Mervin Tran

Tran at the 2012 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1990-09-22)September 22, 1990 (age 35) Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Figure skating career
Country	United States Japan Canada
Coach	Bruno Marcotte, Richard Gauthier, Sylvie Fullum, Bobby Martin
Skating club	CAP St. Leonard
Began skating	1994
Medal record
Event World Championships 0 0 1 Japanese Championships 4 0 0 U.S. Championships 0 1 1 World Team Trophy 1 0 1 World Junior Championships 0 1 1 Junior Grand Prix Final 1 1 0 Medal list representing Japan World Championships 2012 Nice Pairs Japanese Championships 2008–09 Nagano Pairs 2009–10 Osaka Pairs 2010–11 Nagano Pairs 2011–12 Osaka Pairs World Team Trophy 2012 Tokyo Team 2009 Tokyo Team World Junior Championships 2010 The Hague Pairs 2011 Gangneung Pairs Junior Grand Prix Final 2010–11 Beijing Pairs 2009–10 Tokyo Pairs Medal list representing United States U.S. Championships 2017 Kansas City Pairs 2016 Saint Paul Pairs

Mervin Tran (born September 22, 1990) is a retired Canadianpair skater.

Competing for Japan with former partnerNarumi Takahashi, he is the2012 World bronze medalist, the2010 World Junior silver medalist, the2010 JGP Final champion, and 2008–10Japanese national champion. They were the first pair to win a World medal for Japan. After their partnership ended, Tran competed one season withNatasha Purich for Canada. Competing for the United States withMarissa Castelli, he is the2017 U.S. national silver medalist. Following Castelli's retirement, he briefly competed withOlivia Serafini for the United States. As of 2022, Mervin coaches in the New York area.^[1]

Tran was born inRegina, Saskatchewan. He moved toMontreal,Quebec in 2007 to train with Richard Gauthier. His parents were refugees fromVietnam andCambodia.^[2] He competed at the provincial track and field championships in the high jump and the 100-meter hurdles, finishing fifth in the hurdles.^[2]

Mervin Tran began skating at age four after his parents enrolled him in a hockey camp but then moved into figure skating after he took CanSkate.^[2] He was originally a single skater and placed 9th on the novice level at the2007 Canadian Championships.^[2]

In 2007, Richard Gauthier was searching for apair skating partner for Japanese skaterNarumi Takahashi.Bruno Marcotte recommended Mervin Tran, who agreed to come toMontreal,Quebec for a tryout.^[3] Takahashi/Tran began training together in July 2007.^[2][4] During their career together, they trained inSt. Leonard^[5] and received funding from the Japanese skating association.^[3]

Takahashi/Tran made their international debut on the2007–08 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, placing 12th and 6th at their events. They won theJapan Junior Championships and earned a trip to2008 Junior Worlds, where they placed 15th.

Takahashi/Tran placed 4th at their first Junior Grand Prix event. They won the bronze medal at their second event, qualifying them for the2008-2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix Final, where they placed 7th. They won the senior title at the2008–09 Japanese Championships. At the2009 Junior Worlds, they placed 7th.

Takahashi/Tran began their season on theJunior Grand Prix circuit. They won the bronze medal at their first event and gold at their second event, which qualified them for the2009–10 JGP Final. They also debuted on the senior Grand Prix series with an 8th-place finish at NHK Trophy. They won silver at the JGP Final and at theJunior World Championships. They became the second pair representing Japan to medal at anISU Championships (Yuko Kavaguti /Alexander Markuntsov were the first pair when they won silver in2001).^[6]

During the2010–11 season, Takahashi/Tran won silver medals at theirJGP events and qualified for theJGP Final. They won gold at the event, becoming the first pair representing Japan to win the title. They also won their first medals on the senior Grand Prix series, a bronze at2010 NHK Trophy, and then silver at2010 Cup of Russia. As a result, they were first alternates for thesenior Grand Prix Final. They won the bronze medal at the2011 Junior Worlds. They also made their seniorWorld Championships debut, finishing 9th.

During the2011–2012 season, Takahashi/Tran placed fourth at their firstGrand Prix assignment, the2011 Skate Canada International, and then won the silver medal at their second event,2011 NHK Trophy. In November 2011, Tran said he was considering pursuing Japanese citizenship in order to allow the couple to compete at the Olympics but said it was a difficult decision because it would mean giving up his Canadian citizenship.^[7] They became the first Japanese pair to qualify for the seniorGrand Prix Final.

At the2012 World Championships, Takahashi/Tran placed third in both programs and won the bronze medal.^[8][9] They became the first pair to medal for Japan at a senior World Championships.^[9] They placed third at the2012 World Team Trophy. In April 2012, Tran said he would continue to consider an application for Japanese citizenship and the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee said he was "willing to make a special request (on behalf of Tran) to the government if necessary."^[10][11] In May 2012, a government official said it would be difficult to naturalize Tran because he had never resided in Japan.^[12]

In April 2012, Takahashi dislocated her left shoulder while practicing a lift.^[13] After five or six recurrences, she decided to undergo surgery on October 30.^[14] As a result, the pair withdrew from their Grand Prix events, the2012 Cup of China and2012 NHK Trophy.^[13] They said they would miss about four to six months.^[14] On December 18, 2012, the Japanese Skating Federation announced that the pair had ended their partnership.^[15][16]

On March 12, 2013, Tran announced he had teamed up withNatasha Purich to compete for Canada.^[17] They debuted at the2013 Nebelhorn Trophy and placed sixth. The pair finished fourth at the2014 Canadian Championships.

On June 10, 2014, it was announced that Tran and the United States'Marissa Castelli had formed a partnership which would train mainly inMontreal underBruno Marcotte and to a lesser extent at the Skating Club of Boston under Bobby Martin.^[18][19] It was also announced that he was awaiting release fromSkate Canada, indicating that they might compete for the United States.^[18]

Tran sustained a concussion in August 2016.^[20] After winning bronze at the2016 CS Autumn Classic International, the pair appeared at two Grand Prix events, placing 7th at the2016 Skate America and 5th at the2016 Trophée de France. Castelli accidentally struck Tran with her elbow during training in late December.^[20]

Tran and Castelli placed sixth at the2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. They ended their partnership soon after and Tran went to California to try out with other partners.^[21]

Tran formed a partnership withOlivia Serafini in 2018.^[21] Debuting at the2019 U.S. Championships, they placed thirteenth.

Serafini/Tran made their international debut at the2019 CS Finlandia Trophy, where they placed fifth. Competing a secondChallenger event, they were seventh at the2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, and finished the season with a seventh-place finish at the2020 U.S. Championships.

Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic affecting international travel, Serafini/Train were assigned to the2020 Skate America, attended only by pairs training in the United States.^[22] They finished sixth.^[23] They went on to finish sixth as well at the2021 U.S. Championships.^[24] That was the team's final season together.

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

Media related toMervin Tran at Wikimedia Commons

• Olivia Serafini / Mervin Tran at theInternational Skating Union
• Marissa Castelli / Mervin Tran at theInternational Skating Union
• Marissa Castelli / Mervin Tran atIceNetwork
• The Skating Collaborative
• https://www.theskatingcollaborative.com

• 1990 births
• Canadian male pair skaters
• Canadian sportspeople of Vietnamese descent
• Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent
• Canadian sportspeople of Cambodian descent
• Japanese male pair skaters
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Montreal
• Sportspeople from Regina, Saskatchewan
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
• 21st-century Canadian sportsmen

• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• ISU figure skater ID different from Wikidata