Yuna Hiraiwa

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Not to be confused with Yuna Shiraiwa.
Yuna Hiraiawa
平岩 優奈
Full nameYuna Hiraiwa
Country represented Japan
Born (1998-11-21) November 21, 1998 (age 22)
Nerima, Tokyo, Japan
HometownTokyo
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior international elite
Years on national team2014, 2020–present (JPN)
ClubToda Sports Club
Mukogawa Women's University
Mitsubishi Yowa Gymnastics
Head coach(es)Risa Toyoshima
Former coach(es)Kazukuni Ohno
Medal record

Yuna Hiraiwa (平岩 優奈, Hiraiwa Yūna, born November 21, 1998) is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She is the 2014 and 2021 Japanese national all-around bronze medalist and the 2014 Japanese balance beam champion. She was named as a member of the Japanese team for the 2014 World Championships and the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Career[]

Junior[]

2013[]

Hiraiwa made her international debut at the International Gymnix in Montreal, Canada. She finished 21st in the all-around, sixth on balance beam, and fifth on floor.

Senior[]

2014[]

Hiraiwa made her senior debut at the 2014 All-Japan Championships in May. She improved from her eighth-place finish in qualifications to earn the bronze medal behind Natsumi Sasada and Asuka Teramoto. Hiraiwa then finished 11th at the NHK Cup in June. She captured the balance beam title at the All-Japan Event Championships in July. As a result, Hiraiwa was named to the Japanese team for the 2014 World Championships alongside Sasada, Teramoto, Yu Minobe, Mai Murakami, and , where she was the youngest member.[1]

At the World Championships, Hiraiwa broke her right middle finger and metacarpal bone while training on the uneven bars and returned home to Japan for further examination and treatment; she was replaced by .[2] Although she recovered from the hand injury, the overall experience of her sudden withdrawal caused her to suffer mental setbacks. Hiraiwa also suffered a series of injuries during the following years and described entering a "slump" in her career.[3]

2015[]

Hiraiwa finished 13th in all-around qualifications at the 2015 All-Japan Championships, before going on to finish last in the final. At the NHK Trophy a month later, which combined scores from All-Japan, she improved slightly to finish 21st.

2016[]

Hiraiwa began her season by competing three events (excluding uneven bars) at the WOGA Classic in Frisco, Texas, winning the silver medal on floor behind Canadian gymnast Shallon Olsen. She then competed alongside Nagi Kajita and Sae Miyakawa at the International Gymnix in March, finishing sixth as a team. Individually, Hiraiwa was 15th in the all-around, seventh on balance beam, and eighth on floor exercise.

Hiraiwa missed the 2016 All-Japan Championships due to injury, but recovered to compete on uneven bars and balance beam at the All-Japan Event Championships the following month.[3] She missed qualifying to the uneven bars final, but reached the balance beam final in fifth place; she finished fourth in the final.

2017[]

Hiraiwa finished 33rd in qualifications at the 2017 All-Japan Championships and did not advance to the final. She competed only on balance beam at the All-Japan Event Championships, but did not advance to the final. Competing for Mukogawa Women's University at the All-Japan Student Championships, Hiraiwa finished fifth in the all-around and won silvers on vault, balance beam, and floor exercise. She competed three events (excluding uneven bars) for Mukogawa Women's University at the All-Japan Team Championships to help the team finish 14th overall.

2018[]

Hiraiwa struggled at the 2018 All-Japan Championships, finishing 55th in qualification and failing to advance to the final for a second year in a row. She competed on balance beam and floor at the All-Japan Event Championships, qualifying in third for balance beam and narrowly missing the floor final due to an out-of-bounds penalty. Hiraiwa captured the bronze medal behind Mai Murakami and Asuka Teramoto in the final, her first national medal since 2014.[4] She then competed three events for Mukogawa Women's University at the All-Japan Team Championships, including the highest score on beam and second-highest score on floor, to help the team finish seventh overall.

2019[]

Following a career-worst finish at the 2018 All-Japan Championships, Hiraiwa transferred from her college team, where she was coached by Japanese national team head coach Kazukuni Ohno, to train with 1996 Olympian Risa Toyoshima (née Sugawara) at the Toda Sports Club.[5] Hiraiwa did not compete at the 2019 All-Japan Championships, but returned to compete on balance beam and floor at the All-Japan Event Championships in June. She placed 21st on beam, but qualified in first on floor. However, Hiraiwa finished fifth in the floor final.

Hiraiwa credits the transfer to Toyoshima for gradually helping her overcome her mental struggles and fear stemming from her 2014 injury. She stated that Toyoshima taught her "doing [her] own gymnastics is more important than the result" and that Toyoshima's guidance allowed her to replace her fear with the "joy of gymnastics" again.[5]

2020[]

After the COVID-19 pandemic limited international competitive opportunities, Hiraiwa began the season at the All-Japan Senior Championships where she surprised to win silver behind Mai Murakami and ahead of Hitomi Hatakeda.[6] She earned the highest score on balance beam and second-highest score on floor behind Murakami en route to the silver medal.[7] Hiraiwa finished only sixth at the All-Japan Championships in December due to issues on uneven bars resulting in a 19th-place finish during qualifications. However, she rebounded during the all-around final to tie Hatakeda for the second-highest score of the day behind Murakami.[8]

2021[]

During the lead-up to the competition season, Hiraiwa experienced interruptions in her training due to the medical state of emergency induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.[5] She opened her season at the 2021 All-Japan Championships, where she finished third in both qualifications and the all-around final to win the bronze medal behind Mai Murakami and Hitomi Hatakeda. It was her first time on the all-around podium since capturing bronze in her senior debut seven years ago.[3] Hiraiwa then repeated her bronze medal performance at the NHK Trophy, again behind Murakami and Hatakeda, to secure one of the automatic berths on the Japanese Olympic team for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics.[9] After being named to the team, she noted that she "liked gymnastics more [now]" and thanked her coach, Risa Toyoshima, for rekindling her motivation to pursue the Olympic team.[10] The Olympics will be Hiraiwa's first international assignment since 2016.

Competitive history[]

[11]

Junior[]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2013 International Gymnix 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 21 5

Senior[]

Year Event Team AA VT UB BB FX
2014 All-Japan Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
NHK Cup 11
All-Japan Event Championships 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2015 All-Japan Championships 24
NHK Cup 21
2016 WOGA Classic 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
International Gymnix 6 15 7 8
All-Japan Individual Championships 4
2017 All-Japan Championships 33
All-Japan Event Championships Did not reach finals
All-Japan Student Championships 5th 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
All-Japan Team Championships 14
2018 All-Japan Championships 55
All-Japan Event Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
All-Japan Team Championships 7
2019 All-Japan Event Championships 5
2020 All-Japan Senior Championships 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
All-Japan Championships 6
2021 All-Japan Championships 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
NHK Cup 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Olympic Games 5

References[]

  1. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (October 1, 2014). "The Japan Worlds Team Preview". The Gymternet.
  2. ^ "世界選手権大会代表、平岩優奈選手の交代" [World Championship representative, Yuna Hiraiwa's replacement] (in Japanese). Japan Gymnastics Association. September 27, 2014.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c Matsubara, Takaomi (May 9, 2021). "【体操代表最終選考】最年少代表から55位予選落ちまで低迷…平岩優奈の恐怖心を打ち消した「結果よりも大切なこと」とは" [[Gymnastics representatives final selection] Stagnation from the youngest representative to the 55th place qualifying failure...What is "more important than results" that counteracted the fear of Yuna Hiraiwa?]. Number (in Japanese).
  4. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (July 13, 2018). "Japanese Teams Set for Worlds". The Gymternet.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "平岩優奈３位　苦難乗り越え７年ぶり全日本表彰台　初の五輪出場圏内" [Yuna Hiraiwa 3rd place, overcoming hardships to reach All-Japan podium for the first time in 7 years]. Daily Sports (in Japanese). April 18, 2021.
  6. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (December 8, 2020). "Hiraiwa Looking to Prove Herself at All-Japan Championships". The Gymternet.
  7. ^ Lawrence, Blythe (September 29, 2020). "Murakami Masters All-Japan Championships in Takasaki". Rocker Gymnastics.
  8. ^ Hopkins, Lauren (December 12, 2020). "Murakami Breaks 57 to Win All-Japan Gold". The Gymternet.
  9. ^ "MURAKAMI Mai lifts NHK Trophy to punch ticket to second Games". Olympic Channel. May 15, 2021.
  10. ^ Tsuburaya, Miki (May 15, 2021). "「もっと体操が好きに」平岩優奈、7年ぶりに返り咲いた夢の舞台" ["I like gymnastics more" Yuna Hiraiwa, the stage of dreams that bloomed for the first time in 7 years]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese).
  11. ^ Hopkins, Lauren. "Hiraiwa Yuna". The Gymternet.

External links[]

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