Career
She started skating in 1991 at the Grand Prix Tokai Figure Skating Club, where Machiko Yamada was coaching. Nakano met Midori Ito there, who inspired her to take her skating seriously.
Nakano showed promise on the junior scene. She won two Junior Grand Prix events and earned the silver medal at the 2002 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
At her first senior international event, the 2002 Skate America, she became the third female skater in the history of the sport to land a triple axel in an ISU sanctioned competition, and the first to have done so in ten years. She went on to land a triple axel–double toe loop combinations at the 2002 Japanese Nationals, the West Japan Championships 2002, and the Kanto Gakusei Freeskating Championships 2004.
After two disappointing seasons of 2003-2004 and 2004–2005, Nakano made a strong comeback in the 2005-2006 season. She won the NHK Trophy and took the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final. She landed triple Axels in five consecutive competitions in 2005 (Yamanashi Kokutai 2005, Kanto Gakusei Freeskating Championships, Tokyo Figure Skating Championships, Skate Canada International, and Asian Figure Skating Championships). At the 2005 Skate Canada, she became the first woman to land an triple axel under the ISU Judging System in ISU Senior level competition. She placed 5th at the 2005-2006 Nationals, missing a berth on the Olympic team. After that, she demonstrated consistency and composure, winning medals at every Grand Prix event she entered. At the World Championships she finished 5th in 2006, 5th in 2007 and 4th in 2008; some commentators have been critical of her unexpectedly low fourth-place finish at the 2008 Worlds in Goteborg, Sweden, where the appreciative audience gave her a standing ovation.
In the 2008-2009 season, Nakano won the silver medal at the 2008 Skate America and the bronze at the 2008 NHK Trophy. She qualified for the 2008–2009 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, where she placed fifth. At the 2008–2009 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Nakano led after the short program but faltered during her long program. Three of her jumps were downgraded. As a result, she placed 6th in the long program and finished 5th overall. She did not qualify for the 2009 World Team.
Nakano was assigned to the 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard and to the 2009 NHK Trophy for the 2009-2010 Grand Prix Series. She won the bronze medal at the 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard and finished fourth at the 2009 NHK Trophy. Although she won the bronze medal at the 2009-2010 Japan Figure Skating Championships, she was not assigned to the 2010 Olympic team; fourth place finisher Miki Ando was awarded the first Olympic spot due to her highest placement as a Japanese female skater in the 2009-2010 Grand Prix Final along with Gold and Silver Japanese medalists Mao Asada and Akiko Suzuki.
Nakano retired from competitive skating in March 2010 due to an injury to her left shoulder.
Read more about this topic: Yukari Nakano
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