# Rio Nakata

Rio Nakata (中田璃士, Nakata Rio, born 8 September 2008) is a Welsh–Japanese figure skater. He is the 2025 Junior World champion, 2024–25 Japan national silver medalist, the 2024 Junior World silver medalist, the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, the 2024–25 Japanese Junior national champion, and the 2023–24 Japanese Junior national silver medalist.

## Personal life

Nakata was born on 8 September 2008 in Cardiff, Wales to his Welsh mother, Hollie Mason, and Japanese father, Makoto Nakata. The family moved to Tokyo, Japan during Nakata's toddler years before eventually settling in Chiba in 2022. Nakata is bilingual, able to speak Japanese and English fluently. Despite having lived in Japan for most of his life, he primarily communicates with his parents in English while at home.
He is currently a student at Wakamatsu Junior High School.
His figure skating idol is Shoma Uno.

## Career
### Early career

Nakata began figure skating in 2011 at the age of three at a rink in Tokyo where his father, Makoto, coached at the time. Since then, Makoto has remained part of Nakata's coaching team.
He debuted at the basic novice level by winning silver at the 2018 Tokyo Regionals, before going on to win bronze at the 2018–19 Japan Basic Novice Championships. The following year, Nakata won gold at both events.
Competing at the advanced novice level, Nakata won gold at both the 2020 Tokyo Regionals and the 2020–21 Japan Advanced Novice Championships. As the reigning Japanese national novice champion, Nakata was invited to skate in the gala at the 2020 NHK Trophy. He was then selected to compete at the 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships, finishing seventeenth. The subsequent season, Nakata won silver and gold, respectively, at the 2021 Tokyo Regionals and the 2021–22 Japan Novice Championships. He then placed seventeenth at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships.
In summer 2022, Nakata began training at the MF Figure Skating Academy in Chiba due to his father getting a coaching job there. It was there that Kensuke Nakaniwa also joined his coaching team.

### 2022–2023 season: First JGP medal

Making his junior international debut, Nakata competed on the 2022–23 ISU Junior Grand Prix, winning silver at the 2022 JGP Latvia and finishing fourth at the 2022 JGP Poland II. With these results, Nakata was named as the first alternate for the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.
He went on to compete at the Japan Eastern Sectional Championships, winning the gold medal. At the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships, Nakata finished fifth and was selected to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Senior Championships due to this top eight finish. At those championships, Nakata finished twenty-sixth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment of the competition.
Nakata closed his season by winning silver on the junior level at the 2023 Triglav Trophy.

### 2023–2024 season: JGP Final gold and World Junior silver

Competing on the 2023–24 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, Nakata began his season by winning gold at the 2023 JGP Thailand, landing a clean quad jump (the toe loop) for the first time in competition. He would subsequently win silver at the 2023 JGP Turkey behind South Korean skater, Seo Min-kyu. These results guaranteed Nakata a spot at the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final.
Nakata went on to win gold on the junior level of the 2023 Tokyo Regionals and the silver medal at the 2023 Japan Eastern Sectional Championships. He then won the silver medal at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships behind Shunsuke Nakamura. With this result, combined with his success on the Junior Grand Prix series, Nakata 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.
At the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final in Beijing, China, Nakata placed fourth in the short program after falling on a planned triple Axel attempt and receiving an edge call on his triple Lutz. However, he went on to win the free skate after landing a clean quad toe and seven clean triple jumps, and take the gold medal. At the event, Nakata said, "I wanted to show the world what I can do. It's my biggest competition yet so far and that made me really nervous. Being the youngest competitor here I feel like I am so small, and the others are so big. So, I have to compensate it by skating big!... I am so happy! Today is my mom's birthday and I think I gave her a nice present today... The result is a great achievement, but there are many competitions ahead this season. I need to work harder; I cannot relax now."
Competing on the senior level at the 2023–24 Japan Championships, Nakata finished seventeenth.
Nakata entered the Youth Olympics in Gangwon as one of the favourites for the gold medal in the men's event, which had been won by Japanese the prior two editions. However, after a "woeful" short program in which he made mistakes on two of three jumping passes and fell on a spin entry he finished thirteenth in the segment, and more than twenty points behind the leader. He rebounded in the free skate, coming second in that segment and rising to fifth overall. Nakata called it "a good experience for me this time. I felt the crowd's support for me. I was so happy that I showed everybody what I can do."
Finishing the season at the 2024 World Junior Championships, Nakata had a difficult landing on his jump combination and lost a level on one of his spins, but still earned 77.60 points and came fifth in the segment. He admitted that the Youth Olympic short program had been a "big shock" that left him "pretty scared of the short program today," but was pleased with the result. In the free skate his only error was stepping out of a quad toe loop attempt, and he won the segment with a personal best score of 151.71, earning a gold small medal. Nakata won the silver medal overall, 1.44 points behind champion Seo Min-kyu of South Korea.

### 2024–25 season: Junior national title, Senior national silver medal, and World Junior gold

In preparation for the season, Nakata requested that choreographer, Shin Yea-ji, create his free program to the music of Pirates of the Caribbean as a tribute to his father, who had previously skated to that music as a competitive figure skater. Nakata began the season by competing on the Junior Grand Prix series, winning silver at 2024 JGP Thailand and gold at 2024 JGP China. For the latter event's medal ceremony, Nakata changed into his father's old Pirates of the Caribbean costume. His results on the Junior Grand Prix allowed him to qualify for the Junior Grand Prix Final for a second consecutive time.
In late November, Nakata competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where he won the gold medal. This result ensured his qualification to compete at the senior championships.
At the Junior Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, Nakata won the short program but was only fourth in the free skate due to popping a planned triple Axel and triple Loop in single jumps. He would take bronze overall behind Jacob Sanchez of the United States and Seo Min-kyu of South Korea. He expressed frustration following the event, saying, "I was very nervous ahead of my competition. I feel so disappointed. This is giving me a lot of energy for my next competition which will be the Japanese Nationals! I want to achieve all my goals from now on."
In late December, Nakata competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where he delivered two clean skates that included a free skate where he successfully attempted and landed a quad Loop jump for the first time in competition. Due to several of the event's older medal contenders faltering during their short and free programs, Nakata managed to place second in both competition segments and won the silver medal overall behind Yuma Kagiyama. Following the competition, Nakata expressed shock and elation at the result, saying, "I still haven't sorted my head out yet, but I finally achieved my goal. I didn't do well in the 6-minute practice, but I was able to concentrate on what I had to do. I was able to land the (quadruple) loop for the only time in this competition, and I was very happy to land two quadruples for the first time in my life." He was subsequently named to the World Junior team.
At the 2025 World Junior Championship in Debrecen, Hungary, Nakata skated cleanly and scored a personal best, finishing second in that segment, only 0.64 points behind defending champion, Seo Min-kyu. During the free skate, Nakata stepped out of his opening quad Toe-loop attempt but followed that up with a clean quad Toe-triple Toe combination and without any other mistakes. He won the free skate segment, scoring a new personal best of 162.95 and winning the gold medal overall. Following the event, he said, "I practiced up until now for this, to get gold here. There are many people around here so I am not showing my emotions too much since it won’t be nice. I will get very happy once I’m back to the hotel. When I made a mistake at the beginning I felt very stressed but after that I calmed down. I was able to hang onto it until the end, and I think the biggest thing I got from this competition, well, I failed my first Toe-loop, but I think the second one was the best one. At first, I thought it was going to go bad. When I had the step out. After that, I wasn’t sure if I could do the Axel but I decided to trust my training up until now, to not let it all go to waste."

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2024–2025 | Aroul Uccen (DWTS Remix) by The Taalbi Brothers choreo. by Misha Ge | Pirates of the Caribbean Jack Sparrow Singapore At Wit's End by Hans Zimmer My Name is Barbossa Treasure Beyond My Beloved Horizon You Speak of the Trident by Geoff Zanelli choreo. by Shin Yea-ji | Take Me to Church by Hozier Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi |
| 2023–2024 | God Particle by Joshua Bell, Hans Zimmer 160 BPM (from Angels & Demons) by Hans Zimmer choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto | Blunt Instrument (from Casino Royale) by David Arnold Writing's on the Wall (from Spectre) by Sam Smith James Bond Theme by Monty Norman choreo. by Eiji Iwamoto | Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi Believer by Imagine Dragons choreo. by Eiki Hattori |
| 2022–2023 | Believer by Imagine Dragons choreo. by Eiki Hattori | Blunt Instrument (from Casino Royale) by David Arnold Writing's on the Wall (from Spectre) by Sam Smith James Bond Theme by Monty Norman choreo. by Eiji Iwamoto | |

## Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix
International: Junior :
| Event | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 |
| Winter Youth Olympics | | | | 5th | |
| World Junior Championships | | | | 2nd | 1st |
| Junior Grand Prix Final | | | | 1st | 3rd |
| JGP China | | | | | 1st |
| JGP Latvia | | | 2nd | | |
| JGP Poland | | | 4th | | |
| JGP Thailand | | | | 1st | 2nd |
| JGP Turkey | | | | 2nd | |
| Triglav Trophy | | | 2nd | | |
| National ||||||
| Japan Championships | | | 26th | 17th | 2nd |
| Japan Junior Championships | 17th | 17th | 5th | 2nd | 1st |

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 248.99 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TSS | 86.04 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TES | 45.50 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | PCS | 40.54 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | TSS | 162.95 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | TES | 85.39 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | PCS | 77.56 | 2025 World Junior Championships |

### Senior level

2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 19–22 December 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Championships | 2 90.31 | 2 173.68 | 2 263.99 |
| 2023–24 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 20–24 December 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Championships | 16 71.45 | 17 128.82 | 17 200.27 |
| 2022–23 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 21–25 December 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Championships | 26 57.74 | – | 26 57.74 |

### Junior level

2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 25 February–2 March 2025 | 2025 World Junior Championships | 2 86.04 | 1 162.95 | 1 248.99 |
| 5–8 December 2024 | 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final | 1 79.39 | 4 135.94 | 3 215.33 |
| 15–17 November 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships | 2 77.92 | 1 142.55 | 1 220.47 |
| 9–12 October 2024 | 2024 JGP China | 1 81.55 | 1 151.98 | 1 233.53 |
| 11–14 September 2024 | 2024 JGP Thailand | 2 76.54 | 2 142.17 | 2 218.71 |
| 2023–24 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 26 February–3 March 2024 | 2024 World Junior Championships | 5 77.60 | 1 151.71 | 2 229.31 |
| 26 January–2 February 2024 | 2024 Winter Youth Olympics | 13 55.59 | 2 142.70 | 5 198.29 |
| 7–10 December 2023 | 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final | 4 67.71 | 1 160.06 | 1 227.77 |
| November 17–19, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships | 5 64.28 | 1 141.48 | 2 205.76 |
| 6–9 September 2023 | 2023 JGP Turkey | 3 73.55 | 2 148.80 | 2 222.35 |
| 23–26 August 2023 | 2023 JGP Thailand | 3 75.28 | 1 142.37 | 1 217.65 |
| 2022–23 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 12–16 April 2023 | 2023 Triglav Trophy | 2 65.42 | 2 119.03 | 2 184.45 |
| 25–27 November 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships | 7 63.26 | 4 126.98 | 5 190.24 |
| 5–8 October 2022 | 2022 JGP Poland | 3 76.15 | 4 124.26 | 4 200.41 |
| 7–10 September 2022 | 2022 JGP Latvia | 3 68.91 | 3 131.26 | 2 200.17 |
| 2021–22 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 19–21 November 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships | 10 57.87 | 23 84.60 | 17 142.47 |
| 2020–21 season |||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total |
| 21–23 November 2020 | 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships | 20 47.94 | 15 96.14 | 17 144.08 |