Wakaba Higuchi

Wakaba Higuchi (樋口 新葉, Higuchi Wakaba; born January 2, 2001) is a Japanese retired figure skater. She is a 2022 Olympic team event silver medalist, the 2018 World silver medalist, the 2024 Skate America champion, a three-time Grand Prix silver medalist (2017 Cup of China; 2020 NHK Trophy; 2024 Grand Prix de France), a three-time Grand Prix bronze medalist (2016 and 2021 Grand Prix de France; 2017 Rostelecom Cup), a three-time Challenger Series medalist, and a six-time Japanese national medalist (bronze in 2015 and 2025, silver in 2016, 2017, 2020, and 2022). On the junior level, she is a two-time World Junior bronze medalist (2015, 2016), the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and a two-time Japan Junior national champion (2015, 2016). Higuchi is the seventeenth woman to land a clean triple Axel internationally, the fourth woman to land a clean triple Axel at the Olympics, and one of two women (the other being Mao Asada) to land multiple clean triple axels at a single Olympics.