Hazuki Watanabe (渡部 葉月, born 7 August 2004) is a Japanese artistic gymnast. She is the 2022 World Champion on the balance beam. She was part of the bronze medal winning team at the 2022 Asian Championships. Additionally she represented Japan at the inaugural Junior World Championships.
| Hazuki Watanabe 渡部 葉月 | |||||||||||||||||||||
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_053.jpg) Watanabe at the 2019 Junior World Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Ha-chan, Haki | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 August 2004 Mie Prefecture, Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Nagoya, Japan | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Level | Senior International Elite | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years on national team | 2019–present (JPN) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Chukyo Gymnastics Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach(es) | Hikaru Tanaka | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Early life edit
Watanabe was born in Mie, Japan in 2004.[1]
Career edit
2019 edit
Watanabe competed at the 2019 City of Jesolo Trophy where she helped Japan finish fifth as a team. She was later selected to compete at the inaugural Junior World Championships alongside Shoko Miyata and Chiaki Hatakeda; they finished eleventh as a team.[2]
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2022 edit
Watanabe competed at the Asian Championships where she helped Japan finish third as a team.[3] Later in the year Watanabe was selected to represent Japan at the 2022 World Championships alongside Shoko Miyata, Kokoro Fukasawa, Ayaka Sakaguchi, Chiharu Yamada, and Arisa Kasahara; she was initially the alternate. However Kasahara later withdrew from the team due to injury and Watanabe was added to the main team. While at the World Championships Watanabe helped Japan finish seventh as a team and individually she qualified to the balance beam final. During the balance beam final Watanabe won gold, becoming the third Japanese gymnast to win the World title on balance beam after Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda and Urara Ashikawa.[4][5]
Competitive history edit
| Year | Event | Team | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | |||||||
| 2019 | City of Jesolo Trophy | 5 | 13 | ||||
| All-Japan Championships | 9 | ||||||
| NHK Trophy | 6 | ||||||
| Junior World Championships | 11 | ||||||
| All-Japan Junior Championships | 7 | ||||||
| All-Japan Team Championships | 7 |  |
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| Senior | |||||||
| 2020 | All-Japan Senior Championships | 42 | |||||
| 2021 | All-Japan Championships | 22 | |||||
| NHK Trophy | 21 | ||||||
| All-Japan Event Championships | 6 | ||||||
| All-Japan Team Championships | 13 | 5 | |||||
| 2022 | All-Japan Championships | 4 | |||||
| NHK Trophy | 4 | ||||||
| Asian Championships | |
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| World Championships | 7 |  |
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| 2023 | DTB Pokal Team Challenge | 5 | |||||
| DTB Pokal Mixed Cup | |
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| All-Japan Championships | |
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References edit
- ^ "FIG Profile: Hazuki Watanabe". International Gymnastics Federation.
- ^ "1st FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships" (PDF). USA Gymnastics. 28 June 2019.
- ^ "Favourites China Claim MAG, WAG Team and All-Around Titles". Asian Gymnastics Union. 16 June 2022.
- ^ "Gymnastics: Hazuki Watanabe becomes youngest Japanese female world champion". Kyodo News. 6 November 2022.
- ^ "Hazuki Watanabe becomes youngest Japanese woman to win title at artistic gymnastics world championships". The Japan Times. 7 November 2022.