Marin Honda

Honda at the2018 Internationaux de France
Personal information
Native name	本田 真凜
Born	(2001-08-21)August 21, 2001 (age 24) Kyoto, Japan
Home town	Kyoto
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Skating club	Japan Airlines
Began skating	2003
Retired	January 5, 2024
Medal record Representing Japan Figure skating:Ladies' singles World Junior Championships 2016 Debrecen Ladies' singles 2017 Taipei Ladies' singles Junior Grand Prix Final 2015–16 Barcelona Ladies' singles

Marin Honda (本田 真凜,Honda Marin; born August 21, 2001) is a retired Japanesefigure skater. She is the2016 World Junior champion, the2017 World Junior silver medalist, the2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and the2016–17 Japanese Junior National bronze medalist. She is the formerjunior world record holder for the free program.

Marin Honda was born on August 21, 2001, inKyoto, Japan,^[1] the third born of five children. She has an elder brother, Taichi, an elder sister, Maho, and two younger sisters,Miyu and Sara.^[2] With the exception of Maho, all of her siblings are figure skaters, and Miyu is also a popularchild actress in Japan.^[2] Honda previously studied and trained atKansai University Middle School, which has an ice rink.^[3] Honda is a member of team RF and looks up to 2006 Olympic ChampionShizuka Arakawa.^[4] She enrolled inMeiji University's School of Political Science and Economics in spring 2020.^[5]

In September 2022, it was announced that she was in a relationship withShoma Uno.^[6]

Honda began figure skating at the age of two after following her older brother, Taichi, into the sport.^[3]

In the 2011–12 season, Honda stood on the podium at four consecutive Japanese Novice Championships, with a gold medal in 2012–13. She was invited to skate in the gala at theWorld Team Trophy in the same season. She placed 5th at theJapan Junior Championships in 2013–14 and 4th the following season, training atKansai University Middle School's ice rink.^[3] As the silver medalist of the 2014 Japanese novice nationals, she was invited to skate in the gala at the2014 NHK Trophy. Her Lutz and flip are hindered byhallux valgus.^[2]

Honda debuted on theISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit in the2015–16 season. Ranked first in the short program and fourth in the free skate, she came away with the silver medal at the JGP inColorado Springs, Colorado, having finished behindYuna Shiraiwa by a margin of 8.06 points. She won gold at her second JGP event, inZagreb, Croatia, after placing third in the short and first in the free — outscoringWakaba Higuchi by 6.16 points. These results qualified her for the2015–16 JGP Final inBarcelona. In November, Honda placed sixth at the2015-16 Japanese Junior Championships.

At the2015–16 JGP Final inBarcelona, Honda won the bronze medal behind Russia'sPolina Tsurskaya andMaria Sotskova.

Making her debut at theJapan Championships on the senior level, Honda finished ninth and was named in Japan's team to the2016 World Junior Championships inDebrecen. Ranked second in the short program and first in the free skate, she was awarded gold in Hungary, ahead of Russia'sMaria Sotskova and teammateWakaba Higuchi.^[7]

Honda began her season with a gold medal at the2016 Asian Trophy. She was assigned to theJGP events in Japan and Slovenia. In her first event atJGP Yokohama, she placed fifth in the short program and won the free skate with a junior world record of 128.64 points to place second overall. In her next event atJGP Ljubljana, she won another silver medal, qualifying her for her secondJGP Final. However, she withdrew from the Final, citing illness. In November, she won the bronze medal at theJapan Junior National Championships.

She placed fourth overall at her second seniorJapan National Championships and was assigned to compete at the2017 World Junior Championships inTaipei. She ranked second in both segments, setting new personal bests and was awarded the silver medal behind gold medalistAlina Zagitova and ahead of bronze medalistKaori Sakamoto.^[8] She was invited to skate in the gala at the2017 World Team Trophy.

Honda began her senior debut with a gold medal at the2017 US Classic inSalt Lake City. She competed in her first team event atJapan Open and won the silver medal with her teammates.

Honda made her seniorGrand Prix debut at the2017 Skate Canada. She was tenth in the short program after falling in her triple Lutz-triple toe combination and popping her planned double Axel into a single but managed to place third in the free skate to place fifth overall. In her next event at the2017 Cup of China, she placed sixth in the short program and fifth in the free skate to place fifth overall. At the2017-18 Japan Nationals, she was sixth in the short program and ninth in the free skate, placing seventh overall. She later competed at the2018 Challenge Cup, where she was eleventh after the short program. She placed second in the free skate, winning the bronze medal.

On March 30, she announced she was changing coaches toRafael Arutyunyan and was moving to the US with her brother, Taichi, to live and train full-time.^[9]

Honda began her season in September at2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where she placed sixth. In October, she competed at her firstGrand Prix event of the season,2018 Skate America, where she was fourth in the short program and placed eighth overall. She then competed at her second Grand Prix event in November,2018 Internationaux de France, where she placed fourth in the short program and finished sixth overall. At the2018 Japanese National Championships in December, she was eighteenth after the short program and placed fifteenth overall.

Honda began the season at the2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where she placed fifth. Initially assigned to only oneGrand Prix, Honda was subsequently added to the2019 Skate Canada International roster following the withdrawal ofMai Mihara. Whilst travelling from the arena inKelowna, she and fellow Japanese skaterKeiji Tanaka were involved in a car crash. Honda was cleared to compete despite injuries to her right shin and forehead and wore a support brace, saying, "I decided to compete, and I'm going all the way to the end."^[10] Honda was tenth in the short program after doubling a planned triple flip and underrotating the second part of her jump combination but rose to sixth place after skating a stronger free skate with scaled-down content.^[11] She was seventh at the2019 Cup of China.^[12] She ended the season with an eighth-place finish at theJapanese Championships.

Honda withdrew from theJapan Open after dislocating her shoulder. She competed at Eastern Sectionals, placing tenth.^[13] Assigned to theGrand Prix at the2020 NHK Trophy, she placed ninth.^[14] Following that competition, Honda relocated to Toyota,Shin-Yokohama withNobuo Satō becoming her new coach.^[15][16]

Honda placed tenth at Eastern Sectionals to qualify for theJapan Championships. However, she withdrew from the Championships after collapsing of dizziness before a morning practice at the event.^[17]

Honda placed twenty-first at the2021–22 Japan Championships.

Honda placed twenty-sixth at the2022–23 Japan Championships.

During the off-season, Honda and her sister,Miyu, were cast to star in the summer show,One Piece on Ice, with Honda being cast to playNefeltari Vivi and Miyu being cast to playNami.^[18][19]

Competing at the2023–24 Japan Championships, Honda finished twenty-eighth. Prior to the event, Honda suffered an injury to her right pelvis.^[20]

On January 5, 2024, Honda's management announced her decision to retire from competitive figure skating at the end of the season.^[20] Following this announcement, Honda stated, "I really like skating. As long as I can continue skating, I will continue skating if everyone wants to watch it."^[21]

• Set the junior-level ladiesrecord for the free program to 128.64 points at the2016 JGP Japan on September 11, 2016. Her record was broken at the2016 JGP Germany byAnastasiia Gubanova (Russia) on October 8, 2016.

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

At team events, medals are awarded for team results only. T – team result. P – personal/individual result.

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only atISU Championships. Previous ISU world best highlighted inbold.ISU Personal best highlighted inbold.

• Re/Member: The Last Night (2025), Arisa Kinoshita^[39]

• Marin HONDA at theInternational Skating Union

Historical World Junior Record Holders (before season 2018–19)
Preceded by Polina Tsurskaya	Ladies' Junior Free Skating September 11, 2016 – October 9, 2016	Succeeded by Anastasiia Gubanova

• 2001 births
• Living people
• Japanese female single skaters
• Figure skaters from Kyoto
• World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
• 21st-century Japanese sportswomen

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1: unfit URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2015
• Articles containing Japanese-language text