Rika Hongo

Hongo in 2016
Personal information
Native name	本郷 理華
Born	(1996-09-06)September 6, 1996 (age 29) Sendai, Japan
Home town	Nagoya
Height	1.66 m (5 ft5+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Skating club	Howa Sports Land Skating Club
Began skating	2001
Retired	June 15, 2021
Four Continents Championships 2015 Seoul Singles 2016 Taipei Singles Japan Championships 2014–15 Nagano Singles

Rika Hongo (Japanese:本郷理華; born September 6, 1996) is a Japanese retired competitivefigure skater who is a two-time (2015–16)Four Continents bronze medalist,2014 Rostelecom Cup champion, 2015Finlandia Trophy champion and2014–15 Japanese national silver medalist.

Rika Hongo was born on September 6, 1996, inSendai, Japan.^[1] Her mother, Yuko, is a former figure skater.^[2] Her father is from the United Kingdom.^[3] In 2015, Hongo attendedChukyo University.^[4]

Hongo began skating in 2001.^[1] She moved toNagoya at age nine to train under coachHiroshi Nagakubo.^[5]Shizuka Arakawa was named as an influence in a 2006 report.^[5]

Hongo debuted on theISU Junior Grand Prix series in the2012–13 season. She won a silver medal inCourchevel, France and placed fifth in Croatia. Along withSatoko Miyahara, she was selected to represent Japan at the2013 World Junior Championships inMilan, Italy. Hongo placed seventh in the short program, tenth in the free skate, and finished ninth overall.

Hongo started the2013–14 season with a fourth-place finish at JGP Mexico and then won a bronze medal at JGP Belarus. At the2014 World Junior Championships inSofia, Bulgaria, she placed eleventh in the short program, seventh in the free skate, and eighth overall. Making her senior international debut, Hongo won gold at the2014 Triglav Trophy, her final event of the season.

Hongo began the 2014–15 season with gold at theAsian Open and then bronze at the2014 Finlandia Trophy, anISU Challenger Series event. Making her senior Grand Prix debut, she finished fifth at the2014 Skate Canada International after placing fifth in the short program and free skate. At her second Grand Prix event, the2014 Rostelecom Cup, Hongo won the gold medal ahead of Russia'sAnna Pogorilaya by 4.57 points after placing second in the short program and winning the free skate.^[6] Hongo was first alternate to theGrand Prix Final^[7] and was later called on to compete after qualifierGracie Gold withdrew with a foot injury. She finished sixth overall after placing fifth in the short and free programs.

At theJapan Championships, Hongo won the short program and placed second in the free skate, winning the silver medal behindSatoko Miyahara and earning her first medal at Japanese Nationals. At the2015 Four Continents, she placed third in the short and long programs, capturing the bronze medal behind gold medalistPolina Edmunds and silver medalist Miyahara.

Hongo made her senior worlds debut at the2015 World Championships inShanghai, where she earned personal bests in all segments of the competition. She finished sixth overall after placing fifth in both segments.

Hongo began her season by winning both segments in a domestic competition called the Summer Cup, held in Shiga prefecture, Japan. Two months later, she outscoredYulia Lipnitskaya by 15.12 points to win gold at a Challenger Series event, the2015 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she obtained a personal best total score of 187.45 points. Hongo then won silver at2015 Cup of China, but placed fifth at2015 Rostelecom Cup, and as a result, did not qualify for theGrand Prix Final.^[8] She placed 4th at theJapan Championships.

Ranked 4th in the short and 5th in the free, Hongo came away with the bronze medal at the2016 Four Continents inTaipei, behindSatoko Miyahara andMirai Nagasu. She finished 8th at the2016 World Championships inBoston.^{[citation needed]}

Hongo finished 4th at the2016 CS Autumn Classic International and 6th at her first GP event of the season,2016 Skate Canada International. She placed 5th at both of her December competitions, the2016 Cup of China and theJapan Figure Skating Championships.

Hongo replaced the injuredSatoko Miyahara at the2017 Four Continents Championships, finishing 10th.^[9]

Hongo began her season with a silver medal at the2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.

Hongo decided to take a hiatus from skating, despite having had a new “Ghost in the Shell”-themed free skate choreographed for her byShae-Lynn Bourne in May 2019. It was unknown whether she would return to competitive skating.^[10][11]

Hongo competed at the Chubu Regionals, a qualifier for the2020–21 Japan Championships and placed second behindMako Yamashita and ahead ofRin Nitaya. She finished first in the free skate. She later placed eighteenth at the Japan Championships.

Hongo announced her retirement from competitive skating on June 15, 2021.^[12]

In the spring of 2023, Hongo was cast to play Bon Clay in the summer show,One Piece on Ice.^[13]

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

Small medals for short program and free skating awarded only atISU Championships. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.

• Media related toRika Hongo at Wikimedia Commons
• Rika Hongo at theInternational Skating Union

• 1996 births
• Japanese female single skaters
• Figure skaters at the 2017 Asian Winter Games
• Asian Games competitors for Japan
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Sendai
• Japanese people of British descent
• Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Female sports medalists
• 21st-century Japanese sportswomen

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2021
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
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• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2022
• Commons category link is on Wikidata