Keiji Tanaka

Tanaka in 2018
Personal information
Native name	田中 刑事 (Tanaka Keiji)
Born	(1994-11-22)November 22, 1994 (age 31) Kurashiki, Okayama
Home town	Kurashiki, Okayama
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Discipline	Men's singles
Began skating	2002
Competitive	2004–2022
Professional	2022–present
HighestWS	15th (2017–18)
Medal record
Japan Championships 2016–17 Osaka Singles 2017–18 Tokyo Singles 2018–19 Osaka Singles World Team Trophy 2019 Fukuoka Team World Junior Championships 2011 Gangneung Singles

Keiji Tanaka (田中 刑事,Tanaka Keiji; born November 22, 1994) is a retired Japanesefigure skater. He is the2016 NHK Trophy bronze medalist,2019 Skate Canada bronze medalist, three-timeISU Challenger Series medalist (including gold at the2019 U.S. Classic),2017 Winter Universiade silver medalist,2011 World Junior silver medalist, six-time medalist on theISU Junior Grand Prix, and a two-timeJapanese national silver medalist (2016, 2017). He represented his country at the2018 Winter Olympics.

Tanaka began skating in 2002.^[1] He trains inOsaka andKurashiki under coaches Utako Nagamitsu and Yusuke Hayashi.^[2]

Tanaka won the bronze medal at theJunior Grand Prix in Romania and placed sixth in hissecond JGP event in the U.K. He finished ninth at theJapan Junior Championships. At theWorld Junior Championships, he placed sixth in the short program and first in the long program to win the silver medal.

Tanaka won two medals on the JGP series and qualified for his firstJGP Final, where he finished sixth. He finished second at the Junior National Championships. He was seventh in his second trip to theWorld Junior Championships.

Tanaka won silver at one JGP event and finished 4th in another, qualifying for his secondJGP Final, where he placed sixth again. After receiving the junior national bronze medal, he was selected to compete at the2013 World Junior Championships but withdrew due to injury.^{[citation needed]}

Tanaka won two gold medals during the2013–14 JGP series and qualified for his third JGP Final. He finished fourth after placing first in the short program and fourth in the free skate. He won his first junior national title and was selected to go to the2014 World Junior Championships, where he once again finished in seventh place.

Tanaka received oneGrand Prix assignment, the2014 Cup of China, where he placed eighth. He finished eighth at the2014-15 Japanese National Championships and second at theGardena Spring Trophy later that season.

During theGrand Prix series, Tanaka placed seventh at the2016 Rostelecom Cup and won the bronze medal at the2016 NHK Trophy. He received silver at theJapan Championships, in December 2016. In February 2017, he took silver at theWinter Universiade inAlmaty, Kazakhstan.

Tanaka finished eighth at the2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy after placing fourth in the short program and ninth in the free skate. He received two Grand Prix assignments,2017 Rostelecom Cup and2017 Cup of China. He withdrew from the first event due to a muscle injury in his right hip-pelvic area.^[3] In December, Tanaka won his second National silver medal,^[4] and was named to compete at the2018 Winter Olympics,2018 Four Continents Championships and the2018 World Championships.

At the2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Tanaka set new personal bests in the short program, free skate and overall, finishing fourth.^[5] He placed eighteenth at the2018 Winter Olympics after placing twentieth in the short and fifteenth in the free.^[6] He ended the season with a thirteenth-place finish at the World Championships.

Again beginning the season at theOndrej Nepela Trophy, Tanaka won the bronze medal. He placed eighth at both of his two Grand Prix assignments, the2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki and the2018 Internationaux de France. At theJapanese National Championships, he won the bronze medal behindShoma Uno andDaisuke Takahashi. He placed seventh at the2019 Four Continents Championships, and fourteenth at the2019 World Championships.

Tanaka began his season at the2019 U.S. Classic, where he won the gold medal.

Tanaka's firstGrand Prix assignment was the2019 Skate Canada International inKelowna. Whilst traveling from a training session at the arena, Tanaka and fellow Japanese skaterMarin Honda were in a car accident that led to both being briefly hospitalized. Tanaka was left with a sore knee.^[7] Tanaka was fifth in the short program after tripling a plannedquadSalchow and managing only a double toe loop as part of his combination jump.^[8] He skated a new personal best in the free skate, despite two jump errors, and won the bronze medal.^[9] Tanaka was fifth at theCup of China, his second Grand Prix.^[10]

At the2019–20 Japan Championships, Tanaka placed fourth in both programs to place fourth overall. He was nevertheless assigned to Japan's team for the2020 World Championships over bronze medalistYuma Kagiyama who was assigned to theWorld Junior and theFour Continents championships.^[11][12] The World Championships were subsequently cancelled as a result of thecoronavirus pandemic.^[13]

Tanaka was assigned to compete at the2020 NHK Trophy on theGrand Prix, as part of an all-Japanese men's field in light of the ongoing pandemic limiting international travel. He was fourth in the short program after multiple jump errors.^[14] He was fifth in the free skate, but remained in fourth place overall.^[15] He placed fourth at the2020–21 Japan Championships.^[16]

In the spring of 2021 Tanaka was cast asNarcissus' reflection (Narcissus himself was portrayed by Olympic bronze medalistDaisuke Takahashi) in the on-ice revueLUXE,^[17][18] which was a spin-off of the cross-genreHyoen series, starringDaisuke Takahashi.

Beginning theGrand Prix at the2021 Skate Canada International, Tanaka finished in tenth place.^[19] At his second event, the2021 Rostelecom Cup, he was ninth.^[20] 

Tanaka finished in eleventh place at the2021–22 Japan Championships.^[21]

On April 11, 2022, Tanaka announced his retirement from competitive figure skating, intending to skate in shows and work as an assistant coach.^[22]

As a coach, his current students includeNozomu Yoshioka andHaru Kakiuchi.^[23][24]

Tanaka is a recurring cast member at the annual ice showYuzuru Hanyu Notte Stellata, a commemoration event of the2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, led bytwo-time Olympic championYuzuru Hanyu.^[25]

In the spring of 2023 it was announced that Tanaka would be portrayingRoronoa Zoro in the showOne Piece on Ice.^[26]

In October 2024 he joined forces with Olympic championShizuka Arakawa, Olympic bronze medalistDaisuke Takahashi,Kana Muramoto,Takahito Mura,Kazuki Tomono,Yuna Aoki,Kosho Oshima,Yuto Kishina andRena Uezono to launch the members-only official fan communityF-Ske on the platformFANICON.^[27]

In 2025 Tanaka was cast asSasa Morihiko in the storytelling ice showHyoen – Mirror-Patterend Demon , starringDaisuke Takahashi andTakahisa Masuda. It was the first time he had to speak dialogue in an ice show.

Post-Competitive Career Programs

Competitive Career Programs

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

Small medals for short and free programs are awarded only atISU Championships.At team events, medals are awarded for team results only. T – team result. P – personal/individual result.Current ISU world bests highlighted inbold and italic. Personal bests are highlighted inbold.

Media related toKeiji Tanaka at Wikimedia Commons

• Keiji Tanaka at theInternational Skating Union
• Keiji Tanaka atOlympedia
• Keiji Tanaka atOlympics.com
• Keiji Tanaka – PyeongChang 2018 atTeam Japan(in Japanese) (in English)

• 1994 births
• Japanese male single skaters
• Living people
• World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Figure skaters from Kurashiki
• Sportspeople from Okayama Prefecture
• Winter World University Games medalists in figure skating
• Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Japan
• FISU World University Games silver medalists for Japan
• Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade
• Fellows of the American Physical Society
• Japanese figure skating coaches
• 21st-century Japanese sportsmen

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• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2017
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja)