Watanabe Runner-Up at New Year Curling in Miyota 2026

Fourth
Hinako
Sonobe

SKIP
Aoi
Watanabe

Second
Mao
Ishigaki

Lead
Mizuki
Hara

Aoi Watanabe (Tokyo, JPN) lost 7-2 to Misaki Tanaka (Aomori, JPN) in the Final of the New Year Curling in Miyota 2026, held December 29 - January 1 at the Miyota Curling Club in Miyota, Japan. To advance to the championship game, Watanabe won 7-6 over Kayla Skrlik (Calgary, AB) in the semifinals

Watanabe are currently . In their opening game, Watanabe plays Michaela Baudysova (Prague, CZE) on Monday at 7pm Kai Tsuchiya (Miyota, JPN) on Tuesday at 7pm and Tanaka at 11pm.

With their runner-up finish at the New Year Curling in Miyota 2026, Watanabe take home 8.250 world rankings points along with the $7,041CDN prize. Watanabe move up 60 spots after posting a net gain of 8.019 points improving upon their best 7 results so far this season, ranking 119th overall with 11.108 total points on the World Ranking Standings. Watanabe ranks 113th overall on the Year-to-Date rankings with 10.876 points earned so far this season.

RECORD	W	L	T	PCT	HMR	STL	1PT	EEH	EES
2026	5	12	0	0.294	0-0	0-2	1-0	0-0	0-0

SCORING	ENDs	PF	PA	PF/G	PA/G	+/-	EF/G	EA/G	PF/E	PA/E	BE/G
2026	111	66	117	5.95	10.54	-4.59	3.69	5.59	1.61	1.89	0.72

WITH HAMMER	ENDs	PF	PA	BE	4s	3s	2s	PF/E	PA/E	HE	SD
2026	57	44	50	2	1-2	2-5	9-5	0.77	0.88	0.22	0.49

WITHOUT HAMMER	ENDs	PF	PA	BE	4s	3s	2s	PF/E	PA/E	FE	SE
2026	54	22	67	6	1-3	1-5	3-11	0.41	1.24	0.44	0.26

2025: Misaki Tanaka
Misaki Tanaka, Miori Nakamura, Hiyori Ichinohe, Yuna Harada
Aomori, JPN
2024: Miyu Ueno
Miyu Ueno, Yui Ueno, Junko Nishimuro, Asuka Kanai , Yuji Nishimuro
Karuizawa, JPN
2023: Miori Nakamura
Misaki Tanaka, Miori Nakamura, Haruka Kihara, Yuna Harada, Hiyori Ichinohe, Jun Nakajima
Aomori, JPN
2022: Daniela Jentsch
Daniela Jentsch, Emira Abbes, Mia Hoehne, Analena Jentsch
Fuessen, GER

Sudbury's Jake and Tanner Horgan will ply their trade elsewhere next season as John Epping and Ian MacMillan explore options for the future.

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