ISU

USA’s Tomoki Hiwatashi has been competing on the international Junior circuit since fall 2015 and has had some ups and downs. However, the 19-year-old ended his junior career on the highest possible note by taking the title at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Roman Savosin (RUS) Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) Daniel Grassl (ITA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

Tomoki competed at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships three times, claiming the bronze in his debut in 2016 and finishing fifth in 2018. “To be honest, since 2016 until 2018, I don't think there was much improvement in myself. There was minor improvement, skating skills maybe, maybe spins, maybe footwork. But there wasn't many big improvements that I've gotten, unfortunately. I think that is what was keeping me from getting results,” he noted. In the 2016/17 and 2017/18 season the American did not qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, but in this season he did. He also debuted at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, finishing a respectable eighth. “I feel like I was able to get my level to the point where I was at 2016 or even better right now. I think that's what has gotten me up here right now,” he pointed out. Hiwatashi feels that his improvement comes from being stronger mentally and working on his technique.

Winning the World Junior title was very important to Tomoki, who now is looking forward to his first full senior-level season. “By having this result I think I can prove myself as a senior skater. I think more people will say 'he just came from juniors, he won Junior Worlds, how is he going to do'. I'd rather have that more than 'he just come from juniors',” the cheerful skater said. “I'm not expecting to win right now yet, because it's only a start, but I expect myself to be able to get like fourth of fifth or even get on podium for some of them [senior-level events] and my goal would be to next year at Nationals be on the podium. I was fourth place this year and next year I want to be third, second or first. First might be too hard for the Nationals next year, but maybe I'll go for third and then the year after I'll go for second or first. I want to progress myself little by little,” he explained.

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) at the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (SVK) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)

Tomoki has already a plan how he can achieve his ambitious goals. He wants to improve his skating skills first of all. “Many people still say that my skating skill still is a little bit junior. I want many people to think that 'he is senior and his skating is good enough'. And also, after that, I'd like to get my quads in, more quads, more types of quads. The quad has been the big thing right now in skating, girls are doing it now,” he noted, referring to the fact that World Junior Champion Alexandra Trusova (RUS) and World Junior silver medalist Anna Shcherbakova (RUS) landed quads in their performances in Zagreb. These girls had a higher technical score in the Free Skating in Zagreb than Tomoki and the other Junior Men.

“Well, they're really good. It's just the way they jump and the way they kind of keep themselves into the program is amazing. It's something I haven't been able to do yet, so I'd like to learn from them, too,” Hiwatashi said about Trusova and Shcherbakova.

The American has landed the quad toeloop in competition and is working on the quad Salchow. “It's still low accuracy. I only do one out of ten or one out of twenty,” he admitted. “So, I want that to go like ten out of ten or eight out of ten. I also want to start trying for quad Lutz and quad flips. I've tried them a few times before, but I've gotten an injury from it. There's competitions going on, too, so I can't get myself to get injured before competition either. It's been going on and off. I'd kind of like to get back to it and start working on it,” Tomoki said. Right now Tomoki sees his strength in his flexibility – he is proud of doing the Biellmann spin – and in his jumps. He sees his weakness in not working enough on spins and footwork.

 

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

However, the World Junior Champion doesn’t want to risk injuries by training too many quads. “Depending on how you fall, you can get injured very easily. For example Yuzuru Hanyu was trying a quad Lutz [in 2017] and the way he landed the quad Lutz, it was not ideal and it just kind of went in a bad way. It can be something accidental, but when that happens, you're out. But also, by doing quads you're putting more effort into your body. So you can get injured from doing too many quads, doing too many jumps. I think in order for me to not get injured, I need to do less, but learn from each jump and be able to do less but more. In terms of accidental injuries, the only way for me is just really to get my body to get stronger, strength training, off-ice training. That will get my bones, that will get my muscles stronger. So, even if I do a bad fall I may be able to limit myself to be a minor injury or I may be able to limit myself to no injury,” Tomoki, who now trains in Colorado Springs with Christine Krall and Damon Allen, explained.

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) and coach Damo Allen at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

The 19-year-old originally is from New Jersey but has had quite a few coaches in his career. “To be honest, I think staying with one coach, staying with a person for a long time, I think that is ideal, because the two people can often get really into each other, they know each other better. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get those kind of relationships. With many of the coaches I haven't been able to properly communicate, to get the results I wanted. I just felt like I kind of had to change something every time. I think now I have gotten more calm. I think that is also what has made my skating better,” Tomoki said.

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

He admits that he can be a difficult student. “I don't just unfortunately listen to coaches. Coaches tell me to do something and when I agree I'm like ‘sure’. But when I feel like 'why I'm doing this?’ I ask and then they said ‘just do what I say' and I was like 'but I want to know what I'm doing'. That's also some problem that I've been having. I'm just not good at just listening. I'm kind of a person who wants to know what I'm doing myself. I try to be independent. I also feel always listening to coaches and listening to what they say is a good thing, but I'm not able to do that,” Tomoki explained.

Hiwatashi is Japanese-American, his parents immigrated from Japan to the USA and he is fluent in Japanese. Following the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships he went on a three-week vacation in Japan. Tomoki got into skating when he was five since his mother liked Mao Asada (JPN). His first memory of being on the ice is that he was scared. “I didn't like it as much, but I started to gradually like it when I was taking classes. And then my first coach, he said that I'm really good at skating and he said why I'm not becoming a skater with them and I did,” he shared.

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

When he was eight years old, Tomoki realized that he could be successful in skating and he was inspired by Nathan Chen and then also by Vincent Zhou. “In America, there is a level called juvenile. And at that level I was able to go to Nationals. Nathan Chen was also there, he was intermediate. It's one level above juvenile. He got I think second or third and I didn't go through the qualifying round. I didn't make it to the final round, but I thought, 'maybe I can be like Nathan Chen'. He was always faster than any of us. He was always doing something that we can't do. He was already doing double Axel back then, in Novice he started to do triple Salchow, triple toe, while I was stuck at double Axel. So he's always been ahead of me and Vincent [Zhou], too. When I won the juvenile level, Vincent won the intermediate level and when I won intermediate level, Vincent won the novice level. Nathan and Vincent have always been the two guys who are at my age, but also always ahead of me. They were always one or two steps ahead of me and I wanted to catch up with them.”

Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2019©International Skating Union (ISU)

Next season, Tomoki again wants to get closer to his teammates and rivals.