Aya Hatakawa Explained

Aya Hatakawa
Birth Date:17 August 2004
Birth Place:Düsseldorf, Germany
Hometown:Oberstdorf
Coach:Aljona Savchenko
Florian Just
Niko Ulanovsky
Sergei Rozanov
Formercoach:Alexander König
Petr Barna
Elena Pickmann
Ibolya Rospert
Simon Voges
Choreographer:Benoît Richaud
Nelli Zhiganshina
Skating Club:EC Oberstdorf
Former Skating Club:DEG Eiskunstlauf e.V.
Currenttraininglocations:Oberstdorf
Formertraininglocations:Düsseldorf
Beganskating:2010
Combined Total:130.65
Combined Date:2019 JGP Poland
Sp Score:43.34
Sp Date:2019 JGP Poland
Fs Score:87.31
Fs Date:2019 JGP Poland

Aya Hatakawa (born 17 August 2004) is a German figure skater. She is the 2021 German national champion.

Personal life

Hatakawa was born on 17 August 2004 in Düsseldorf, Germany to Japanese immigrants from Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. While in primary school, she moved with her mother to Oberstdorf to pursue skating, while her father and older sister remained in Düsseldorf. Hatakawa travels to visit relatives in Nagoya, Japan every few years. She is fluent in German, Japanese, and English.

Hatakawa enjoys listening to music and outdoor activities such as horseback riding. She is interested in becoming in a coach in the future.

Career

Early career

Hatakawa began skating when she was six years old. Her first coaches were Simon Voges, Ibolya Rospert, and Elena Pickmann in her hometown of Düsseldorf. After moving to Oberstdorf, she trained with Alexander König. Earlier in her career, Hatakawa was the 2018 German novice national champion and 2019 German Junior National Champion.

Hatakawa began working with Aljona Savchenko as her coach in 2018. After Savchenko gave birth in September 2019 and went on maternity leave, Hatakawa added Florian Just and Niko Ulanovsky to her coaching team. In addition to serving as her coach, Savchenko also loans her own old costumes for Hatakawa to compete in.

On her coaching team, Hatakawa remarked: "It’s difficult to receive world-class competitive level training in Germany, so I am very appreciative to receive assistance from such talented coaches. Right after Aljona gave birth, at times she would bring her baby to our training sessions and during those times our coaching team would always support her. We have a new young coach too, and the training is becoming hard and I like it that way, since I want to improve my skating."

2019–2020 season

Throughout the season, Hatakawa worked with former ice dancer Nelli Zhiganshina on refining her program choreography from Benoît Richaud. She made her junior international debut by winning the title at the 2019 NRW Summer Trophy. She received her first Junior Grand Prix assignment, placing 15th in Poland. Hatakawa then earned a seventh-place finish at 2019 Golden Bear and won gold at the 2019 Prague Ice Cup.

At the 2020 German Junior Championships, Hatakawa won silver behind Nargiz Süleymanova and ahead of Anastasia Steblyanka. A week later at the 2020 German Championships, she also won silver on the senior level, this time behind Nicole Schott and ahead of Kristina Isaev. Hatakawa reflected that although she was "satisfied," she wanted at each competition "to beat [her] previous record" and continue challenging herself. She was later named alternate for the 2020 World Junior Championships team.

Hatakawa finished sixth at the Mentor Toruń Cup in January. She ended her season at the Bavarian Open, where she placed tenth after the short program in Group I, but withdrew before the free skate. Hatakawa planned to travel to Russia during the early Summer to train with Sergei Rozanov, then the jump specialist coach for Eteri Tutberidze's team, but her plans were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.

2020–2021 season

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior Grand Prix, where Hatakawa would have competed, was cancelled. She instead made her senior international debut at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, placing 16th. Hatakawa returned to the junior level at the 2020 NRW Autumn Trophy, where she finished second in both segments to win the silver behind Kimmy Repond of Switzerland and ahead of German teammate Carmen Wolf.

After the 2021 German Championships were relocated, Hatakawa surprisingly prevailed over Olympian and former two-time national champion Nathalie Weinzierl and Dora Hus to win her first national title; reigning champion Nicole Schott was unable to attend the competition due to COVID-related restrictions. After the 2021 German Junior Championships and the 2021 European Championships were cancelled and Schott was named to the 2021 World Championships team, Hatakawa was instead assigned to the 2021 Challenge Cup. She later withdrew.

Programs

SeasonShort programFree skating
2020–2021
  • Organ Donor

2019–2020
  • Tango D'Amor
  • La Bohemia

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International
Event16–1717–1818–1919–2020–2121–22
align=left 24th
align=left WD
align=left 16th
Bavarian Open8th
align=left WD
align=left 8th
International: Junior
align=left 23rd
align=left 15th
align=left 18th
align=left WD
align=left 7th
align=left bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=silver2nd
align=left Prague Ice Cup bgcolor=gold1st
align=left 6th
International: Advanced novice
align=left 20th 8th
align=left 4th
National
align=left bgcolor=silver2nd bgcolor=gold1st
align=left 11th N 7th N bgcolor=gold1st N bgcolor=silver2nd J C bgcolor=silver2nd J
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled
Levels: N = Advanced novice; J = Junior

Detailed results

ISU Personal best in bold.

Senior results

2021–2022 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
November 11–14, 20212021 CS Cup of Austriaalign=center
align=center
align=center
2020–2021 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
18–19 December 20202021 German Championshipsalign=center 2
55.60
align=center 1
107.27
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
162.87
23–26 September 20202020 CS Nebelhorn Trophyalign=center 18
38.82
align=center 12
86.87
align=center 16
125.69
2019–2020 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
1–3 January 20202020 German Championshipsalign=center 2
58.01
align=center 3
96.53
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
154.54

Junior results

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2020–2021 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
26–29 November 20202020 NRW Autumn Trophyalign=center 2
53.40
align=center 2
96.67
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
150.07
2019–2020 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
3–9 February 20202020 Bavarian Openalign=center 10
44.14
align=center WDalign=center WD
7–12 January 20202020 Mentor Toruń Cupalign=center 8
42.77
align=center 6
89.65
align=center 6
132.42
13–15 December 20192020 German Junior Championshipsalign=center 3
48.21
align=center 2
93.41
align=center bgcolor=silver 2
141.62
8–10 November 20192019 Prague Ice Cupalign=center 1
53.73
align=center 3
90.04
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
143.77
24–27 October 20192019 Golden Bearalign=center 2
54.93
align=center 7
84.31
align=center 7
139.24
18–21 September 20192019 JGP Polandalign=center 17
43.34
align=center 14
87.31
align=center 15
130.65
9–11 August 20192019 NRW Summer Trophyalign=center 2
48.44
align=center 2
83.71
align=center bgcolor=gold 1
132.15