Early career Kagiyama began skating at the age of 5 at the
Kazakoshi Park Ice Arena in Karuizawa where his father was working as a coach.
Junior career 2018–2019 season: International junior debut Kagiyama's father and coach Masakazu suffered an
intracerebral hemorrhage, was hospitalized for most of the season, and could not work on coaching the technical aspects. He instead spent time working with choreographer Misao Sato to improve his expression during this period. Competing two days later in the
men's event short program, he skated cleanly with a new personal best score of 108.12, finishing second in the segment. He said, "I thought I was going to be nervous, but I was having fun from beginning to the end." Later the same month, he participated in the domestic Tokyo Regional championships. Despite falling on his quadruple Salchow attempt in the short program, Kagiyama placed first after the segment and then performed a clean free skate, winning the event by over 30 points and qualifying for the
2023–24 Japan Figure Skating Championships.
2024–2025 season: World bronze, Grand Prix Final silver, Asian Winter Games silver, and First national title Kagiyama began the season by competing at the
2024 CS Lombardia Trophy, finishing second to
Ilia Malinin. One week later, Kagiyama would compete at the
2024 Finlandia Trophy, where he would win the short program but only place fifth in the free skate following several uncharacteristic jump errors. However, he managed to hold onto the gold medal position due to the strong lead he had following the short program. “I really don’t want today’s mistakes to ever happen again,” he said. “After coming home, I will rest now, because I had two competitions in a row." At the Final, Kagiyama placed second in the short program, almost twelve points behind Ilia Malinin, after unexpectedly falling on an attempted quadruple Salchow. Kagiyama would ultimately win the free skate and finish second overall behind Malinin. His combined total score was 33.74 points higher than that of the silver medalist
Rio Nakata. Kagiyama was subsequently named to the World team. At the
2025 World Championships, he came in second in the short program, only three points behind Ilia Malinin, but succumbed to mental pressure in the free skate and dropped to tenth. In an interview following the event, he shared, "My biggest concern was the Olympic spots. We really wanted to get three spots and so relieved to achieve it. Because the first jump set the tone, I was rushing and made a mistake. After that, it was uphill battle. Because of team mates stellar effor and my short program, we were able to secure three spots and that was a big relief. I didn’t think that today’s perfomance was great, wondering if I deserve the podium, but I will accept. I’m so glad that I didn’t let the team down at the end. Today’s performance was humbling experience. I feel like I need to work on self confidence. Watching my
Shun’s experience as the first timer, it reminded me of my first time." Selected to compete at the
2025 World Team Trophy for Team Japan, Kagiyama finished fifth in the men's singles event and Team Japan won the silver medal overall. Kagiyama opened his season at the 2025 Kinoshita Summer Cup. It was the first time he had placed the
quad flip in his short program although the attempt was ultimately unsuccessful and ended in a fall. He also made a mistake on his intended quad toe-triple toe combination, stepping out of the quad and doubling the intended triple. Despite the mistakes he still won the short program although he had only a 1.22 point lead over
Sota Yamamoto in second place. Kagiyama took the gold at
2025 NHK Trophy, winning his fourth consecutive title at this event. He placed first in the short program, but second in the free skate after a fall on a quad toe. "I was able to really change my mindset, keep cool, and execute all the elements," said Kagiyama after the fall on the quad toe. “So that was a great takeaway from today’s experience." On 7 February, Kagiyama competed in the short program segment in the
2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event, winning the segment over American, Ilia Malinin. "Regarding the big elements such as quad jumps or the
triple Axel, I was extremely focused on them almost to the point of narrowing everything down to a single point," he said following his performance. "But aside from those, I think I was able to perform quite naturally." His placement ultimately helped Team Japan win the Olympic silver medal for a second consecutive time. "Honestly, short program scores don’t mean much," he said following his performance. "In my case, no matter how high or low they are, they’re not a reference at all for the free skate. So to begin with, I just tried to do everything I could at my best. I knew even before the results were announced how things would be judged, so I had made a solid plan for how to recover and step things up. Not everything went smoothly, but I’ve been able to stick to my own routine, so I feel that I really skated with 100% effort today." During the free skate, two days later, Kagiyama struggled throughout his program, including a falling on a planned quad flip and having several shaky landings. Despite placing sixth in the free skate segment, his short program score allowed him to stay ahead of four of the skaters that beat him in the segment. Kagiyama ultimately won the silver medal overall behind surprise winner,
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan. In doing so, Kagiyama became the most decorated Japanese figure skater at an Olympic Winter Games. In an interview following the event, he said, "The fact that I was able to challenge myself, and that I was able to take on that challenge here on this stage, is a very big achievement and carries very big meaning for me. Although today was very frustrating, if I look at it from the bigger picture, on this Olympic stage there were a lot of experiences and important lessons. So overall, I think I can say I did my best... I was focused on what kind of performance I wanted to give, so I'm very frustrated that I wasn't able to fully achieve that goal. But today, Shaidorov really delivered a wonderful performance and earned the gold medal, so I sincerely want to congratulate them from the bottom of my heart." Reflecting on his free program mistakes, he said, "When the mistakes happened in the first half, in a normal competition my mood probably would've really dropped. But today, on this Olmypic stage, I was skating with a strong determination to absolutely skate through to the end without giving up. So I was able to somehow push through the second half. My father also told me that even if I had fallen on everything, as long as I gave it my all to the end, that would be enough. So although I'm frustrated, I think I managed to endure well and gave it my all." He also expressed joy about sharing the podium with longtime friend and teammate,
Shun Sato, who won the bronze medal. "I was very happy," he shared. "At first, he didn't even realize he'd won a medal. Even when I said 'You won a medal', he reacted like, 'Huh?'. But I think it's a medal Shun earned with his own strength, so I'm genuinely happy for him. From now on, we'll continue to compete in the same events together. There's also the World Championship coming up. I want to win against him. I kept losing in the free skate, so I want to gain more strength and do my best." Kagiyama's father,
Masakazu, also spoke out, feeling responsible for his son's struggles with consistency throughout the season. "I did a terrible thing," he reflected before detailing how following Kagiyama placed third at the
2025 World Championships, finishing over forty points behind gold medalist "Quad God," Ilia Malinin, he pushed his son to master the quad flip and the
quad Lutz to the point Kagiyama's signature quad Salchow began losing its previous consistency. Additionally, he found there to be a decline in Kagiyama's expression and skating skills because of this approach. "We took away his most important, his best part," Masakazu remarked, feeling that way throughout the season's progression. Kagiyama completed his season at the
2026 World Figure Skating Championships. He placed 6th in the short program after failing his triple Axel attempt due to skating into a divot in the ice. In the free skate, he staged a massive comeback with his first clean program to Turandot all season, setting personal best marks in the free skate for PCS (96.57) and total segment score (212.87). Kagiyama finished in second place overall at the event, 22.73 points behind Ilia Malinin. “I came into these World Championships not really thinking too much about the scores and rankings,” said Kagiyama. “I wanted to put the disappointment from the Olympic behind, so I’m very, very happy that I was able to skate for myself. It’s more mental what I will be taking away from these World Championships.” On 13 April 2026, Kagiyama announced via Instagram that he would not compete in the upcoming 2026–27 season. "I’ve decided to take a break from competing. I want to use this time to rediscover what makes figure skating so special, take on new challenges, and reflect on myself as I look toward the future," he said. == Skating technique and style ==