[ICE TIME] Mao Shimada Remains a Skater Without Parallel on the Junior Circuit

It was a week of records for Mao Shimada at the World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. And she became the first three-time world junior titlist in history, established personal bests in the short program, free skate and for total score, and won the competition by more than 40 points on Saturday, March 1.

At 16 years old, Shimada completely dominated her fellow skaters, as she has for the past three years. The Tokyo native extended her streak of never losing an event she competed in as a junior.

Most impressive was how she chose to attack her free skate to "Mado Kara Mieru" even though she had a big lead and could have taken an easier path. Landing both her triple axel and quadruple toe loop on successive jumps highlighted her poise under pressure.

At this point, the biggest opponent Shimada will likely face in the near term is apathy. With victory after victory, one wonders how she gets herself up for the next battle. It can't be easy.

Returning to Juniors for One More Season

Shimada will be skating as a junior again next year due to the current ISU rule, which prevents skaters who have not turned 17 by July 1 from moving up to seniors. As has been previously documented, Shimada will also be ineligible to compete at the 2026 Olympics in Italy.

"More than winning for the third time, I'm very happy that I was able to bring out a performance I'm satisfied with," Shimada stated after her win. "I am happy with the title, but I am even happier that I was able to perform how I wanted to in both my short program and long program. Now I know I can perform like this under any circumstances."

Added Shimada, "The first time, I just came here [to the world juniors] to enjoy and have fun. The second time, I was really nervous because I wanted to win. On the third time, I wanted to enjoy it again and do the best I can do."

Nakai Misses Out on Podium Spot 

Ami Nakai's fourth-place finish in Hungary was a disappointment, coming two years after she claimed the bronze medal at the world juniors in Calgary, Canada, behind Shimada.

Nakai's move to attempt a second consecutive triple axel after falling on the first one in her free skate to songs from the "Cinderella" soundtrack was a bit of a head-scratcher, and caused her to miss the podium.

"While I'm still a junior, I want to gain as many experiences as possible," Nakai said. "That's why in this situation I chose to go for two axels."

Nakata's Composure Key to World Title-Winning Effort

Rio Nakata was impressive on his way to becoming the seventh Japanese man to capture the world junior crown. The 16-year-old retained his composure after stepping out on his opening quad toe loop in his free skate to selections from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack.

Nakata recovered to land a quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination and hit six more triples on the way to victory.

"At first, I thought it was going to go bad [when I had the step out]," Nakata noted. "After that, I wasn't sure if I could do the axel. But I decided to trust my training up until now, to not let it all go to waste."

When his free skate ended, Nakata collapsed to the ice face first.

"I was just relieved I finished my program," Nakata declared.

After winning the 2023-24 season Junior Grand Prix Final, Nakata was unhappy that he could not repeat as champion this campaign and had to settle for third place.

"I was disappointed at the Junior Grand Prix Final, but that made me strong and work harder in practice," Nakata commented.

ISU Figure Skating Awards Candidates Revealed

Japan had several skaters make the list of candidates for the ISU Figure Skating Awards 2025, which was announced on March 3. 

Shun Sato, Rion Sumiyoshi, Kazuki Tomono and Hana Yoshida were nominated in the Best Costume category.

Yuma Kagiyama, Kaori Sakamoto, Shimada and Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara were nominated in the Most Entertaining Program category. Kagiyama was chosen for his short program, Sakamoto for her free skate, Shimada for her free skate, and Miura/Kihara for their short program.

Mie Hamada (coach of Shimada), last year's winner in the Best Coach category, made the list of candidates again, as did Sonoko Nakano (Sakamoto's coach).

Notable by its absence this year was the category for Most Valuable Skater (won by Ilia Malinin in 2024). 

The Best Newcomer category (won by Yoshida in 2024) won't be open to voting this year as there will only be three skaters nominated and all are advanced to the finalist stage.

The ISU also announced that a new category will be revealed soon.

On March 30, the Lifetime Achievement Award will be announced during the world championships in Boston.

Though he is gone now, having died at 95 on January 30, the legendary two-time Olympic and five-time world champion Dick Button would be a fitting choice for the honor. He achieved his greatness in the city while a student at Harvard, and had more impact on the sport than any other person in his lifetime.

Russia Won't Disclose Names of Potential Olympic Skaters

The Russian Figure Skating Federation will not announce its list of skaters to compete in the Olympic qualifying competition until feedback is received from the ISU, the Russian news agency TASS reported on February 28. This news was translated into English and posted on the skating site fs-gossips.com.

In December 2024, the ISU said that one Russian skater or team would be allowed to compete in each category under neutral status at the 2026 Olympics. The Olympic qualifying event will be held in September 2025 in Beijing.

RELATED:

• Mao Shimada Dominates Competition on the Way to 3rd Consecutive World Junior Title
• [ICE TIME] Grand Prix Final Bonanza: Mao Shimada Leads Way as Japan Sets New Medal Mark
• Mao Shimada Makes History by Repeating as World Junior Champion
  

Author: Jack Gallagher

The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.