Chiba grew up idolizing Olympic gold medalist and Sendai hometown hero Yuzuru Hanyu;[1] they met on the ice several times and he was "like a big brother" for her before he moved to Toronto, Canada to further his training.[1]
Career
Early years
Chiba began skating in 2010 and was coached by Soshi Tanaka at the Sendai Ice Rink from the ages of six to eighteen.[4][5]
She would place twenty-first at 2015–16 Japan Novice B Championships and twenty-ninth at 2016–17 Japan Novice A Championships. She made her first international appearance at the 2017 Asian Open in the advanced novice category and was first after the short program. In the free program, she downgraded a jump and had a fall. She finished in fifth place. Chiba placed sixth at 2017–18 Japan Novice A Championships.[6]
Chiba was selected to 2022 Challenge Cup in the junior category and again won the competition. Two months later, she was sent to 2022 Egna Trophy, now competing in the senior category. Chiba got third place behind South Korea's Hae-in Lee and Japan's Hana Yoshida.[6]
Chiba was initially scheduled to make her Junior Grand Prix debut at the Armenian stop on the 2022–23 circuit.[8] However, that was cancelled as a result of the September conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and skaters meant to attend were reassigned elsewhere.[9][10] Instead, she debuted at the Junior Grand Prix event in Gdańsk, Poland. In her short program, she received an edge call on her combination but otherwise gave a clean skate, placing her first with a score of 70.16 points.[11] During the free skate, Chiba landed all her jumps, albeit with a Lutz landed on a quarter. Chiba finished in second place behind Mao Shimada.[12] At her second assignment, the 2022 JGP Italy, Chiba finished third in the short program, but dropped to fourth place after making several errors. She was named the first of three alternates for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.[6]
Appearing next at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships, Chiba won the silver medal behind Shimada.[13] She then competed at the senior level, finishing a surprise third in the short program with a 71.06 score. She said that she "went into the short program with the frustration of last year," when she had finished eleventh in that segment.[14] Chiba struggled in the free skate, coming seventh in that segment and dropping to fifth place overall. Despite being the third-highest-ranked senior-eligible qualifier, she was not assigned to compete at the 2023 World Championships, that going instead to Rinka Watanabe. She was assigned to compete at the 2023 Four Continents Championships.[15][16]
At the Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs, Chiba was seventh in the short program. However, a new personal best score in the free skate vaulted her into third overall, winning the bronze medal.[17] Saying she had "never dreamed of getting a bronze medal," she assessed that "my skating maybe was not as grand as I would have liked it, but I am still satisfied."[18]
In May 2023, it was announced that Chiba had relocated from Sendai to Uji, Kyoto, where she would be coached by Mie Hamada at the Kinoshita Academy.[19][20]
At the 2023–24 Japan Championships, Chiba finished third in the short program, less than two points back of second-place Mako Yamashita but also less than a point ahead of two other skaters. She admitted after the segment that she had felt "a little unwell" since the French Grand Prix, but said that she had been able to recover adequately, while self-critiquing that "with my current skating skills, I'm only able to express half of the emotions. However, I did everything I was capable of."[23] In the free skate, she rose to second place to claim the silver medal. Of the result, Chiba said she "trained very hard and everything paid off."[24]
Chiba won the short program at the 2024 Four Continents Championships, the only error being an incorrect edge call on her triple Lutz. Her 71.10 point score was a new personal best. She said that nervousness had impacted her artistic performance, joking that "my eyebrows looked like a figure eight from start to finish."[25] She went on to win the free skate as well, receiving another Lutz edge call and a quarter underrotation call on a triple flip, setting additional new personal bests in the free skate (143.88) and total score (214.98) and winning the gold medal. Chiba assessed that she "tried to focus myself solely on the competition, that is how I could get this ideal result."[26]
Entering the 2024 World Championships in Montreal with medal hopes, Chiba encountered difficulty in the short program after singling a planned triple Lutz, coming thirteenth in the segment. She spoke afterward of struggling with nerves at her first World Championship appearance.[27] Chiba performed better in the free skate, coming fifth in the segment and rising to seventh overall.[28]
2024–25 season
Chiba started the season by finishing fourth at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy.[6] She began the Grand Prix series at the 2024 NHK Trophy, where she gained a new personal best score in the short program of 71.69.[29] Scoring 140.85 in the free skate and 212.54 overall, Chiba won her first Grand Prix medal, a silver, as part of a Japanese team sweep, alongside Kaori Sakamoto, and Yuna Aoki.[30] At her second Grand Prix event, the Cup of China, Chiba led in the short program by .02 points over Amber Glenn. In the free skate, she landed her jumps cleanly, but she tripped and fell in her step sequence. She finished both the free skate and the competition overall in second place and qualified for the Grand Prix Final.[31]
At the Grand Prix Final in December, she finished in second place in both the short and free programs and came in second place overall to win the silver medal. While she said that she was happy with the result, she also expressed frustration and said that she wished she had taken second place with a stronger performance.[32]
^"千葉百音がGPファイナル2位 坂本花織3位、グレン初V" [Chiba Mone 2nd at Grand Prix Final, Sakamoto Kaori 3rd, first victory in Grenoble]. サンスポ (in Japanese). 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
