Japan Figure Skating Championships 2024: Junior queen Shimada Mao out to show age is just a number

Eyeing a chance to become the youngest winner in 21 years, the three-time Junior Grand Prix Final champion and two-time World Junior gold medallist is ready to take on Japan's best at this week's nationals in Osaka.

4 minBy Shintaro Kano
Japanese figure skater Shimada Mao
(International Skating Union (ISU))

Untouchable junior Shimada Mao hopes third time will be the charm at Japanese figure skating’s flagship event.

Shimada, who turned 16 in October, placed third at the Japan Figure Skating Championships the last two years but will be eyeing the best view from the podium this weekend in Osaka.

Should Shimada prevail, she will become the first junior women’s singles winner of the nationals since former world champion Ando Miki in 2003.

“It’ll be my third time at the nationals,” Shimada told reporters earlier this month after touching down in Tokyo from Grenoble, France, where she stormed to a third straight title at the Junior Grand Prix Final.

“Before, I was really nervous and couldn’t bring out the best version of myself. But I’m not holding back this time. I plan on being really aggressive.

“I’m not going to worry about the result and just focus on giving it everything I have.”

Shimada Mao: 'I'm the challenger'

Shimada has never lost on foreign soil. Her victory at the Junior GP Final was her 13th international triumph in as many competitions.

The pint-sized prodigy at 1.50m has towered over her age group, having also won the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic gold medal, two world juniors and four successive junior national championships.

The only thing that has prevented Shimada from making the full-time leap to the seniors (she has been a seed at the senior nationals) is her age. Because she will not have turned 17 by July of the 2025-26 season, she is ineligible for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Against some of the world's top seniors, the Japanese nationals provide a glimpse of what we can expect from Shimada at the French Alps 2030 Winter Games, where she would make her Olympic debut at 21.

This year’s nationals is as competitive as a meet can get for the women, with all five Grand Prix Finalists entered including the three-time defending Japanese and world champion Sakamoto Kaori.

That is on top of the likes of the triple Axel-wielding, Beijing 2022 Olympian Kawabe Mana; this season’s Grand Prix medallists Watanabe Rinka and Aoki Yuna; as well as Mihara Mai, who is only two seasons removed from winning the GP Final.

Fellow juniors Wada Kaoruko and Nakai Ami, who joined Shimada on the podium in Grenoble, have also thrown their hat into the ring at the Ractab Dome in Osaka.

Following in the footsteps of skating’s original Mao - there-time World champion and Olympic medallist Asada - Shimada could not have asked for a better test at this stage of her promising career. Despite the competition, she remains confident after becoming the first skater in history to win three consecutive Junior GP Finals.

In the free skate, Shimada botched her signature triple Axel and quad toeloop yet still came out ahead in the end. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins but the teenager understands not every day is Christmas Day.

“The first time I was surprised,” Shimada recalled of her three Junior GP Final victories. “The second time I was super happy. There are mixed feelings the third time.

“I made a lot of mistakes in the free. But I still won. So that’s given me some confidence.

“I’m the challenger this time so that’s what I’ll do from the very beginning of the shorts - challenge.”

Shimada Mao with coach Hamada Mie at the Junior Grand Prix Final, which she won for the third straight season.

(International Skating Union/ISU)
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