Shimada Mao soars to world junior title
Japan's Junior Grand Prix Final winner defeated Republic of Korea's Shin Ji-a again to claim victory in Calgary with Nakai Ami taking bronze. Czech siblings Mrazkova/Mrazek lead after ice dance rhythm dance.
Figure Skating
Shimada Mao got the better of Shin Ji-a again to take the women's singles title at the 2023 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Calgary on Friday (3 March).
Having taken a lead of just 0.59 from the short program, the Japanese added the junior world title to her ISU Junior Grand Prix Final victory in December with her superior jumping firepower winning the day.
Shin, who was second to Shimada in Turin, did not put as much pressure on her rival as she would have liked having fallen during a step sequence late on.
And Shimada - named after Vancouver 2010 Olympic silver medallist Asada Mao - almost put the result beyond doubt with her first two jumping elements as she landed a triple Axel and a quad loop with a aplomb.
The rest of her routine to the Wild Swans suite was superbly executed technically and artistically as the 14-year-old posted a personal best free skate of 152.76, over 22 points clear of Shin, as she took gold with a new career-high total of 224.54.
Shin, one of three skaters from the Republic of Korea in the final group, does not have a triple Axel or quad jump in her repertoire. But she put together a clean skate to take second on the day and second overall.
Nakai Ami made it one and three for Japan after repeating her third place from the short program.
Following her surprise bronze at the European Championships, Switzerland's Kimmy Repond was only 10th after the short program.
She was much improved in the free skate, scoring 122.36 for a total of 180.32 which kept her in front until the final group on her return to junior competition.
Repond was overtaken by the first of the three Koreans in the final group, Kwon Min-sol, who jumped clean and skated joyfully to the 'Cats' soundtrack.
The 14-year-old was rewarded with personal best free skate and combined scores of 128.24 and 191.06 respectively.
On a night where several skaters struggled to cope with the nerves, An Xiangyi of the People's Republic of China recovered from stepping out of her opening triple Lutz to post a personal best of 120.03 which was enough to move her ahead of Repond into second.
Kim Yu-jae - fourth overnight - made clear she was going for gold from the start of her free skate with a solid triple Axel followed by a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination.
A three-jump combination and a triple Salchow may not have earned huge grade of execution scores, but those early elements helped her pass Kwon for the free skate lead with a big personal best of 129.65.
Her overall lead mark of 193.62 did not last long as Nakai Ami went top despite falling on her opening triple Axel.
The Japanese bounced back with a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, and the rest of her jumping - including a triple flip-Euler-triple Salchow combo - was secure enough as she scored 130.12 for a lead score of 197.40 to guarantee herself a medal.
Earlier, Czech brother-and-sister duo Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek took the ice dance rhythm dance.
The Nymburk natives were just shy of their career best score, posting 71.19 for a narrow lead going into Saturday's free dance.
Korea's Lim Hannah and Quan Ye were delighted with their mark of 71.08, almost seven points in excess of their previous best rhythm dance.
Britain's Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez (GBR) were third with 68.89.