Mao Shimada lives up to expectations with win at Skate Canada in Grand Prix debut

Montreal – Teenage sensation Mao Shimada won the Skate Canada women’s title in her senior Grand Prix debut on Sunday, living up to sky-high expectations by comfortably topping the free skate.

The four-time Junior Grand Prix Final and World Junior Championships winner, who turned 18 on Friday, has still never lost an international competition.

She is already being spoken about as a favorite for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Already leading after Saturday’s short program, Shimada attempted and executed a difficult skate, opening with a triple axel which she landed perfectly.

Her subsequent quad toe loop was slightly under-rotated, but Shimada still scored 153.33 for a winning total of 235.44.

Estonia’s two-time European champion Niina Petrokina finished second, earning 143.83 with a well-executed free skate for 221.07 overall.

The United States’ Isabeau Levito, second after the short program, slipped to third, with a major error on a triple lutz.

But the 2024 world silver medalist’s 133.72 was good enough to fend off Saki Miyake for the final podium place.

Named after Japanese skating great Mao Asada, Shimada was only denied a place in Japan’s last Olympic team because she was too young to be eligible.

The 2030 Winter Olympics will be held in the French Alps.

Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won the ice dance competition at Kelowna, British Columbia.

Having already topped the rhythm dance, the 2025 world bronze medallists earned 119.80 in the free dance for an overall 201.17 score.

France’s Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud came second, with Americans Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finishing third.

On Saturday, Japan’s Rio Nakata settled for silver in the men’s event after faltering in the free skate. 

French veteran Kevin Aymoz won gold, overcoming miscues on his opening quadruple toe loop and triple axel to deliver a characteristically suave free skate performance that garnered 168.17 points for a winning total of 258.43.

Nakata, the two-time defending world junior champion, had led after the short program as he vied to capture gold in his senior Grand Prix debut.

But the 18-year-old from Japan was fourth in the free skate, doubling two of his three planned quadruple jumps, to drop to second overall on 249.25 points

Estonia’s Mihhail Selevko was third on 248.66 after topping the final free skate.