Utana Yoshida

Utana Yoshida(吉田 唄菜, Yoshida Utana; born September 6, 2003) is a Japanese ice dancer, who currently competes with Masaya Morita. Together, they are 2026 Olympic team event silver medalists, the 2025 Asian Winter Games champions, and two-time Japanese national champions (2024–25, 2025–26).

With her former skating partner, Shingo Nishiyama, she was a two-time Japanese national junior ice dance champion (2019–20, 2020–21) and a 2020 Winter Youth Olympics champion in the team event.

Personal life

Yoshida was born on September 6, 2003, in Kurashiki, Japan. She is the graduate of N High School.

She looks up to ice dance teams, Carreira/Ponomarenko and Lajoie/Lagha.

Career

Early career

Yoshida began skating in 2010 after being inspired from watching Mao Asada perform at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Originally a ladies' singles skater, she placed seventh at the novice level at the Chu-Shikoku-Kyushu Regional in 2014, and thus failed to advance to the 2014–15 Japan Championships. Yoshida switched to ice dance in 2016, partnering with Takumi Sugiyama. Yoshida / Sugiyama were fourth at the 2016–17 Japan Junior Championships and won the advanced novice gold medal at the 2017 Mentor Toruń Cup. Yoshida / Sugiyama split at the end of the season, and she was partnerless for two seasons.

Ice dance with Shingo Nishiyama

2019–2020 season

Yoshida teamed up with Shingo Nishiyama in early 2019 after a tryout arranged by the Japan Skating Federation in fall 2018 and moved to train with him and his coaches at the Toronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club in Canada in February 2019.

In their first season as a partnership, Yoshida/Nishiyama placed sixth at both 2019 JGP United States and 2019 JGP Italy. They then won gold at the Western Sectional and advanced to the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships, where they again won gold, ahead of Ayumi Takanami / Yoshimitsu Ikeda. As a result, Yoshida/Nishiyama were assigned to the 2020 World Junior Championships and the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics. They were invited to skate in the gala at the 2019 NHK Trophy as junior national champion.

At the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, Yoshida / Nishiyama placed sixth in the ice dance event with a new personal best, following a sixth-place rhythm dance and a fourth-place free dance. They were chosen by draw to be part of Team Courage for the mixed-NOC team event, alongside singles' skaters Arlet Levandi of Estonia and Ksenia Sinitsyna of Russia and pairs team Alina Butaeva / Luka Berulava of Georgia. Yoshida/Nishiyama won the free dance portion of the team event, ahead of both the silver and bronze medalists from the individual ice dance event, to help Team Courage win the gold medal.

Yoshida/Nishiyama set a goal of being in the top ten at the 2020 World Junior Championships. They placed twelfth in Tallinn.

2020–2021 season

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Junior Grand Prix, where Yoshida/Nishiyama would have competed, was cancelled. In November, they won their second consecutive junior national title at the 2020–21 Japan Junior Championships.

Yoshida/Nishiyama announced their split in January 2021.

Partnership with Seiji Urano

2021–2022 season

In May 2021, Yoshida announced her partnership with American skater Seiji Urano for Japan.

Yoshida/Urano did not appear in any major international or domestic events before announcing their split in December 2021.

Ice dance with Masaya Morita

2023–2024 season: Debut of Yoshida/Morita

In April 2023, then partnerless Japanese ice dancer, Masaya Morita sent a DM to Yoshida's Instagram account, asking if she would be interested in having a tryout with him which she agreed to. The two would meet up at the Okayama International Skating Rink in Okayama, where their tryout was monitored by Morita's coach, Cathy Reed and Yoshida's coach, Rie Arikawa. This tryout would prove successful and end with Yoshida/Morita agreeing to pair up on that same day. Yoshida would move to Uji, Kyoto to train with Morita at the Kinoshita Skate Academy under coaches, Reed and Arikawa.

Yoshida/Morita made their international competitive debut on the Challenger circuit at the 2023 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they finished in fifth place. They next competed at the 2023–24 Japan Championships, which proved to be a tight contest between them and two other senior teams. They finished third in the rhythm dance after Morita fell in their twizzle sequence, coming behind Yoshida's former partner Nishiyama and his new partner Azusa Tanaka and the four-time national champions Komatsubara/Koleto. Yoshida/Morita then won the free dance, but remained in third place overall for the bronze medal. Yoshida said that they were "happy to have skated at Nationals," but admitted they had come just short of their goal of hitting 110 points in the free dance.

With the close result at the national championships, the Japan Skating Federation opted to postpone assigning Japan's lone berth at the 2024 World Championships pending the results of all three teams at the 2024 Four Continents Championships. Traveling to Shanghai to compete, Yoshida/Morita finished tenth overall, but more than sixteen points behind national champions Komatsubara/Koleto.

2024–25 season: First national title

Yoshida/Morita started the season by competing at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they finished in fifth place. Going on to make their Grand Prix series debut, the duo finished ninth at the 2024 NHK Trophy.

In late December, Yoshida/Morita won the national title at the 2024–25 Japan Championships. They were subsequently named to the Four Continents and World teams.

Going on to compete at the 2025 Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, Yoshida/Morita won the gold medal. They subsequently competed at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, finishing in eighth place.

At the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, Yoshida/Morita placed twenty-second in the rhythm dance, only 0.40 points from qualifying for the free dance segment.

Selected to compete for Team Japan at the 2025 World Team Trophy, Yoshida/Morita placed sixth in all segments of the ice dance event and Team Japan won the silver medal overall. Following the event, the team added Scott Moir, Madison Hubbell, and Adrián Díaz to their coaching team.

2025–26 season: Olympic team event silver and second national title

Yoshida/Morita opened their season by finishing sixth at the 2025 CS Kinoshita Group Cup. They then went on to compete at the final Olympic qualifying event, the 2025 Skate to Milano. Yoshida/Morita finished seventh overall and were named as the third alternates for the 2026 Winter Olympic ice dance team.

They subsequently competed at the 2025 CS Trialeti Trophy, placing fifth overall. Selected as host picks at the 2025 NHK Trophy, Yoshida/Morita finished the event in tenth place overall.

In late December, Yoshida/Morita competed at the Japan Championships, winning their second consecutive national title. It was subsequently announced that Yoshida/Morita were selected to compete for Team Japan in the team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The following month, they finished seventh at the 2026 Four Continents Championships in Beijing, China.

On 6 February, Yoshida/Morita competed in the 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event where they finished eighth in the rhythm dance. "Today was so fun!" said Yoshida. "We really love the vibe of this event. It’s so fun to skate for a team, not just for ourselves, and we’re really here to do our best for Team Japan." The following day, they placed fifth in the free dance. "Since yesterday, including today, everyone really delivered amazing performances," noted Yoshida. "We also got in the rink today hoping to follow that flow as well. We think we were able to do that, even if just a little." With their combined placements, Team Japan won the silver medal overall.

Following the result, pianist, Jennifer Thomas, who composed Yoshida/Morita's free dance music praised the team on her Instagram account, saying, "You guys skated the most beautiful program, and a huge congratulations on helping your team win silver!"

Programs

Ice dance with Masaya Morita

Ice dance with Shingo Nishiyama

Competitive highlights

• GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
• JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
• CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
• TBD – Assigned
• WD – Withdrew from competition

Ice dance with Masaya Morita

Ice dance with Shingo Nishiyama

Ice dance with Takumi Sugiyama

Detailed results

Ice dance with Masaya Morita

Ice dance with Shingo Nishiyama

Junior results

With Sugiyama

External links

• at the International Skating Union
• at the Japan Skating Federation
• at Skating Scores
• at the International Skating Union
• at Skating Scores
• at the International Skating Union
• at Olympics.com
• at Olympedia
• at InterSportStats
• at Team Japan (in Japanese) ()
• at Milano Cortina 2026
• on Instagram