Wakaba Higuchi

Wakaba Higuchi
Higuchi in December 2014
Personal information
Native name	樋口新葉
Country represented	Japan
Born	(2001-01-02) January 2, 2001 (age 16) Tokyo, Japan
Height	1.51 m (4 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Coach	Koji Okajima
Choreographer	Shae-Lynn Bourne, Marina Zueva, Massimo Scali
Former choreographer	Noriko Sato, Nanami Abe
Skating club	Nihonbashi Jogakan Junior High School FSC
Training locations	Tokyo
Began skating	2004
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	216.71 2017 World Team Trophy
Short program	71.41 2017 World Team Trophy
Free skate	145.30 2017 World Team Trophy
Medal record Representing  Japan Figure skating: Ladies' singles World Junior Championships 2015 Tallinn Ladies' singles 2016 Debrecen Ladies' singles Junior Grand Prix Final 2014–15 Barcelona Ladies' singles

Wakaba Higuchi (Japanese: 樋口新葉, born January 2, 2001) is a Japanese figure skater. She is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist (2015, 2016), the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and a three-time Japan senior national medalist (bronze in 2015, silver in 2016 and 2017).

Wakaba Higuchi was born January 2, 2001 in Tokyo, Japan. She is the youngest of three children — her brother, Daisuke, and sister, Saki, are five and eight years older respectively.

Higuchi began skating at age three. She appeared internationally on the novice level for three seasons beginning in 2011–12. She won novice titles at the Gardena Spring Trophy, International Challenge Cup, and Asian Trophy.

At thirteen, Higuchi was invited as a guest skater to skate in the gala at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan.

In the 2014–15 season, Higuchi became age-eligible for international junior competitions. Having opened her season at the Asian Trophy, she made her Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in Ostrava, Czech Republic, taking silver. With a gold medal at her second JGP event in Dresden, Germany, she qualified for the 2014–15 JGP Final. Higuchi won the Japanese national junior title in November before competing at the JGP Final in Barcelona, Spain. Ranked fifth in the short program and third in the free skate, she finished third overall, behind Evgenia Medvedeva and Serafima Sakhanovich. She then took the bronze medal in her senior national debut at the Japan Championships. In her first appearance at the World Junior Championships, she won the bronze medal after placing third in the short program and second in the free skate.