Top junior Tomoe Kawabata poised for a breakout season
With Japan junior champion Yuhana Yokoi having moved on to the senior ranks, 17-year-old Tomoe Kawabata may represent the Hinomaru's best chance for a medal at the world junior championships this coming season. Kawabata was the bronze medalist at the Japan Junior Championships in Fukuoka ...
Mao Asada: Magnetism and artistry on ice defined an era
Three-time figure skating world champion Mao Asada became one of Japan’s most prominent individuals on the international scene during her storied career, while also taking the sport to new heights.
Choreography legend David Wilson a man in demand
Sometimes in life we encounter a person who is a veritable force of nature. Dynamic, honest, emotional. The kind of individual that stops you in your tracks. David Wilson is one of those people. After a short time with Wilson you feel like you have known him ...
Exclusive: Jin's move to train with Hanyu, Orser in Toronto not happening
Two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang of China will not be permanently relocating to Toronto to train with Yuzuru Hanyu under renowned coach Brian Orser, The Japan Times has learned. The 20-year-old Jin, who finished fourth at the Pyeongchang Olympics, was set to leave his ...
Yuna Kim describes lighting Olympic flame as emotional, surreal
South Korea's figure skating queen Yuna Kim said Saturday that the experience of lighting the Pyeongchang Olympic cauldron was "emotional" and admitted she had been scared of dropping the torch. Kim, who captured gold at the Vancouver Games in 2010 and controversially took silver in ...
Spirited opening ceremony marks official start of Pyeongchang Olympics
A ray of light shone and a bell rang out to pronounce the start of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday. All eyes settled on the rival Koreas, who marched together under a "Korean Unification" flag a day after the North staged a ...
Olympic legend Button's advice for Hanyu: Don't overtrain
One of the great aspects of being a sportswriter is the people the job puts you in contact with. I have been blessed in my long career in sports media to work with, get to know or interview some of the all-time giants in different ...
Takino takes bronze in Junior Grand Prix debut
Riko Takino, a 15-year-old from Osaka, gave Japan its first medal of the Junior Grand Prix campaign with a bronze at the season-opener in Brisbane, Australia, over the weekend. Takino was third after the short program, and maintained that position to earn a spot on ...
Angelic Mao's legacy will be part of skating forever
The news hit Japan and the skating world like a thunderbolt last Monday night when Mao Asada announced she was retiring from the sport. A true giant was departing. There was no other way to put it. The three-time world champion decided it was time to ...
Hanyu's legend continues to grow with latest masterpiece
It has been 12 days now since Yuzuru Hanyu's epic free skate at the world championships in Helsinki won him a second title, and rather than receding into the memory banks of our minds, it continues to resonate. The more Ice Time watches it, the ...
Flawed system cost Honda second world junior title
Marin Honda saved her best for last. After struggling through a season in which she admitted that being the reigning world junior champion had created stress for her, Honda responded with two fine programs to earn the silver medal behind Russia's Alina Zagitova at the ...
Honda prepping for world juniors with legend Zoueva
Reigning world junior champion Marin Honda traveled to Canton, Michigan, recently to spend time working with coach and choreographer Marina Zoueva at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena. Honda is tuning up for defense of her title at the world junior championships in Taipei this ...
