Mao Shimada

Mao Shimada (島田 麻央) is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2024 Youth Olympic champion, a two-time World Junior champion (2023, 2024), a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix Final champion (2022–23, 2023–24), a four-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist, a two-time Japanese national bronze medalist, and a three-time Japanese junior national champion (2021–2023). She is the twenty-first woman in history to have successfully landed a triple Axel jump, fifteenth woman to successfully land a quadruple jump and second Japanese women to land a quadruple toeloop in competition.

Personal life
Shimada was born on 30 October 2008 in Koganei, Tokyo, Japan. Her mother, Ayumi, was a fan of Japanese figure skater Mao Asada and named Shimada after her. She also has a younger sister named Aoi.

At the age of twelve, Shimada and her family moved from Tokyo to Kyoto in 2020 so that she could train at the Kinoshita Skating Academy.

Shimada enjoys dancing, bowling, and cooking.

As of March 2021, she graduated from Okubo Elementary School and currently attends Hirono Junior High School.

Early years
Shimada began skating at age five after watching Mao Asada at the 2014 Winter Olympics. She finished in fifth place at the 2018 Japan Novice B National Championships.

2019–20 season
Shimada won the 2019 Japan Novice B National Championships scoring 88.50.

2020–21 season
She won the 2020 Japan Novice A National Championships, attempting a triple Axel in the free program. She fell, and the jump was marked as downgraded.

Shimada was invited to compete at the junior event. She placed third behind teammate Hana Yoshida and Rino Matsuike but was too young to compete at the senior division.

She was invited to skate in the gala at the 2020 NHK Trophy as the reigning Japanese national novice champion.

In April 2020, Shimada switched coaches from Koji Okajima, who had been coaching her since January 2019, to Mie Hamada.

2021–22 season
Shimada started her season competing at the 2021 Kinki Regional Championships. She opened her program, landing a clean quad toe loop. She was selected for the 2021 Japan Novice National Championships and won the competition. She was then invited to compete in the junior division.

At 2021–22 Japan Junior National Championships, she skated a clean short program but still placed fourth. However, Shimada managed to land the quad toe once again and won the competition over Rion Sumiyoshi and Mone Chiba. She was still too young to compete in the senior event.

Shimada was sent to 2022 Egna Trophy to compete in the advanced novice category. She attempted a triple Axel during the free program, but the jump was landed on a quarter. Winning the gold medal, she outscored Canadian silver medalist Hetty Shi by 32.63 points.

2022–23 season: Junior World and JGP Final gold
In early September 2022, Shimada made her ISU Junior Grand Prix debut at the event in Ostrava, Czech Republic. She landed all her jumps cleanly in her short program and placed first with 71.49 points. During the free skate, Shimada successfully landed a triple Axel and became the twenty-first woman to land it in international competition. She then attempted a quadruple toe loop but underrotated the jump, resulting in a fall; the program was otherwise clean. Shimada won the event with a lead of 23.28 points over South Korea's Kwon Min-sol. At her second Junior Grand Prix assignment in Gdańsk, Poland, Shimada scored 68.81 in the short program after landing her jump combination on a quarter. She landed a clean triple Axel and a quadruple toe loop on a quarter in the free skate, winning the event and earning new season bests for the free skate and total score. These results qualified her for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final.

Following her Junior Grand Prix victories, Shimada successfully defended her title at the 2022–23 Japan Junior Championships. After winning the short program, she fell on her opening triple Axel attempt in the free skate but went on to land her quad and her remaining triple jumps to finish first there as well. Two weeks later at the Final in Turin, Shimada landed all her jumps successfully in the short program, albeit with her triple Lutz deemed landed on a quarter. With a score of 69.66 points, she finished first in the segment, 0.55 points of reigning World Junior silver medalist Shin Ji-a of South Korea. In the free skate, she stepped out of her triple Axel and underrotated her quad attempt, but was first in that segment as well, winning the gold medal with an overall margin of 5.22 points over Shin. Shimada claimed to "aim for the performance that satisfies myself and not the placement," adding that while it was "a big competition and a big victory and it gave me the confidence" that "my goal was to land the first two jump, both the triple Axel and the quad toe, so I regret a little that that didn’t happen this time." She was the first Japanese and first non-Russian women's champion at the event since Kanako Murakami in 2009.

Attending her first senior Japan Championships, Shimada was fourth in the short program with a 70.28 score, her first over the 70-point mark domestically. She said she was "glad I was able to put it together in a very tense situation." In the free skate, Shimada fell twice on her opening triple Axel and quad attempts, before landing seven clean triple jumps. She was fifth in the segment, but rose to third overall in a somewhat chaotic field, winning the bronze medal. Too young for international senior assignments, she was assigned to finishing her season at the 2023 World Junior Championships.

At the World Junior Championships in Calgary, Shimada finished first in the short program with a new personal best, 0.59 points ahead of Shin in second place. She described practices in the leadup as difficult, as thus was pleased with her performance on the day. Two days later in the free skate, Shimada landed both her triple axel and quadruple toe loop, although the latter jump was completed on the quarter. She then skated the rest of her program cleanly, receiving another personal best of 152.76, winning the event with the fifth highest score ever recorded by a junior woman. Her margin of victory of 22.64 over silver medalist Shin Ji-a was the same exact margin as her namesake Mao Asada over Yuna Kim of South Korea at the 2005 World Junior Championships. Shimada became the first Japanese woman to win Junior Worlds since Marin Honda in 2016, and alongside country mate and bronze medalist Ami Nakai, secured three spots for Japanese women the following year.

As the 2022 Japanese national junior champion, she was invited to skate in the gala at the 2023 World Championships.

2023–24 season: Youth Olympic champion
With previous choreographer Lori Nichol again handling Shimada's free program for the new season, she collaborated with Kaitlyn Weaver on a short program to Lady Gaga's "Americano". The program was inspired by the Mexican folktale "La Carambada," with Shimada portraying a female thief that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. Additionally, Canadian violinist, Judy Kang, who has previously worked and performed with Lady Gaga, helped arrange the music specifically for Shimada. Prior to the season starting, Shimada said that in addition to defending her titles from the previous year, her goals included winning the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.

Shimada began the Junior Grand Prix on home soil, with Osaka playing host to the 2023 JGP Japan. Shimada, the heavy favourite, set a new personal best score in the short program. She finished first in the free skate as well, despite falling on her downgraded quad attempt. She went on to win another gold medal at the 2023 JGP Armenia, posting a 33-point margin over American silver medalist Elyce Lin-Gracey, her only error again being a fall on her quad toe loop attempt. Shimada said she was "happy" with the result, "but a little bit sad" at the issues landing the quad.

Shimada entered the 2023–24 Japan Junior Championships as the heavy favourite for a record-equaling third consecutive gold medal. She unexpectedly placed fourth in the short program after failing to complete her jump combination, which she attributed to nervousness because of her desire to qualify to attend the Youth Olympics and the World Junior Championships. She rallied in the free skate, where she fell on her quad attempt but landed eight clean triple jumps, finishing twelve points ahead silver medalist Ikura Kushida. She joined Shizuka Arakawa and Miki Ando as the only women to win three consecutive national junior titles, saying "I wonder if I got closer to the two of them."

At the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final, Shimada came second in the short program, behind primary rival Shin Ji-a, after an error on the landing of her triple Lutz. She said she was "very upset" at the mistake, attributing it to nervousness from having previously made a mistake at the junior national championship. In the free skate, she successfully landed her quadruple toe loop for the first time, becoming only the second Japanese woman to do so, and also landed her triple Axel and all but one of her other planned jumps. She won the segment and rose to take the gold medal. She became the second woman to win the Junior Grand Prix Final twice, after Ando, and the first to do so consecutively. At the end of the month, Shimada attended the senior national championships. She successfully landed a triple Axel in the short program, but fell on her triple Lutz and thereby failed to execute a jump combination, coming seventh in the segment. In the free skate she landed seven triple jumps, fell on her quad attempt and singled a planned triple loop, finishing third in the segment and winning her second national bronze medal.

Competing in the women's event at the Youth Olympics in Gangwon, the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Shimada won the short program by almost four points over second-place Yo Takagi, and was nearly five points ahead of Shin, who was considered her primary challenger. In the free skate she fell on her quad toe loop and had several other jump rotation issues, but won that segment over Shin as well by 0.59 points, and captured the gold medal by 5.16 points. She was the first Japanese woman to win the Youth Olympic title, declaring this "was my goal all long and while I didn’t openly say it here, I was out to win a gold medal. It makes me so happy that I did it, and I'm glad to see my friend Yo on the podium with me."

Shimada concluded the season at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei, in another presumed contest with Shin for the gold medal. She finished second in the short program, 0.88 points back of Shin, after her triple flip received an incorrect edge call. She went on to win the free skate, landing her quadruple jump and six clean triple jumps, while stepping out of her triple Axel. Finishing first overall, Shimada said she was "very happy" to have won consecutive World Junior titles.

Programs

 * Program details mentioned at first occurrence

Competitive highlights

 * JGP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series

Detailed results
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

Junior level

 * Personal bests are highlighted in bold.
 * Small medals for the short program and free skating are only awarded at ISU Championships.