{"id":626582,"date":"2026-04-23T22:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626582\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:10:12","slug":"figure-skating-teenager-hana-bath-is-making-history-for-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/626582\/","title":{"rendered":"Figure skating teenager Hana Bath is making history for Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The triple axel jump is a move few figure skaters have mastered but at just 15, Hana Bath became the first Australian female to ever land one in a competition.<\/p>\n

“I was working on it roughly every day,” said Hana, who first landed the manoeuvre at the Junior Grand Prix event in Abu Dhabi last year.<\/p>\n

She said it took her almost five years to consistently land the jump.<\/p>\n

“She would fall a lot on it, but she would keep going,” Hana’s father Adam Bath said.<\/p>\n

“And it was times when we thought maybe that jump was too difficult.”<\/p>\n

\"Hana<\/p>\n

Hana Bath won silver at the ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. (Supplied: Wilma Alberti\u00a0)<\/p>\n

In last year’s Grand Prix event, Hana also made history by becoming the first Australian female to land the triple axel toe loop combination.<\/p>\n

Clad in turquoise, the talented youngster nailed the combination again at the ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships last month.<\/p>\n

Making Australian history<\/p>\n

The effort helped earn her a silver medal at the competition in Estonia, becoming the first Australian junior in history to ever win an individual medal at the world event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This result also saw Hana move to fourth in the Junior Women’s ISU Season’s World Ranking.<\/p>\n

“When the scores came out, I was really shocked and surprised,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I was super happy that I was able to medal at such a big event.”<\/p>\n

Turning sweet 16 during the competition, Hana said it was the “biggest present she could receive” and that she never expected she could reach such a high level of success.<\/p>\n

“I always did hope that I could reach a level like this, and I hope I can achieve more,” Hana said.<\/p>\n

A beacon on the Australian stage, the two-time senior national champion won her first aged just 13.<\/p>\n

\"Hana<\/p>\n

Hana Bath’s goal is to represent Australia at the 2030 Winter Olympics.\u00a0 (Supplied: Wilma Alberti\u00a0)<\/p>\n

From Perth to Japan<\/p>\n

Hana has been training since she was five years old, starting at her local rink in Cockburn, Western Australia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Hana Bath winning basic novice at Nationals in 2019.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“I feel like starting in Western Australia was really good for me,” said Hana.<\/p>\n

She said starting in a small community surrounded by lots of support meant she fell in love with the sport without early pressure of elite competitions.<\/p>\n

“We lived only 10 minutes away from there and I was with my family and I had lots of friends there which was a really fun way to start,” she said.<\/p>\n

Every year during the school holidays, she would trade beach towels for the Japanese winter, visiting her mothers’ family.<\/p>\n

Never missing a beat, she continued to put her skates on and trained while over there.<\/p>\n

Whilst figure skating isn’t a hugely popular sport in Australia, Japan is a powerhouse in the sport.<\/p>\n

In late 2024, Hana and her mum packed their bags and made the move north.<\/p>\n

\"Hana<\/p>\n

Hana Bath received flowers from her fans after the ISU Junior World Championships (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“She saw Japan as a stepping stone towards her dream,” Mr Bath said.<\/p>\n

Now based in Tokyo, Hana trains alongside some of the best in the world.<\/p>\n

“I’m training around a lot of high-level skaters that I can watch, and I can learn a lot from them,” she said.<\/p>\n

Hana juggles online schooling in Western Australia during the day with training in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

This move has meant sacrifices for her family, with her brother and father remaining in Perth.<\/p>\n

“I think in her DNA that she wants to be a figure skater and she dreams big and it’s hard not to really want to embrace that,” Mr Bath said.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Hana Bath left, finished just four points behind decorated junior figure skater Mao Shimado, centre, while Mayuko Oka claimed bronze. (Supplied: Wilma Alberti\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Hana said she could not be at the level she is now without them and is grateful for the opportunity \u2014 one she never thought was possible.<\/p>\n

“My brother is living without his mum right now, and so I’m really grateful that my brother and everyone in my family has supported me,” she said.<\/p>\n

Cultural Influence<\/p>\n

The Japanese culture centres itself around calmness and tranquilly.<\/p>\n

\"Hana<\/p>\n

Hana Bath with her Australian figure skating idol Kelani Crane. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“That calmness is reinforced by the coaches and [is a] really important part of helping build that culture, not load the pressure,” said Mr Bath, who believes this has helped keep Hana calm on the rink.<\/p>\n

Since the move, Hana’s scores have improved by nearly 150 points at the Junior World Championships.<\/p>\n

Mr Bath said a big part of this success was going back to basics and drilling the fundamentals of stroking, edge work and artistry.<\/p>\n

But, Hana said she still misses home.<\/p>\n

“There’s some moments that have been really hard for me. I always do miss my brother and my dad, and I’ve also got a cat there that I miss,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I really miss the Australian beaches.”<\/p>\n

She hopes to keep pushing herself and has her eye on competing at the next Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The triple axel jump is a move few figure skaters have mastered but at just 15, Hana Bath…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,2331,109723,303596,216550,222142,303599,303598,16496,39917,85,303597],"class_list":{"0":"post-626582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-figure-skating","12":"tag-hana-bath","13":"tag-ice-skating","14":"tag-isu","15":"tag-junior-grand-prix","16":"tag-junior-world-championships","17":"tag-medal","18":"tag-opportunity","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-triple-axel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}