2026 Junior World Championships | Women's Free Skate

[sissy7]

Love me a blue podium
....Mayuko's dress is close enough....

 

[Sally1214]

Mao demonstrated again that champions just find a way to dig deep and overcome adversity to get the job done. Huge congrats to her and also to Hana (my personal favorite today) and Mayuko.

The women certainly finished the Jr. Worlds off in style with some tremendous skating. I still have to see the Free Dance (later today) but I am so glad to have been here to enjoy this exciting championship and spend so many enjoyable hours with all of you. Take care and "good-bye" until we meet again in Prague.

 

[sissy7]

Off to rewatch today's biathlon... see you all

 

[bigsisjiejie]

I just checked her Rink Results page.

https://www.rinkresults.com/skater?skater_id=31766

Undefeated in Juniors since her first competition at that level, at Nationals in 2020! And even then she was still on the podium!

CaroLiza_fan

That is a remarkable record that may never be surpassed. Besides athletic ability, Mao Shimada has amazing mental fortitude and I expect a relatively short time of transition into seniors before she starts getting on podiums there.

 

[labgoat]

What a lovely podium - Mayuko the artist, Hana with amazing technical skills and Mao the best overall and gutsiest skate.

 

[labgoat]

Just realized I got a perfect score in dance and I haven't watched that yet as it happened while I was working. I bombed ladies and pairs though...

 

[Alex Fedorov]

i hope they give her a better packaging next season but i fear they'll keep going in this direction, just like they did with Ami

Ami Nakai is better, Mao shows a decline in the technical level of her performances year after year, and is unlikely to improve after moving up to the senior level.

 

[brblja]

These results will have interesting implications for JGP slots next year:
- in the countries with a huge roster, only Japan got the full 2 spots for each event,
- just 6 spots for US ladies,
- both Australia and Israel might not actually have enough athletes to fill their entire 2x7 quota, so China and Korea might inherit some extra spots beyond their guaranteed 1x7.

 

[4everchan]

Is this Australia's first medal in ISU championships??? Right?

in women's. they have won in pairs before

 

[cocteautwin]

Off to rewatch today's biathlon... see you all

same here I still have yesterday to catch up but I'll take it slowly

 

[yume]

Lurked to see if Mao won a fourth gold and was surprised to see an Australian win the FP with that layout. Read her isu bio and understood Good for Australia.

 

[cocteautwin]

Shin Amano's legacy from the free skate:
4 wrong edge calls (e)
20 not clear edge calls (!)
2 downgraded jumps (<<)
20 under-rotated jumps (<)
26 jumps landed on the quarter (q)

 

[AsadaFanBoy]

I find skating so much more enjoyable with the Russians out. A lot more skating skills, less flailing.

Hana and Mao were so good.

Just my opinion. Nobody is forced to agree or like it.

 

[brblja]

Shin Amano's legacy from the free skate:
4 wrong edge calls (e)
20 not clear edge calls (!)
2 downgraded jumps (<<)
20 under-rotated jumps (<)
26 jumps landed on the quarter (q)

Honestly, that’s less than I expected.

 

[brblja]

And now that protocols are out, kudos to Sophia Shifrin for having the only (!) completely clean skate (no tech calls, no pops, all lvl 4, all positive GOE).

 

[ajingmarg]

Very solid skate, technically, still not much emotion but I can see a slight progress

Why do you need extra emotion for this program? Elegy. What dramatic expression do you expect?

 

[cocteautwin]

Why do you need extra emotion for this program? Elegy. What dramatic expression do you expect?

Not extra emotion, just some. I don't expect any specific kind of dramatic expression but I do appreciate when skaters make me feel what their program is about, showing their own emotional engagement to the theme. According to my understanding, the elegy theme offers a pretty wide spectrum of emotions to explore and it's not just a background music.
As for this specific skater, she's still a young junior so I get it takes time to improve and I think she skated well, but there's definitely a room to grow and I don't see anything wrong by acknowledging it.

 

[chz]

I know we joke(and what bangers come from this ) about Amano-san's calls, but a big part of me wishes more judges were as consistent in their calling, just as he is.... He is strict, but he is strict all around

is he really? debatable.

 

[Alfa]

I find skating so much more enjoyable with the Russians out. A lot more skating skills, less flailing.

Hana and Mao were so good.

Just my opinion. Nobody is forced to agree or like it.

So discriminatory

This competition had more difficult technical content than the women's event at the Olympics...

 

[TallyT]

HANA!!!!!

The first women's medal in a world championship in figure skating for Australia, and she took the free! I never ever expected this...