Taiga Nishino
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native name | 西野 太翔 | |||||
| Other names | Nishino Taiga | |||||
| Born | 16 October 2009 | |||||
| Home town | Yokohama | |||||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in) | |||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||
| Country | Japan | |||||
| Coach | Misao Sato Akiko Sato | |||||
| Skating club | Seisa International High School Yokohama Kanagawa FSC | |||||
| Began skating | 2014 | |||||
| Medal record | ||||||
| ||||||
Taiga Nishino (西野 太翔, Nishino Taiga; born 16 October 2009) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2026 World Junior bronze medalist, a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, and a two-time Japanese junior national medalist.
Personal life
Nishino was born on 16 October 2009 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.[1]
He cites Yuzuru Hanyu and Yuma Kagiyama as his greatest skating influences.[2] His hobbies include cooking, shopping and napping.[3]
Career
Early career
Nishino began skating at age five, inspired by his older sister and watching Yuzuru Hanyu's Parisienne Walkways short program at the 2014 Winter Olympics.[4][5] His first coach was Eri Kikkawa.[6]
Nishino debuted as a basic novice skater at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, winning the silver medal and winning bronze the following year.[7]
During the 2021–22 season, Nishino moved up to the advanced novice level, winning silver at the 2021–22 Japan Championships. With that result, he was selected to compete at the Japan Junior Championships, where he finished in twenty-fifth place.[7]
Prior to the 2022–23 season, Misao Sato became Nishino's new coach.[8] He subsequently went on to win silver on the advanced novice level and finished twelfth on the junior level at the 2022–23 Japan Championships.[7]
2023–24 season: Junior international debut
Nishino made his junior international debut in August at the 2023 JGP Austria, where he finished in ninth place. A couple months later, he competed at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships, finishing fifth overall. Selected to compete on the senior level at the 2023–24 Japan Championships in December, Nishino placed thirtieth in the short program and did not advance to the free skate segment.[7]
2024–25 season
Nishino opened his season by finishing sixth at 2024 JGP Czech Republic.[7] He went on to compete at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, winning the bronze medal behind Rio Nakata and Sena Takahashi.[9]
In December, Nishino competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where he placed twelfth overall.[7]
2025–26 season: World Junior bronze
Nishino began his season by winning the gold medal at 2025 JGP Italy. During his free skate at the event, he successfully completed both a quadruple toe loop and a quadruple salchow (with GoE bonuses and ISU recognition), breaking his personal bests in both the free skate and overall, and winning the competition.[10][11][12] He went on to compete at 2025 JGP Poland, winning the silver medal. With these results, Nishino qualified for the 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final.[7]
In November, Nishino competed at the 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships, where he won the silver medal behind Rio Nakata.[13] The following month, he competed at the 2025–26 Junior Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan, placing fifth overall.[14]
Two weeks later, Nishino competed on the senior level at the 2025–26 Japan Championships, finishing in eleventh place overall.[15]
Selected to compete at the 2026 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, Nishino placed fourth in the short program and second in the free skate to win the bronze medal overall behind Rio Nakata and Seo Min-kyu as well as scoring personal bests in all competition segments.[16][7] "The good thing about this free skate was that I managed to skate a clean program and fight until the end. That was good," he said during a press conference following the event.[17]
Competitive highlights
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
- TBD – Assigned
- WD – Withdrew from competition
| Season | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan Championships | 30th | 12th | 11th |
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 | 2025–26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 3rd | ||||
| Junior Grand Prix Final | 5th | ||||
| Japan Championships | 25th | 12th | 5th | 3rd | 2nd |
| JGP Poland | 2nd | ||||
| JGP Italy | 1st | ||||
| JGP Czech Republic | 6th | ||||
| JGP Austria | 9th |
References
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ISU-2526was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "西野 太翔". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "西野 太翔". Skating Japan. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "西野 太翔". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "【フジテレビ公式】2022全日本ジュニア強化合宿 インタビューVol.2". Youtube. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "第90回 全日本フィギュアスケートジュニア選手権 ＜ジュニア男子＞" (PDF). Fuji TV. Fuji TV. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "JPN–Taiga Nishino". Skating Scores. Skating Scores. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
- ^ "2022 関東選手権 （9/23～25）" (PDF). Fuji TV. Fuji TV. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
- ^ "2025 Japanese Junior Nationals - Junior Mens Final Results". Skating Scores. Skating Scores. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
- ^ Skating ISU (4 September 2025). Junior Men Short Program | ISU Junior Grand Prix | Varese 2025 | #JGPFigure. Retrieved 7 March 2026 – via YouTube.
- ^ Skating ISU (6 September 2025). Junior Men Free Skating | ISU Junior Grand Prix | Varese 2025 | #JGPFigure. Retrieved 7 March 2026 – via YouTube.
- ^ "西野太翔、安定した練習積めたことが自信に 2種類の4回転成功「自信」、イタリアも満喫－ 【ジュニアGP第3戦イタリア大会帰国】". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "西野太翔、中田璃士の演技に浮かんできた言葉は『えぐいな』 「ライバルでもあるし、最高の友達」 【全日本ジュニア選手権男子フリー】". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "西野太翔、失意のSPから中田璃士の言葉でプラス思考に 「明日で巻き返せば全然大丈夫だよ、みたいな」【ジュニアGPファイナル男子フリー】". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "西野太翔、4年後は最前線で戦えるような選手に 転倒も「いい経験になった」【全日本フィギュア男子フリー】". Deep Edge Plus. Kyodonews. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "中田璃士が日本勢男子初の世界ジュニア連覇、完璧4回転サルコウで驚異の出来栄え＋4.30 西野太翔が3位【フィギュア】". TBS News Dig. Retrieved 7 March 2026.
- ^ "Taiga Nishino 🇯🇵 160.09 / 241.23". Instagram. Golden Skate. Retrieved 18 March 2026.
External links
- Taiga Nishino at the International Skating Union
- Taiga Nishino at the Japan Skating Federation
- Taiga Nishino at Fuji TV
- Taiga Nishino at Skating Scores
- Taiga Nishino on Twitter