Last season, Tomoki Hiwatashi watched "the big three" of U.S. men's figure skating – Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown – and wondered when he would enter their ranks.
"They have always been ahead of me – more than a step or two, like 100 steps," he mused in the mixed zone after his fourth-place finish at the 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. "I'm just taking longer. I don't think I should try too hard to catch up. Right now, I should let it go with the flow and catch up whenever I can."
In the coming weeks, he took big leaps forward. Career-best programs put him eighth in a strong field at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2019. From there, it was on to Zagreb, Croatia, where he capped his junior career with the World Junior title.
His break-out season landed him his first-ever Champs Camp invitation. The camp was held in Irvine, California, where he showed the programs he has been preparing for his Grand Prix debut at Internationaux de France and NHK Trophy this fall.
So how does Hiwatashi feel now -- is he catching up?
"Not yet," he said with a laugh. "Obviously Vincent has great quads. Nathan has great quads. Jason is an incredible skater. I haven't been able to catch up to them, but I feel like I've gotten a little bit closer. I feel I am doing a better job. Obviously, I would love to get great results like them. I will just go step-by-step and catch up slowly."
Good things have long been predicted for Hiwatashi, who grew up in the Chicago area and now trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado, under Christy Krall and Damon Allen.
During his seasons as a junior, there were flashes of brilliance -- including a World Junior bronze medal in 2016 and his title in 2019. Now, after ending his final junior campaign on the highest of notes, the next step is to make his mark on the senior circuit.
"I think what's so hard about it is there are so many great skaters and I've got to be able to match them," the 19-year-old said. "This year, my biggest challenge is to at least be able to compete at the same level and have people notice me. I just came from junior and I want people to think of me as senior now."
Hiwatashi credits much of his progress to the competitive training environment at the Broadmoor World Arena. He and mom Satomi moved to Colorado Springs about two years ago and share an apartment near the rink with Tomoki's cairn terrier, Chibi.
"My mom is with me and supports me through my skating life," he said. "Dad (Satoshi) lives in Chicago. He has to work (to fund) my skating, unfortunately. If he could move here, that would be great."
Hiwatashi, along with Zhou and two other up-and-coming skaters, Camden Pulkinen and Andrew Torgashev, train alongside each other daily. Friendly rivals on the ice, the foursome are buddies off of it.
"All of us are always striving to make every aspect of our skating the best it can be," said Torgashev, who won the Philadelphia Summer International Competition in August and placed fourth at his Junior Grand Prix events in Latvia and Croatia this fall.
"In our group we all see the strengths the others have and we kind of look and try to match each other and move up," he added. "Each person in our group brings their own personality to the table. The group wouldn't be the same without each one of us."
The quartet often check out each other's new moves.
"We give ideas to each other," Hiwatashi said. "Watching Vincent motivated me to start working on the quad Sal(chow) and Lutz."
Hiwatashi is branching out into ballet for his free skate this season, with a free skate choreographed by Tom Dickson to Stravinsky's
Petrushka. The skater admits portraying a tragic puppet is stretching his artistic muscles, but he's embracing the challenge.
"I've never done ballet music before," he said. "(The program) is all about being a puppet, but we're trying to add ballet style to it. My arms need to move like a puppet's, but I also have to be relaxed."
His short program, choreographed with Mark Pillay, is set to pop rock band One Republic's "Love Runs Out."
"I wanted a contrast between the two," Hiwatashi said. "One is ballet, and one is excitable, enjoyable music."
And while the skater and his coaches would love to add another quad to his free skate, it's an ambition Hiwatashi intends to keep pressure-free. Like everything else, he's taking it step-by-step.
Hiwatashi finished fifth at 2019 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic and looks to build off that performance this week at Internationaux de France.
Don't miss his senior Grand Prix debut! Watch live and on-demand on the
Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold.
