| Kaoruko Wada | |
| Native Name: | 和田薫子 |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Birth Date: | 13 May 2009 |
| Birth Place: | Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan |
| Hometown: | Nagoya |
| Height: | 1.48 m |
| Coach: | Machiko Yamada Yuko Hongo Soshi Tanaka |
| Skating Club: | Grand-Prix Tokai FSC |
| Currenttraininglocations: | Nagoya |
| Beganskating: | 2014 |
is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2024 JGP Czech Republic champion, the 2024 JGP Poland silver medalist, and the 2024–25 Japanese Junior national silver medalist.
Wada was born on May 13, 2009, in Nagoya, Japan. She is currently a student at Nagoya Municipal Maezu Junior High School.
Wada began figure skating in 2014 at the age of five after watching Mao Asada compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics and subsequently getting Asada's autograph. Soon after beginning to skate, she began training under Machiko Yamada, who had previously coached Asada during the early years of her career.
On the basic novice level, Wada finished twenty-fourth at the 2018–19 Japan Novice B Championships and the following year, finished fourth at the 2019–20 Japan Novice B Championships.
As an advanced novice skater, she placed sixth at the 2020–21 Japan Novice A Championships and won the silver at the 2021–22 Japan Novice A Championships. Following the latter event, Wada competed at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, where she finished eleventh.
During the subsequent seasons, Wada would finish tenth at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships and thirteenth at the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships.
Making her international debut on the 2024–25 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, Wada unexpectedly took gold at 2024 JGP Czech Republic, defeating reigning World Junior bronze medalist Rena Uezono. Following the event, she said, "I didn't expect to win this title, and I enjoyed performing the short program and the free skating. It was amazing. I found some room to improve through this competition, so I will practice more and I want to enjoy performing more and show better performances to the audience." Wada would go on to take silver behind reigning World Junior champion Mao Shimada at 2024 JGP Poland. With these results, Wada qualified for the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final.
In late November, Wada competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where she won the silver medal. This result ensured her qualification to compete at the senior championships.[1]
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–2025 |
| |||
| 2023–2024 |
| |||
| 2022–2023 |
|
| International: Junior | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 | |||
| align=left | TBD | ||||||
| align=left | bgcolor=gold | 1st | |||||
| align=left | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | |||||
| National | |||||||
| TBD | |||||||
| align=left | 11th | 10th | 13th | bgcolor=silver | 2nd | ||
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.
| 2024–25 season | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | ||||
| November 15–17, 2024 | 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships | align=center | 2 66.40 | align=center | 4 123.77 | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2 190.17 | |
| September 25–28, 2024 | 2024 JGP Poland | align=center | 2 70.58 | align=center | 2 127.64 | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2 198.22 | |
| September 4–9, 2024 | 2024 JGP Czech Republic | align=center | 1 67.21 | align=center | 1 126.93 | align=center bgcolor=gold | 1 194.14 | |
| 2023–24 season | ||||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | ||||
| November 17–19, 2023 | 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships | align=center | 7 60.26 | align=center | 15 97.61 | align=center | 13 157.87 | |
| 2022–23 season | ||||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | ||||
| November 25–27, 2022 | 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships | align=center | 9 57.37 | align=center | 10 101.21 | align=center | 10 158.58 | |
| 2021–22 season | ||||||||
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | ||||
| November 19–21, 2021 | 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships | align=center | 12 52.89 | align=center | 9 103.88 | align=center | 11 156.77 | |