World Junior Figure Skating Championships: Shimada Mao wins second consecutive title, landing quad toe en route
The reigning world champion was brilliant, surpassing short program leader Shin Jia, who finished with silver. Uezono Rena claimed the bronze.
Figure Skating
It came down to the final two.
Shimada Mao and Shin Jia produced a pair of spellbinding free skates as the last competitors Friday (1 March) evening at the ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships 2024 in Taipei City, with Shimada landing both a triple Axel and quadruple toe-loop to launch her to a second consecutive World Junior title.
That helped the 15-year-old Japanese skater to a total of 218.36, six points clear of the Korean Shin, the short program leader, at 212.43.
Japan’s Uezono Rena claimed bronze, up from eighth place in the short, with a 194.70.
It capped a glittering golden season for Shimada, who won gold at January’s Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 after sweeping the Junior Grand Prix Series and placing third at Japanese Nationals in December in the senior division.
She’s the first woman to secure back-to-back titles at World Juniors since Alexandra Trusova in 2018-19. She embraced legendary coach Hamada Mie as she came off the ice, then let the emotions flow as her 145.76 long program score flashed up.
Shimada had stepped out of her triple Axel at the start of the program, but then landed a brilliant quad toe and seven more triple jumps, including five in combination.
The 1-2 finish of Shimada and Shin mirrors 2023. Shin claimed her third consecutive world silver, matching Caroline Zhang (2007-09) for back-to-back-to-back medals at World Juniors.
"I had a fresh feeling going into the competition, but I was a little nervous as I [had] won last year," too, said Shimada, according to the ISU.
She added: "Before the competition I tried to make sure I make myself calm. Of course I’m happy for my second title, but I did make a mistake on the triple Axel which I haven’t made this season. But I was happy I was able to land quad toe after that."
In the pairs event, the Republic of Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava ran away with the title, winning the free skate to claim the gold by some 13 points with a 179.32 total.
Shimada Mao repeats as World Junior champion
Shin had used a personal best short program to lead over Shimada, albeit by less than a point going into the free.
But the reigning world champion and Junior Grand Prix Final winner didn't hesitate on Friday, settling her nerves after her step out on that opening triple Axel and attacking the quad toe to the delight of the Taipei crowd in attendance.
She was steady from there, landing those aforementioned seven triples and earning positive Grades of Executions (GOEs) throughout, as well as Level 4 (the highest) on two of her spins.
She finished with a 63.60 program component (artistry) score, just shy of Shin's 65.02.
Shimada had fallen on the quad toe in Gangwon, but made no such mistake at World Juniors.
Finland's Iida Karhunen finished fourth with a 186.32, while Kushida Ikura of Japan fell from third to fifth after struggling in the free, scoring a 180.97 overall.
Anastasia Brandenburg of Switzerland rounded out the top six, 177.36.