{{Short description|Japanese curler (born 2002)}} {{Infobox curler | name = Mina Kobayashi | image = File:2020-01-22 Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Mixed Doubles – Bronze Medal Game (Martin Rulsch) 022.jpg | caption = Kobayashi at the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics|2020 Winter Youth Olympics]] | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|2002|7|20}} | birth_place = [[Kushiro]], [[Hokkaido]] | Curling club = [[Sapporo Curling Club|Sapporo CC]], [[Sapporo]] | Skip = [[Sayaka Yoshimura]] | Third = [[Kaho Onodera]] | Second = [[Yuna Kotani]] | Lead = [[Anna Ohmiya]] | Alternate = '''Mina Kobayashi''' | Member Association = {{JPN}} | World Championship appearances = 1 ({{WWCC|2025}}) | World Mixed Championship appearances = 1 ({{WMxCC|2019}}) | Olympic appearances = 1 ([[Curling at the 2026 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament|2026]]) | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | [[Curling]] }} {{MedalCountry| {{JPN}} }} {{MedalCompetition | [[Youth Olympic Games|Winter Youth Olympics]] }} {{MedalSilver | [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Mixed team|2020 Champéry]] | }} {{MedalCountry | [[File:Flag of Hokkaido Prefecture.svg|24px]] [[Hokkaido]] }} {{MedalCompetition | [[Japan Curling Championships]] }} {{MedalGold | [[2025 Japan Curling Championships|2025 Yokohama]] | }} }}
{{Nihongo|'''Mina Kobayashi'''|小林 未奈|Kobayashi Mina|born July 20, 2002 in [[Kushiro]]}} is a Japanese [[Curling|curler]] from [[Sapporo]], [[Hokkaido]].<ref name="Profile">{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/461|title=新加入選手のお知らせ|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=December 25, 2021|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> She is the alternate on the FORTIUS curling team, which is skipped by [[Sayaka Yoshimura]]. At the international level, she represented Japan at the [[2019 World Mixed Curling Championship]] and the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics|2020 Winter Youth Olympics]], winning silver in the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Mixed team|mixed team]] competition.<ref name="WCF">{{Cite web|url=https://results.worldcurling.org/Person/Details/9211|title=Mina Kobayashi Profile|website=World Curling Federation|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref>
==Career== ===Juniors=== Kobayashi competed in her first [[Japan Curling Championships]] during the [[2017–18 curling season|2017–18 season]] as third for the Sapporo CA team. Her team, with skip [[Momoka Iwase]], second [[Midori Sugasawa]], lead [[Mao Hino]] and alternate [[Suzune Yasui]] finished seventh with a 2–6 record, only defeating Nayoro Association and Team Hiroshima.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.curling.or.jp/result/jcc/jcc2018/jcc2018-results.html|title=第35回 全農 日本カーリング選手権大会 結果|language=ja|website=Japan Curling Association|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> Kobayashi and her teammates were unable to return to the national championship the following year.
In 2019, Kobayashi was selected to play lead on the Japanese team for the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics|2020 Winter Youth Olympics]]. The team also included skip [[Takumi Maeda]], third [[Momoha Tabata]] and second [[Asei Nakahara]]. In preparation for the event, the team represented Japan at the [[2019 World Mixed Curling Championship]] where they finished 4–3 in the round robin, just missing the playoffs.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2019/10/wmxcc2019-day-six/|title=Play-off places set after World Mixed Curling Championship 2019 round-robin stage final day|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=October 17, 2019|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> At the Games, the team finished 4–1 in the preliminary round of the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Mixed team|mixed team]] competition, earning them a spot in the playoffs. In the quarterfinals, they upset the top seeded Canadian team and went on to beat New Zealand in the semifinal.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/01/yog-qf/|title=Japan, New Zealand, Russia and Norway advance to semi-finals after dramatic quarter-final finish at Youth Olympics|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=January 15, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> They then fell to Norway in the final, settling for silver.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/01/medals-yog/|title=Norway defeat Japan for Youth Olympic gold while Russia collect bronze|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=January 16, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> Kobayashi then competed in the [[Curling at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Mixed doubles|mixed doubles]] competition with France's Léo Tuaz. The pair lost their final qualifying game, however, had the best draw shot total of the losing qualifiers which meant they qualified as the fourth seeds.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/01/yog-md-four/|title=Mixed doubles semi-final games set at Youth Olympic Games|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=January 21, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> They then lost both the semifinal and the bronze medal game, finishing fourth.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/01/yog-md-medals/|title=Hungary/Canada win Youth Olympic mixed doubles gold|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=January 22, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref>
At the 2020 Japan Junior Curling Championships, Kobayashi and her team of Momoha Tabata, [[Mikoto Nakajima]] and [[Miku Nihira]] won the gold medal. This qualified them for the [[World Junior Curling Championships|2021 World Junior Curling Championships]], however, the event was cancelled due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://worldcurling.org/2020/11/test-events/|title=Beijing 2022 test events replaced with adapted sports testing programme|publisher=World Curling Federation|date=November 13, 2020|access-date=December 26, 2023|archive-date=October 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028164615/https://worldcurling.org/2020/11/test-events/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Women's=== ====2021–present: Team Yoshimura==== In December 2021, Kobayashi would join Team [[Sayaka Yoshimura]] as their alternate.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/461|title=新加入選手のお知らせ|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=December 25, 2021|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> The lineup also included third [[Kaho Onodera]], second [[Anna Ohmiya]] and lead [[Yumie Funayama]]. At the [[2022 Japan Curling Championships]], the team finished the round robin with a 4–4 record, enough to qualify for the playoffs. They then lost in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game to [[Chubu Electric Power]]'s [[Ikue Kitazawa]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.si.com/curling/news/15-year-old-wins-japanese-curling-title|title=15-Year-Old Wins Japanese Curling Title|publisher=The Curling News|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=May 29, 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref>
In their first event of the [[2022–23 curling season|2022–23 season]], Team Yoshimura won the [[2022 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/784|title=どうぎんカーリングクラシック2022＜結果＞|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=August 8, 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> They then won the Wakkanai Midori Challenge Cup two weeks later.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/811|title=稚内みどりChallengeCup2022＜結果＞|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=August 22, 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> In their next two events, they again reached the finals, losing the Argo Graphics Cup final to [[Sae Yamamoto (curler)|Sae Yamamoto]] and the [[Advics Cup|ADVICS Cup]] final to [[Satsuki Fujisawa]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.curlingzone.com/event.php?view=Main&eventid=7419|title=2022 ADVICS Cup|website=CurlingZone|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> After a successful start to the season, [[Yuna Kotani]] was added at the third position in September 2022.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/869|title=新加入選手のお知らせ|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=September 16, 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> The revised lineup of the team was Yoshimura at skip, Kotani at third, Onodera at second, Ohmiya at lead, Kobayashi remaining as the alternate, and Yumie Funayama becoming the team's coach. In Canada, the team had back-to-back quarterfinal appearances at the S3 Group Curling Stadium Series and the [[2022 Western Showdown]], losing out to [[Stefania Constantini]] and [[Meghan Walter]] respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.curlingzone.com/event.php?view=Main&eventid=7340|title=2022 Western Showdown|website=CurlingZone|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> In December, Team Yoshimura competed in the [[2022 Karuizawa International Curling Championships]] where they finished third, beating Loco Solare (Fujisawa) in the bronze medal game. In the New Year, the team played in the [[2023 New Year Medalist Curling]] where they lost in the semifinals to [[Daniela Jentsch]]. It would be the team's last event of the 2022–23 season as positive cases of [[COVID-19]] within the team forced them to withdraw from their qualifying round of the [[2023 Japan Curling Championships]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fortius.jp/archives/944|title=【ご報告】|language=ja|publisher=Fortius|date=2 December 2022|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref>
The Yoshimura rink would again find success during the [[2024–25 curling season|2024–25 season]], where they would finish in the quarterfinals at the [[2024 National]] and the [[2025 Players' Championship]] Grand Slam events. During the season, Team Yoshimura would win the national title at the [[2025 Japan Curling Championships]], Kobayashi's first, beating [[Miku Nihira]] 8–7 in the final. This win qualified them to represent Japan at the [[2025 World Women's Curling Championship]]. At the World's however, the team would struggle, finishing 9th with a 4–8 record after round robin play.
Team Yoshimura would begin the [[2025–26 curling season|2025–26 season]] strong, winning the [[2025 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic]], beating [[Momoha Tabata]] 6–3 in the final. They would continue their winning streak at the [[2025 Japanese Olympic curling trials]], beating [[Miyu Ueno]] 3–2 in a best-of-five final, and qualifying to represent Japan at the [[2025 Olympic Qualification Event – Curling|2025 Olympic Qualification Event]]. At the Qualification event, the team would go 6–1 in the round robin and win 6–5 over Norway's [[Marianne Rørvik]] to win the event and qualify for the [[Curling at the 2026 Winter Olympics – Women's tournament|2026 Winter Olympics]], Kobayashi's first Adult Olympic Games.
==Personal life== Kobayashi attended [[Hokkaido Sapporo Higashi High School]] and Hokkaido High Technology College.<ref name="Profile"/>
==Teams== {| class="wikitable" |- ! scope="col"| Season ! scope="col"| Skip ! scope="col"| Third ! scope="col"| Second ! scope="col"| Lead ! scope="col"| Alternate |- ! scope="row"| 2015–16<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.curlingzone.com/player.php?playerid=38742&view=Teams#1|title=Mina Kobayashi Past Teams|website=CurlingZone|access-date=December 26, 2023}}</ref> | [[Ruika Konno]] || [[Midori Sugasawa]] || [[Mao Hino]] || Mina Kobayashi || [[Momoka Iwase]] |- ! scope="row"| 2016–17 | Mina Kobayashi || Ruika Konno || Momoka Iwase || Mao Hino || Midori Sugasawa |- ! scope="row"| 2017–18 | Momoka Iwase || Mina Kobayashi || Midori Sugasawa || Mao Hino || [[Suzune Yasui]] |- ! scope="row"| 2018–19 | Momoka Iwase (Fourth) || Mina Kobayashi (Skip) || Ruika Konno || Midori Sugasawa || Mao Hino |- ! scope="row"| 2019–20 | [[Momoha Tabata]] || [[Honoka Sasaki]] || [[Mikoto Nakajima]] || Mina Kobayashi || [[Natsuko Ishiyama]] |- ! scope="row"| 2020–21 | Momoha Tabata || Mina Kobayashi || Mikoto Nakajima || [[Miku Nihira]] || |- ! scope="row" rowspan=2| 2021–22 | Miku Nihira || Mina Kobayashi || Mikoto Nakajima || Honoka Sasaki || |- | [[Sayaka Yoshimura]] || [[Kaho Onodera]] || [[Anna Ohmiya]] || [[Yumie Funayama]] || Mina Kobayashi |- ! scope="row" rowspan=2| 2022–23 | rowspan=2| Sayaka Yoshimura || Kaho Onodera || Anna Ohmiya || Yumie Funayama || Mina Kobayashi |- | [[Yuna Kotani]] || Kaho Onodera || Anna Ohmiya || Mina Kobayashi |- ! scope="row"| 2023–24 | Yuna Kotani || Kaho Onodera || Anna Ohmiya || Mina Kobayashi || Sayaka Yoshimura |- ! scope="row"| 2024–25 | Sayaka Yoshimura || Kaho Onodera{{efn|name="Onodera–Kotani"|[[Kaho Onodera]] and [[Yuna Kotani]] switched positions halfway through the season.}} || Yuna Kotani{{efn|name="Onodera–Kotani"}} || Anna Ohmiya || Mina Kobayashi |- ! scope="row"| 2025–26 | Sayaka Yoshimura || Kaho Onodera || Yuna Kotani || Anna Ohmiya || Mina Kobayashi |}
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{World Curling}} * {{Olympics.com|mina-kobayashi}} * {{Olympedia}} * {{Team Japan athletes|minakobayashi}} * [https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/results/athlete-details/42579 Mina Kobayashi] at [[Milano Cortina 2026]] * {{Instagram}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Mina}} [[Category:2002 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Japanese female curlers]] [[Category:Olympic curlers for Japan]] [[Category:Curlers at the 2026 Winter Olympics]] [[Category:Curlers at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics]] [[Category:Medalists at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Kushiro]] [[Category:Curlers from Sapporo]] [[Category:21st-century Japanese sportswomen]]