is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, 2024 JGP Czech Republic champion, the 2024 JGP Poland silver medalist, and the 2024–25 Japanese Junior national silver medalist.
Personal life Wada was born on May 13, 2009, in Nagoya, Japan. She attended Nagoya Municipal Maezu Junior High School before enrolling at Chukyo University Senior High School.
Career Early career Wada began figure skating in 2014 at the age of five after watching Mao Asada compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics and subsequently getting Asada's autograph. Soon after beginning to skate, she began training under Machiko Yamada, who had previously coached Asada during the early years of her career.
On the basic novice level, Wada finished twenty-fourth at the 2018–19 Japan Novice B Championships and the following year, finished fourth at the 2019–20 Japan Novice B Championships.
As an advanced novice skater, she placed sixth at the 2020–21 Japan Novice A Championships and won the silver at the 2021–22 Japan Novice A Championships. Following the latter event, Wada competed at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, where she finished eleventh.
During the subsequent seasons, Wada would finish tenth at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships and thirteenth at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships.
2024–25 season
Making her international debut on the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix circuit, Wada unexpectedly took gold at 2024 JGP Czech Republic, defeating reigning World Junior bronze medalist Rena Uezono. Following the event, she said, "I didn't expect to win this title, and I enjoyed performing the short program and the free skating. It was amazing. I found some room to improve through this competition, so I will practice more and I want to enjoy performing more and show better performances to the audience." Wada would go on to take silver behind reigning World Junior champion Mao Shimada at 2024 JGP Poland. With these results, Wada qualified for the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final.
In late November, Wada competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where she won the silver medal. Weeks later, Wada competed at the JGP Final in Grenoble, France. She placed second in both the short program and free skate, winning the silver medal overall and sharing the podium with fellow Japanese skaters, Mao Shimada and Ami Nakai. Wada expressed delight at this result, saying that this "was my first participation in the JGP final but Ami and Mao helped me a lot. This is why I think it was possible to achieve this result as a team." Two weeks later, Wada made her senior level debut at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where she finished in tenth place.
Wada finished her season at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, where she placed fifth in the short program, less than three points back of third place. During the free skate, despite landing all her jumps, the judges determined that five of those jumps were landed on the quarter and two other jumps were underrotated. As a result, Wada placed ninth in the free skate segment and dropped to eighth place overall. Following the event, she said, "There were some things I was a bit unsure about in terms of my score, but I was very satisfied with my performance itself, so I’m glad."
2025–26 season Wada opened the season by competing on the 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix series, finishing fourth at 2025 JGP Italy and sixth at 2025 JGP Poland.
In late November, she competed at the 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships, where he finished in ninth place overall. With this placement, Wada was invited to compete at the senior national championships, where she finished in nineteenth place.
2026–27 season Wada begin her international season by competing at the 2026–27 Junior Grand Prix series, where she finished 8th in 2026 JGP China.
Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2026–2027 Never Enough (from "The Greatest Showman") On My Own (from "Les Miserables") 2025–2026 L'alba verrà (The Dawn Will Come) Titanic Never An Absolution Southampton Titanic Symphony Hard to Starboard
Piano Sonata No.0 (SOUMEI) 2024–2025 How Does a Moment Last Forever Titanic Never An Absolution Southampton Titanic Symphony Hard to Starboard Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing 2023–2024 Sing For Me 2022–2023 Reflection Steps Moving Masquerade Waltz
Competitive highlights
Detailed results
Senior level
Junior level Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold. 2026–27 season Date Event SP FS Total 22–24 November 2025 2026 JGP China 4 66.10 10 104.29 8 170.39 2025–26 season Date Event SP FS Total 22–24 November 2025 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships 10 55.10 7 116.66 9 171.76 October 1–4, 2025 2025 JGP Poland 8 53.41 6 113.36 6 166.77 September 3–6, 2025 2025 JGP Italy 6 58.66 2 122.17 4 180.83 2024–25 season Date Event SP FS Total February 25–March 2, 2025 2025 World Junior Championships 5 64.35 9 117.30 8 181.65 December 5–8, 2024 2024–25 JGP Final 2 67.77 2 123.98 2 191.75 November 15–17, 2024 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships 2 66.40 4 123.77 2 190.17 September 25–28, 2024 2024 JGP Poland 2 70.58 2 127.64 2 198.22 September 4–9, 2024 2024 JGP Czech Republic 1 67.21 1 126.93 1 194.14 2023–24 season Date Event SP FS Total November 17–19, 2023 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships 7 60.26 15 97.61 13 157.87 2022–23 season Date Event SP FS Total November 25–27, 2022 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships 9 57.37 10 101.21 10 158.58 2021–22 season Date Event SP FS Total November 19–21, 2021 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships 12 52.89 9 103.88 11 156.77
References
External links
Kaoruko Wada at Fuji TV Kaoruko Wada at the Japan Skating Federation