Hana Yoshida

Hana Yoshida (吉田 陽菜) is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2023 Cup of China champion, 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy silver medalist, 2023 Triglav Trophy champion, and the 2022 Egna Spring Trophy champion.

At the junior level, she is a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist, the 2022 Bavarian Open Junior champion, and a two-time Japanese Junior medalist. Yoshida is the nineteenth woman to successfully land a triple Axel in international competition.

Personal life
Yoshida was born on August 21, 2005, in Aichi, Japan.

Growing up, she attended an international school and as a result, is able to speak English fluently.

Early years
Yoshida began skating in 2012. She placed ninth at the 2015 Japan Novice B National Championships but won the category the next year.

2017–18 season
Yoshida won the 2017 Japan Novice National Championships and was invited to compete at the 2017 Japan National Championships. She placed eighth overall. She was also invited to skate in the gala at the 2017 NHK Trophy as the 2017 Japanese national novice champion.

Yoshida was sent to the 2018 Challenge Cup, winning the advanced novice ladies ahead of Alysa Liu of United States.

2018–19 season
In August 2018, Yoshida competed at the 2018 Asian Open Trophy. She attempted the triple Axel in the free program but fell, ranking third overall.

2019–20 season
Yoshida competed at the 2019 Japan Junior National Championships. She placed tenth in the short program. However, Yoshida landed a clean triple Axel in the free and won the bronze medal. Due to the results, she was invited to compete at the senior division. Yoshida finished in nineteenth place.

2020–21 season
The 2020–21 Junior Grand Prix circuit was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yoshida was then invited to compete at the 2020 Japan Open as part of Team Blue. She attempted the triple Axel unsuccessfully. She won the silver medal at the 2020 Japan Junior Nationals behind Rino Matsuike, then placing sixteenth at the senior event.

2021–22 season
Yoshida placed fourth at the 2021 Japan Junior National Championships. She was invited to the senior event because the junior champion Mao Shimada was too young to compete. She placed ninth overall.

Yoshida attended the 2022 Bavarian Open to compete in the Junior Women II category. She placed first in the short even though she popped the planned triple flip. Yoshida landed a clean triple Axel in the free skate, becoming the nineteenth woman to land the jump in an international competition successfully. She won over Japan's Rinka Watanabe. Also eligible to compete at the senior level, she was sent to 2022 Egna Spring Trophy. Yoshida landed the triple Axel in the short and another one in the free, but the jump was landed on the quarter. She won by outscoring South Korea's Lee Hae-in by 28.45 points.

2022–23 season: Junior Grand Prix debut
In August 2022, Yoshida debuted on the Junior Grand Prix at the 2022 JGP France in Courchevel. In her short program, she underrotated both jumps in her combination but otherwise gave a clean skate which placed her second behind her teammate Ayumi Shibayama and earned her the highest program components score awarded in that segment of the competition. During the free skate, Yoshida successfully landed a triple Axel but stepped out after the landing. Although her triple flip's edge was marked as unclear, and the first jump in her triple Lutz-triple toe combination was underrotated by a quarter, she had no falls, and the program was otherwise clean. She won the event with a lead of 15.13 points over Shibayama, who finished in second place. Yoshida became the first Japanese woman to win a Junior Grand Prix competition since Rika Kihira in 2016. Yoshida was initially scheduled to compete at the Armenian stop on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. However, when that was cancelled due to the September conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, she was reassigned elsewhere. Yoshida won a second gold medal at the 2022 JGP Italy, in the process qualifying for the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Yoshida entered the Final in Turin as a medal favourite after winning both of her qualifying events, but she finished sixth of sixth skaters in the short program after falling on her jump combination, which she called "very disappointing." The free skate proved no better, opening with a fall on an underrotated triple Axel and going on to make several other jump errors, including a singled attempt at a triple Lutz. She was again last in the segment and last overall.

Competing at the senior 2022–23 Japan Championships, Yoshida erred on two jumps in the short program, placing fourteenth in that segment. In the free skate she successfully landed a triple Axel and seven other triple jumps, placing third in that segment and rising to sixth overall. She was assigned to compete at the 2023 Four Continents Championships. Yoshida went on to finish eighth at the Four Continents Championships.

2023–24 season: Grand Prix debut
Yoshida made her Challenger debut at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy, taking the silver medal. Invited to make her senior Grand Prix debut at the 2023 Skate America, she finished ninth in the short program after singling a planned triple Axel. She stepped out of her triple Axel in the free skate, but performed strongly otherwise and finished third in the segment, rising to fourth place overall. She finished less than four points behind bronze medalist Niina Petrõkina of Estonia. At the 2023 Cup of China, she placed third in the short program after falling on an underrotated triple Axel, but rallied to win the free skate and take the gold medal by 0.75 points over Rinka Watanabe. Yoshida said she was "surprised" to have won, and said she was focused on improving on various jump issues.

With Yoshida's results qualifying her for the 2023–24 Grand Prix Final in Beijing, she placed fourth in the short program after falling on both her triple Axel attempt and her jump combination. She rebounded in the free skate, landing a triple Axel and seven other triple jumps, though the triple Axel was deemed a quarter short of rotation. Yoshida was second in that segment with a new personal best score of 142.51 points, rising to the bronze medal. She finished only 0.20 points behind Belgian silver medalist Loena Hendrickx. Yoshida described it as "a dream for me to compete on this stage."

Multiple jump errors in the short program at the 2023–24 Japan Championships saw Yoshida come ninth in that segment. She rose to seventh after the free skate, calling the result "very disappointing."

In February, Yoshida received the Best Newcomer award at the 2024 ISU Skating Awards. She concluded the season in March at the 2024 World Championships, held in Montreal. Yoshida came eighth in the short program after both parts of her jump combination was called a quarter underrotated. She also had several quarter calls in the free skate, including on her triple Axel, finishing sixth in the segment but remaining eighth overall.

Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.