Miku Nihira

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Miku Nihira (born 29 August 2002) is a Japanese curler from Sapporo. She skips a team led by Momoha Tabata but throws third stones on the team, which is known in Japan as the Hokkaido Bank curling team.

Career
- Nihira began curling in 2014 after being selected for the Hokkaido Talent Athlete Discovery Development Project.
- She joined Team Hokkaido Bank in 2021 as the third on Tabata’s team and won bronze at the 2022 Japan Curling Championships.
- She later became the team’s skip while still throwing third stones, and helped the rink win silver at the 2024 Japan Curling Championships (losing the final to SC Karuizawa Club).
- At the 2024 World Junior Curling Championships, she led Japan to a silver medal with Tabata, Yuina Miura, Mikoto Nakajima and Yui Ueno. The team went 7–2 in the round robin, beat Norway in the semifinal, and lost to Switzerland in the final.
- The 2024–25 season was successful on the women’s tour, with wins at Ice Gold Cup, Argo Graphics Cup, Saville Shootout, Red Deer Curling Classic, and Saville U25 Challenge. Nihira made her Grand Slam debut at the 2024 Tour Challenge (Tier 2), reaching the semifinals. The team’s first Tier 1 Slam was the 2024 Canadian Open, where they finished 0–4. They went 1–3 at the 2024 National, then 2–2 in the 2025 Masters group stage, won a tiebreaker to reach the quarterfinals, and lost to Anna Hasselborg. They also earned a silver medal at the 2025 Japan Curling Championships, losing the final to Sayaka Yoshimura.

Personal life
- Nihira studied at Hokkaido University of Education. Before curling, she practiced karate for 10 years.