Ayaka Kikuchi (speed skater)

Ayaka Kikuchi (菊池 彩花) is a Japanese speed skater.

Biography
Kikuchi won bronze at the 2011 Asian Speed Skating Championships and silver at the 2012 Asian Speed Skating Championships. With these results she qualified for the World Allround Speed Skating Championships in both 2011 (finished 22nd) and 2012 (finished 19th).

In the 2014 Winter Olympics Kikuchi participated in the 1500 meters, finishing 31st, and was part of the women's team pursuit, who finished fourth.

In 2015 Ayaka Kikuchi became a world champion, when in the 2015 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships she won the gold medal in the team pursuit where she participated together with the sisters Miho and Nana Takagi.

In 2018, Kikuchi was part of the Japanese team that won the Olympics women team pursuit gold medal.

Honours

 * Medal with Purple Ribbon (2018)