco, & Stargate choreo. by Cathy Reed | (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction Angie Roll Over Beethoven by The Rolling Stones choreo. by Cathy Reed, Emi Hirai, Marien de la Asuncion |

## Competitive results
### Ice dance with Utana Yoshida

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series
International :
| Event | 23–24 | 24–25 |
| Worlds | | TBD |
| Four Continents | 10th | 8th |
| GP NHK Trophy | | 9th |
| CS Golden Spin | 5th | |
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | | 5th |
| Asian Winter Games | | 1st |
| National |||
| Japan | 3rd | 1st |

### Ice dance with Nao Kida

JGP: Junior Grand Prix
International: Junior :
| Event | 21–22 | 22–23 |
| Junior Worlds | 12th | 16th |
| JGP Czech Republic | | 3rd |
| JGP Poland | | 8th |
| Bavarian Open | 9th | |
| National |||
| Japan Junior | 1st | 1st |

## Detailed results
### Ice dance with Utana Yoshida

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 171.59 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Rhythm dance | TSS | 68.94 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Rhythm dance | TES | 39.01 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Rhythm dance | PCS | 29.93 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Free dance | TSS | 103.27 | 2024 Four Continents Championships |
| Free dance | TES | 58.79 | 2024 Four Continents Championships |
| Free dance | PCS | 45.10 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
Results in the 2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Sep 19–21, 2024 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 6 | 68.94 | 5 | 102.65 | 6 | 171.59 |
| Nov 8–10, 2024 | 2024 NHK Trophy | 9 | 64.30 | 9 | 97.06 | 9 | 161.36 |
| Dec 19–22, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships | 1 | 71.84 | 1 | 104.37 | 1 | 176.21 |
| Feb 11–13, 2025 | 2025 Asian Winter Games | 1 | 68.88 | 2 | 104.43 | 1 | 173.31 |
| Feb 19–23, 2025 | 2025 Four Continents Championships | 8 | 65.00 | 9 | 101.56 | 8 | 166.56 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | RD | RD | FD | FD | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Dec 6–9, 2023 | 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 7 | 62.88 | 5 | 101.32 | 5 | 164.20 |
| Dec 20–24, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships | 3 | 64.00 | 1 | 109.17 | 3 | 173.17 |
| Jan 30 – Feb 4, 2024 | 2024 Four Continents Championships | 10 | 62.86 | 10 | 103.27 | 10 | 166.13 |

### Ice dance with Nao Kida

2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| February 27–March 5, 2023 | 2023 World Junior Championships | 18 54.19 | 15 82.53 | 16 136.72 |
| November 25–27, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships | 1 65.17 | 1 96.75 | 1 161.92 |
| September 28–October 1, 2024 | 2022 JGP Poland | 7 56.96 | 11 78.56 | 8 135.52 |
| August 31–September 3, 2022 | 2022 JGP Czech Republic | 3 61.05 | 5 88.61 | 3 149.66 |
| 2021–22 season |||||
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| April 13–17, 2022 | 2022 World Junior Championships | 14 52.02 | 12 80.92 | 12 132.94 |
| November 19–21, 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships | 1 52.44 | 1 78.62 | 1 131.08 |
| January 18–23, 2022 | 2022 Bavarian Open | 11 47.40 | 7 80.51 | 9 127.91 |
| November 19–21, 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships | 1 52.44 | 1 78.62 | 1 131.08 |