is a Japanese former competitive figure skater. She is the 2006 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2003 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2005–06 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, the 2007 Asian Winter Games champion, and a three-time (2006, 2007, 2009) Japanese national bronze medalist. Nakano is one of a select group of female skaters to perform a triple Axel in international competition in the 2000s.

Personal life Yukari Nakano was born on August 25, 1985, in Kōnan, Aichi Prefecture. She has two elder siblings, a brother and sister.

In 2004, Nakano enrolled at Waseda University in Tokyo. She earned her master's degree from Waseda, having studied at the Graduate School of Human Sciences. In 2010, she began working for Fuji Television's Sports Division, becoming a director and journalist.

In April 2015, Nakano married her longtime boyfriend.

Career Nakano started skating in 1991 at the Grand Prix Tokai Figure Skating Club, where Machiko Yamada was coaching. Nakano met Midori Ito there, who inspired her to take her skating seriously.

On the junior level, Nakano won two ISU Junior Grand Prix events and earned the silver medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships.

At her first senior international event, the 2002 Skate America, Nakano became the third female skater in the history of the sport to land a triple Axel in an ISU sanctioned competition, and the first to have done so in ten years. She went on to land a triple Axel-double toe loop combinations at the 2002 Japanese Nationals, the West Japan Championships 2002, and the Kanto Gakusei Freeskating Championships 2004.

Nakano won her first Grand Prix medals in her fourth season on the circuit: bronze at the 2005 Skate Canada International and gold at the 2005 NHK Trophy. She qualified for the 2005–06 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final where she took the bronze. She landed triple Axels in five consecutive competitions in 2005 (Yamanashi Kokutai 2005, Kanto Gakusei Freeskating Championships, Tokyo Figure Skating Championships, Skate Canada International, and Asian Figure Skating Championships). At the 2005 Skate Canada, she became the first woman to land a triple Axel under the ISU Judging System in ISU Senior level competition. She placed 5th at the 2005–06 Nationals, missing a berth on the Olympic team. At the World Championships she finished 5th in 2006, 5th in 2007 and 4th in 2008.

In the 2008–09 season, Nakano won the silver medal at the 2008 Skate America and the bronze at the 2008 NHK Trophy. She qualified for the 2008–09 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where she placed fifth. At the 2008–09 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Nakano led after the short program but three of her jumps were downgraded in the free skate, resulting in her placing 6th in the long program and 5th overall. She did not qualify for the 2009 world team.

At her assigned events for the 2009–10 Grand Prix series, Nakano won the bronze medal at the 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard and finished fourth at the 2009 NHK Trophy. Although she won the bronze medal at the 2009–10 Japan Championships, she was not assigned to the 2010 Olympic team; fourth-place finisher Miki Ando was awarded the first Olympic spot due to her highest placement as a Japanese female skater in the 2009–10 Grand Prix Final, along with gold and silver Japanese medalists Mao Asada and Akiko Suzuki.

Nakano retired from competitive skating in March 2010 due to an injury to her left shoulder.

Triple Axel and signature moves In her regional competition at the beginning of the 2007–08 season, Nakano landed her first clean triple Axel in two years. She consistently attempted the triple Axel that season, receiving credit for it at the 2007 Skate Canada International, 2007 Cup of Russia, and the 2007–08 Grand Prix Final.

Nakano's signature move is the donut spin. She is also known for her leg wrap when she jumps.

Programs

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2009–2010 The Phantom of the Opera The Firebird Harem

Sparkling Diamonds 2008–2009 Romance Giselle Somewhere

Bolero 2007–2008 Fantaisie-Impromptu Capriccio Espagnol Aria Le cygne

Corteo Ritornare 2006–2007 Memoirs of a Geisha Cinderella Claudine

Memoirs of a Geisha 2005–2006 Bolero Don Quixote Amazing Grace 2004–2005 Bacchanalia The Beatles medley Cell Block Tango 2003–2004 Prayer for Taylor from Freedom Etude No. 12 in C minor "Revolutionary" Op. 10-12 Nocturne 2002–2003 Oui, pour ce soir... je suis Titania, Mignon 2001–2002 Perhaps Love Carnival Overture Op. 92 Happy Valley 2000–2001 Times Square 1999–2000 Flute Battle Le Grand Tango

Competitive highlights GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International Event 97–98 98–99 99–00 00–01 01–02 02–03 03–04 04–05 05–06 06–07 07–08 08–09 09–10 Worlds 5th 5th 4th Four Continents 3rd 6th 11th 2nd Final 3rd 5th 5th Cup of China 11th 2nd Cup of Russia 8th 2nd Lalique/Bompard 6th 3rd NHK Trophy 1st 3rd 3rd 4th Skate America 7th 8th 2nd Skate Canada 11th 3rd 2nd Universiade 1st Asian Games 3rd 1st Asian Champ. 1st 1st International: Junior or novice Junior Worlds 7th 4th 2nd Final 5th 3rd 5th Bulgaria 3rd Canada 4th China 1st Japan 2nd 2nd Mexico 1st Triglav Trophy 1st N National Japan Champ. 8th 5th 6th 7th 6th 5th 3rd 3rd 5th 3rd Japan Junior 11th 1st 2nd Japan Novice 9th A 1st A Team events Japan Open 3rd T 4th P N = Novice level T = Team result; P = Personal result; Medals awarded for team result only.

Detailed results Small medals for short program and free skating awarded only at ISU Championships.

Post–2002 2009–2010 season Date Event SP FS Total December 25–27, 2009 2009–10 Japan Championships 2 68.90 3 126.83 3 195.73 November 5–8, 2009 2009 NHK Trophy 3 54.92 5 97.43 4 152.35 October 15–18, 2009 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard 2 59.64 3 106.06 3 165.70 2008–2009 season Date Event SP FS Total February 18–28, 2009 2009 Winter Universiade 4 52.70 1 101.93 1 154.63 December 25–27, 2008 2008–09 Japan Championships 1 67.26 6 105.34 5 172.60 December 10–14, 2008 2008–09 Grand Prix Final 3 62.08 6 99.85 5 161.93 November 27–30, 2008 2008 NHK Trophy 5 54.82 3 112.60 3 167.42 October 23–26, 2008 2008 Skate America 3 57.46 2 115.07 2 172.53 2007–2008 season Date Event SP FS Total March 17–23, 2008 2008 World Championships 3 61.10 4 116.30 4 177.40 December 26–28, 2007 2007–08 Japan Championships 4 61.16 3 123.15 3 184.31 December 13–16, 2007 2007–08 Grand Prix Final 4 59.78 5 113.18 5 172.96 November 22–25, 2007 2007 Cup of Russia 2 60.50 3 112.27 2 172.77 November 1–4, 2007 2007 Skate Canada International 4 55.94 2 113.49 2 169.43 2006–2007 season Date Event SP FS Total March 19–26, 2007 2007 World Championships 7 60.62 6 108.30 5 168.92 January 28 – February 4, 2007 2007 Asian Winter Games 2 57.36 1 105.02 1 162.38 December 27–29, 2006 2006–07 Japan Championships 3 63.34 2 116.38 3 179.72 November 30 – December 3, 2006 2006 NHK Trophy 3 56.86 3 104.07 3 160.93 November 9–12, 2006 2006 Cup of China 2 54.90 2 96.37 2 151.27

2005–2006 season Date Event QR SP FS Total March 19–26, 2006 2006 World Championships 4 27.79 6 59.62 6 108.24 5 195.65 January 23–26, 2006 2006 Four Continents Championships – 3 53.53 1 107.96 2 161.49 December 23–25, 2005 2005–06 Japan Championships – 5 61.46 5 114.20 5 175.66 December 16–18, 2005 2005–06 Grand Prix Final – 4 56.04 3 105.78 3 161.82 December 1–4, 2005 2005 NHK Trophy – 2 56.22 2 102.44 1 158.66 October 27–30, 2005 2005 Skate Canada International – 4 49.84 3 99.70 3 149.54 2004–2005 season Date Event QR SP FS Total February 14–20, 2005 2005 Four Continents Championships – 9 45.17 12 76.57 11 121.74 January 12–22, 2005 2005 Winter Universiade – 4 4 4 December 24–26, 2004 2004–05 Japan Championships – 7 49.08 6 98.40 6 147.48 November 11–14, 2004 2004 Cup of China – 11 38.76 9 78.18 11 116.94 October 28–31, 2004 2004 Skate Canada International – 11 37.58 10 76.10 11 113.68 2003–2004 season Date Event QR SP FS Total January 19–25, 2004 2004 Four Continents Championships – 5 6 6 December 25–27, 2003 2003–04 Japan Championships – 8 7 7 November 20–23, 2003 2003 Cup of Russia – 7 44.68 8 83.00 8 127.68 October 23–26, 2003 2003 Skate America – 10 44.20 7 87.90 8 132.10 2002–2003 season Date Event QR SP FS Total February 10–16, 2003 2003 Four Continents Championships – 3 3 3 February 1–8, 2003 2003 Asian Winter Games – 3 3 3 December 20–22, 2002 2002–03 Japan Championships – 5 5 6 November 14–17, 2002 2002 Trophée Lalique – 8 6 6 October 24–27, 2002 2002 Skate America – 8 6 7

Pre–2002 2001–2002 season Date Event Level QR SP FS Total March 3–10, 2002 2002 World Junior Championships Junior 2 3 2 2 December 21–23, 2001 2001–02 Japan Championships Senior – 4 5 5 December 13–16, 2001 2001–02 Junior Grand Prix Final Junior – 4 4 5 November 24–25, 2001 2001–02 Japan Junior Championships Junior – 4 2 2 November 15–18, 2001 2001–02 Junior Grand Prix, Japan Junior – 2 2 2 September 13–16, 2001 2001–02 Junior Grand Prix, Bulgaria Junior – 3 4 3 2000–2001 season Date Event Level QR SP FS Total February 25 – March 4, 2001 2001 World Junior Championships Junior 5 5 4 4 December 14–17, 2000 2000–01 Junior Grand Prix Final Junior – 3 3 3 November 25–26, 2000 2000–01 Japan Junior Championships Junior – 1 1 1 October 12–15, 2000 2000–01 Junior Grand Prix, China Junior – 5 1 1 September 14–17, 2000 2000–01 Junior Grand Prix, Mexico Junior – 1 2 1 1999–2000 season Date Event Level QR SP FS Total March 5–12, 2000 2000 World Junior Championships Junior 3 4 9 7 December 24–26, 1999 1999–2000 Japan Championships Senior – 10 7 8 November 18–21, 1999 1999–2000 Junior Grand Prix, Japan Junior – 5 2 2 September 29 – October 3, 1999 1999–2000 Junior Grand Prix, Canada Junior – 4 4 4 1998–1999 season Date Event Level QR SP FS Total April 7–11, 1999 1999 Triglav Trophy Novice 1 1 1 October 30 – November 1, 1998 1998–99 Japan Junior Championships Junior 16 9 11

QR = Qualifying round; SP = Short program; FS = Free skating

References

External links