Mao Shimada Moves Out to Big Lead at World Junior Championships in Quest for Three-Peat

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Two-time world junior champion Mao Shimada is halfway to her third consecutive title in the prestigious competition after a stunning performance in the short program at the World Junior Championships on Thursday, February 27, in Debrecen, Hungary.

Shimada, 16, who is trying to become the first woman ever to win three straight world junior crowns, has a commanding lead of more than seven points going into Saturday's free skate. The skating phenom has never lost a competition she has entered as a junior.

Shimada is in first place with a personal-best score of 74.68 points. Georgia's Inga Gurgenidze is second at 67.47, while Ami Nakai stands in third on 66.84.

American Elyce Lin-Gracey is in fourth with 66.11, while Kaoruko Wada is fifth at 64.35. Three-time world junior silver medalist Jia Shin is in seventh on 63.57 after falling on her combination jump.

Shimada Showcases Exceptional Skills at the World Junior Championships

Shimada skated to "Defying Gravity" and opened with a nice double axel, followed by a strong triple flip, and went on to land a triple lutz/triple toe loop combination. The skating superstar received level fours on all of her spins and step sequence.

Her final spin was a spellbinding combination of speed and precision.

"In today's performance, I think everything went well," Shimada was quoted as saying. "Even though I was the most nervous I've been this season, I was able to enjoy my skate until the very end, without forgetting to smile.

"Rather than the results, since this is the final competition this season, I felt really strongly about wanting to end on a good performance. I couldn't stop thinking about that and I think that led me to feel very nervous."

Added Shimada, "I couldn't quite get 74 as a [short program] score before, so I'm really happy to have achieved that. This short program is one of my favorites. It was my favorite, ever since the first time I saw the choreography. Since it was a program based on a story I already knew, I'm truly happy to have been able to end it in a good way."

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RELATED: 

• Rio Nakata in 2nd After Short Program at World Junior Championships
• 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.