Tatsuya Tsuboi
Tsuboi at the 2019 World Junior Championships
Native name	壷井 達也
Born	(2002-12-17) December 17, 2002 (age 21) Okazaki, Japan
Hometown	Hyogo
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Japan
Coach	Sonoko Nakano Mitsuko Graham Sei Kawahara
Skating club	Sysmex Corporation
Began skating	2009
Medal record
World Junior Championships 2022 Tallinn Singles

Tatsuya Tsuboi (壷井 達也, Tsuboi Tatsuya, born December 17, 2002) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2024 NHK Trophy bronze medalist, 2023 World University Games silver medalist and 2022 Coupe du Printemps silver medalist. He is also the 2022 World Junior bronze medalist and 2018–19 Japan junior national champion.

Tatsuya Tsuboi was born in Okazaki, Aichi.^[1] As of 2022, he is a student at Kobe University, studying in the International Human Sciences Department.^[2]

Tsuboi began to skate at the age of 7.

After making his international junior debut at the 2017 edition of the Coupe du Printemps toward the end of the 2016–17 season, Tsuboi made his Junior Grand Prix debut the following autumn, placing fifth at both the 2017 JGP Belarus and 2017 JGP Italy. After winning the bronze medal at the 2017–18 Japan Junior Championships, he finished thirteenth at the senior level. He returned to the Coupe du Printemps, this time winning gold.^[3]

Tsuboi did not compete on the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix, but won the junior silver medal at the Asian Open Trophy. He won gold at the 2018–19 Japan Junior Championships, and finished seventh at the senior level, as a result of which he was assigned to compete at the 2019 World Junior Championships. Tsuboi finished fourteenth there.^[3] Then, he was invited to skate in the gala at the 2019 World Team Trophy as the reigning Japan junior national champion.

After appearing only domestically over the following two seasons, partially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsuboi became more active in the 2021–22 season, even though Japan opted not to assign skaters to the Junior Grand Prix.^[4] He was the silver medalist at the 2021–22 Japan Junior Championships, and placed ninth at the senior edition. These placements earned him an assignment to the 2022 World Junior Championships. Also given precursor assignments to the Bavarian Open and the Coupe du Printemps, he won gold at the former at the junior level and silver at latter at the senior level.^[3]

The World Junior Championships were originally scheduled for March in Sofia. However, as a result of both the Omicron variant and the Russo-Ukrainian War, they could not be held in their original location, and were moved to Tallinn in April. As well, the International Skating Union banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing, significantly altering the figure skating field.^[5][6][7] Tsuboi finished fifth in the short program with a new personal best score.^[8] He was third in the free skate, rising to third overall to win the bronze medal.^[9]

Moving to the senior level permanently, Tsuboi was assigned to make his Grand Prix debut at the MK John Wilson Trophy, where he finished fifth.^[3] At his second event, the Grand Prix of Espoo, he was fifth in the short program but rose to fourth after the free skate, where he set new personal bests in that segment and overall. He described nothing but "happiness" with the results.^[10][11]

Tsuboi finished ninth at the 2022–23 Japan Championships, and was subsequently assigned to compete at the 2023 Winter World University Games.^[12] He won the silver medal.^[13]

Given two assignments on the Grand Prix, Tsuboi finished eighth at the 2023 Skate America and ninth at the 2023 NHK Trophy.^[14][15] He went on to finish seventh at the 2023–24 Japan Championships before closing his season with a silver medal win at the 2024 Challenge Cup.^[16][3]

Tsuboi started the season by finishing fifth at the 2024 Asian Open Trophy. Selected as a host pick at the 2024 NHK Trophy, Tsuboi placed third in both the short program and free skate, scoring personal bests in all competition segments. He would walk away with the bronze medal overall.^[17][18] Pleased with this result, Tsuboi said in an interview afterwards, "I didn't even think that I would end up third. With the short and free program and free skating, I knew I had to do everything I can, put my best out there and give it my all. The day in day out efforts I've been making have paid off. This is my first podium in the senior Grand Prix series, so it's been a great confidence booster."^[19]

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Results in the 2024-25 season 

Date	Event	SP		FS		Total
		P	Score	P	Score	P	Score
Sep 2–6, 2024	2024 Asian Open Trophy	2	82.37	7	122.61	5	204.98
Nov 8–10, 2024	2024 NHK Trophy	3	85.02	3	166.50	3	251.52

• Tatsuya Tsuboi at the International Skating Union