Yukina Ota

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Yukina Ōta, born November 26, 1986 in Kyoto, Japan, is a former figure skater. She is the 2003 World Junior champion and the 2004 Four Continents champion. She began skating in 1993 and retired on her 22nd birthday, November 26, 2008, due to injury. After retiring, she performed in ice shows.

Early in her career she won bronze at the Japan Junior Championships in 2000–01. She made her Junior Grand Prix debut in 2001–02, winning in Bulgaria and placing fourth in Sweden to qualify for the Junior Grand Prix Final, where she finished sixth. She won bronze again at the 2001–02 Japan Junior Championships and finished ninth at the 2002 Junior Worlds. In 2002–03 she won both of her JGP events and the Junior Grand Prix Final, placed fourth at the Japan Championships, and captured the 2003 World Junior title. She moved to the senior level in 2003–04, competing on the Grand Prix circuit and finishing 4th at Skate Canada and 6th at NHK Trophy; she was fifth at the Japan Championships. She won the 2004 Four Continents (after a 3rd place short program and 2nd in the free). The 2004–05 season saw a seventh-place finish at Skate America. An injury caused her to miss the 2005–2006 season. She returned for 2006–07, finishing 12th at the Japan Championships, and in 2007–08 placed 7th at the Golden Spin of Zagreb and 7th at the Japan Championships. She withdrew from the 2008–09 season to begin the Japan Championships and announced her retirement on November 26, 2008. She has since toured in ice shows.