Rio Nakata

is a Welsh-Japanese figure skater. He is a two-time Junior World champion (2025, 2026), the 2024–25 Japan national silver medalist, the 2024 Junior World silver medalist, the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist, a two-time Japanese Junior national champion (2024–25), and the 2023–24 Japanese Junior national silver medalist.

The family moved to Tokyo, Japan during Nakata's toddler years before eventually settling in Chiba in 2022.

In late November, Nakata competed at the 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships, where he won the gold medal.

At the Junior Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, Nakata won the short program but was only fourth in the free skate due to popping a planned triple Axel and triple Loop in single jumps. He would take bronze overall behind Jacob Sanchez of the United States and Seo Min-kyu of South Korea. He expressed frustration following the event, saying, "I was very nervous ahead of my competition. I feel so disappointed. This is giving me a lot of energy for my next competition which will be the Japanese Nationals! I want to achieve all my goals from now on."

In late December, Nakata competed at the 2024–25 Japan Championships, where he delivered two clean skates that included a free skate where he successfully attempted and landed a quad Loop jump for the first time in competition. Due to several of the event's older medal contenders faltering during their short and free programs, Nakata managed to place second in both competition segments and won the silver medal overall behind Yuma Kagiyama. He was subsequently named to the World Junior team.

At the 2025 World Junior Championship in Debrecen, Hungary, Nakata skated cleanly and scored a personal best, finishing second in that segment, only 0.64 points behind defending champion, Seo Min-kyu. During the free skate, Nakata stepped out of his opening quad toe-loop attempt but followed that up with a clean quad toe-triple toe combination and without any other mistakes. He won the free skate segment, scoring a new personal best of 162.95 and winning the gold medal overall.

Nakata was invited to skate in the gala at the 2025 World Team Trophy as the World Junior champion.

2025–26 season: JGP Final silver and second consecutive World Junior gold Nakata started the season by competing on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, winning gold at 2025 JGP Latvia and at 2025 JGP Thailand.

In late September, Nakata, who had been dealing with pain in his left leg since July, underwent an MRI scan, which determined that he had sustained a stress fracture. As a result, he significantly reduced his training time and was unable to practice jumps for a whole month.

Returning to competition in late November, Nakata competed at the 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships, where he won the national title for a second consecutive time. Two weeks later, he competed on the senior level at the 2025–26 Japan Championships, where he finished fourth overall. "Of course I am very satisfied with this placement,” said Nakata after the free skate. “I was aiming to defend my title, and I was able to do exactly that, so I am happy about it. However, when I look at the judges’ scores, I lost levels on the spins. I had four, three and two, so that is quite horrible. That is something I really need to focus on for next season. I need to practice a lot more for that."

Records

Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2026–2027 Alive Gladiator The Wheat The Battle Gladiator II The Dream Is Lost Strength and Honor Gladiator 2 (Theme) (Epic Trailer Version) Give Me Love 2025–2026 Aroul Uccen (DWTS Remix) Victorious 2024–2025 Irish Legend

Competitive highlights

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level 2025–26 season Date Event SP FS Total 3-8 March 2026 2026 World Junior Championships 1 89.51 1 176.96 1 268.47 4-7 December 2025 2025-26 Junior Grand Prix Final 1 86.48 2 163.22 2 249.70 22–24 November 2025 2025–26 Japan Junior Championships 1 84.99 1 170.26 1 255.25 9–13 September 2025 2025 JGP Thailand 1 83.56 1 162.64 1 246.20 20–23 August 2025 2025 JGP Latvia 1 88.72 1 158.22 1 246.94 2024–25 season Date Event SP FS Total 25 February–2 March 2025 2025 World Junior Championships 2 86.04 1 162.95 1 248.99 5–8 December 2024 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final 1 79.39 4 135.94 3 215.33 15–17 November 2024 2024–25 Japan Junior Championships 2 77.92 1 142.55 1 220.47 9–12 October 2024 2024 JGP China 1 81.55 1 151.98 1 233.53 11–14 September 2024 2024 JGP Thailand 2 76.54 2 142.17 2 218.71 2023–24 season Date Event SP FS Total 26 February–3 March 2024 2024 World Junior Championships 5 77.60 1 151.71 2 229.31 26 January–2 February 2024 2024 Winter Youth Olympics 13 55.59 2 142.70 5 198.29 7–10 December 2023 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final 4 67.71 1 160.06 1 227.77 17–19 November 2023 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships 5 64.28 1 141.48 2 205.76 6–9 September 2023 2023 JGP Turkey 3 73.55 2 148.80 2 222.35 23–26 August 2023 2023 JGP Thailand 3 75.28 1 142.37 1 217.65 2022–23 season Date Event SP FS Total 12–16 April 2023 2023 Triglav Trophy 2 65.42 2 119.03 2 184.45 25–27 November 2022 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships 7 63.26 4 126.98 5 190.24 5–8 October 2022 2022 JGP Poland 3 76.15 4 124.26 4 200.41 7–10 September 2022 2022 JGP Latvia 3 68.91 3 131.26 2 200.17 2021–22 season Date Event SP FS Total 19–21 November 2021 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships 10 57.87 23 84.60 17 142.47 2020–21 season Date Event SP FS Total 21–23 November 2020 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships 20 47.94 15 96.14 17 144.08