Yuhana Yokoi is ending her 14-year career and embarking on a new journey after season 2022-2023.
Yokoi was grateful for everyone who had walked along with her, especially her parents, and her fans.
“Even though I am athlete who fluctuates, sometimes I go well with the music, and sometimes not,” said Yokoi in Japanese. “Thank you for everyone’s support.”
The 22-year-old from Nagoya, Japan started figure skating just for fun at the age of four, that was when her sister was born, she said.
“Because my mom was taking care of my sister, so she let me play at the rink, that’s the start,” she said.
The switch from recreational skating to competitive skating happened in Grade 2.
She said she then joined the team in the skating club, and she had been practicing every day. That was how Yokoi started her life as an athlete.
Yokoi said thanks must be given to her parents.
“My mom worked part time when I was in kindergarten,” she said. “Ever since I became an athlete, she worked as a full-time employee, and she worked a lot.”
She said she looked upon Japanese skaters like Yukari Nakano and Fumie Suguri when she was young.
But she then realised that every skater was different in their own way, she said.
Since young, she would like to be a skater who entertains the audience, Yokoi said.
Figure skating was fascinating as she could walk in others’ shoes through the acting, and had a taste of others’ life, she said.
“The audience seemed to have enjoyed my performance,” Yokoi said. “So I guess I have achieved that.”
Like any other sport, figure skating is rough.
“Everything is difficult, there’s nothing easy,” she said.
She said as she stepped into her senior career, what she thought was easier got harder. As she grew up, she sometimes thought that jumps were more difficult.
“Every now and then, there are times I couldn’t improve myself, or grow as an athlete and I get frustrated,” Yokoi said.
She said the most regrettable competition was the 2014 Japan Junior Figure Skating Championship, where she ranked 26th in her short program.
It was her first time crying in a competition, she said.
Yokoi said she was setting goals that she couldn’t reach before that competition. After that match, she set goals that was manageable and practiced while hoping she could achieve them.
There are a lot of high-level skaters in Japan, Kaori Sakamoto and Wakaba Higuchi are of the same age and grade as her, she said.
However, their existence became her reason to work harder, Yokoi said.
Yokoi said she first met Sakamoto and Higuchi in the Japan Novice Championships.
She then knew there’re such great figure skaters in Japan who were of the same age as she did, and had the thought of “oh, let’s work harder!” she said.
The quest for making jumps and programs work was her motivation, she said.
“I didn’t really think about giving up,” Yokoi said. “I just say to myself ‘please make those jumps work out fine.’”
She said the warm support from her fans accompanied her through the tough times.
“Especially the last season, in Grand Prix Skate America and Grand Prix de France, it was a period when I felt inferior, the fans supported me through,” Yokoi said.
Revisiting her 14-year career, the 2017 All-Japan Figure Skating Championships vividly stayed in her heart.
She said it was her first time receiving a standing ovation in a national competition.
“The cheers and the round of applause, those made me very emotional,” Yokoi said. “Till now, I’m still touched recalling those moments.”
The 22-year-old announced after the Japanese Nationals that she decided to turn a new page after this season.
She said she would like to work in the media-related field.
Yokoi said she had been entertaining people with her skating, and from now on, she would like to spread positivity on her own.
And she said she wanted to work for something figure skating related.
“I still like figure skating very much,” she said.
She would also like to be a senior-like figure to younger skaters, Yokoi said.
Yokoi said it’s because she liked teaching people and it would be nice if she could give advice to others, like what she did in the rink she practiced.
She said with a smile that there were many great next generation skaters.
“Everyone is doing amazing,” Yokoi said.
“After all, figure skating is an expressive sport,” she said. “I hope everyone find things that only you can do.”
Krystal H W Yeung 
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