Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (本田 ルーカス剛史) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2021 CS Cup of Austria silver medalist, the 2020 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, and the 2020–21 Japan junior national champion. He currently competes in both singles and pair skating with partner Sae Shimizu.

Personal life
Honda was born on September 15, 2002, in Osaka, Japan. He is a fourth generation Japanese Brazilian.

He was a student at Ayaha High School before enrolling at Doshisha University in 2021, where he currently studies in the Faculty of Sports and Health Science.

Early career
Honda began figure skating in 2011. His first encounter with skating was in kindergarten. It wasn't until the second grade of elementary school, where he entered a class taught by coach Tsuyako Yamashita and began skating in earnest. He was coached by Kotoe Nagasawa.

Honda competed at the 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, placing seventeenth, sixteenth, and ninth, respectively.

2019–20 season
Honda was the bronze medal at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships and went on to compete at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, finishing eleventh.

Following the season, Honda switched from longtime coach, Kotoe Nagasawa, to Mie Hamada, Yamato Tamura, Hiroaki Sato, and Satsuki Muramoto.

2020–21 season
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of modifications were made to the Grand Prix structure. The competitors consisted only of skaters from the home country, skaters already training in the host nation, and skaters assigned to that event for geographic reason. As a result, Honda was selected compete at the 2020 NHK Trophy, where he won the bronze medal.

He then went on to win the gold medal at the 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships and place thirteenth at the 2020–21 Japan Championships.

2021–22 season
Honda competed at the 2021 CS Cup of Austria, where he won the silver medal.

Despite the Japan Skating Federation not allowing Japanese figure skaters to compete on the Junior Grand Prix series due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Honda was nevertheless selected as a "wildcard" entry to compete at the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final set to be held in Osaka, Japan. However, the Final ultimately ended up being cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic.

At the 2021–22 Japan Championships, Honda finished twelfth and was selected to compete at the 2022 World Junior Championships, where he ultimately came in fourteenth.

2022–23 season
Competing on the Grand Prix series, Honda finished eleventh at the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo.

He went on to compete at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, finishing twenty-first.

Partnership with Shimizu
In May 2023, Honda announced that he had teamed up with singles skater, Sae Shimizu, and that they would try pairs skating together the following season. Honda also added that he intended to continue to pursue singles skating. They won both Japan Eastern Sectionals and Japan Junior Nationals.

They were named to the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. It was announced later that they would be attending the Bavarian Open to get their minimums, which would be their international debut.

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