She did it again: the one and only Mao Shimada of Japan won her fourth consecutive World Junior title as the ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships 2026 wrapped up Saturday with a fascinating Women’s Free Skating in Tallinn. The Junior Women stepped it up, delivering excellent performances at a very high level.

Shimada skates off with gold as Bath makes history for Australia

Junior queen Mao Shimada of Japan continued her reign and won a record fourth consecutive title. She remains unbeaten in her junior career, which she started in fall 2022 at the ISU Junior Grand Prix series. Australia’s Hana Bath claimed a historic silver medal for her country in the Junior Women’s. The bronze went to Mayuko Oka of Japan in her Junior World debut.

It was Shimada’s final appearance at the Junior World Championships as the 17-year-old plans on moving up to the senior level next season – and she closed this chapter in style. Shimada opened her beautiful performance to “Miracle” with a superb triple Axel and completed six more clean triples as well as two level-four spins. The Japanese Junior Champion scored 137.01 points and ranked second in the Free Skating but secured gold overall with 208.91 points. 

“My goal today was to just finish, not being nervous or anything, just to finish, and I was exhausted,” Shimada said. “However I was able to finish my performance and I think the fact that I never gave up led to this result of four consecutive wins.”

The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion revealed that she has been unwell and considered withdrawing. 

“I was bedridden yesterday. I thought, ‘OK, there’s nothing I can do but to withdraw.’ However, when I woke up this morning, I was feeling a little bit better.” 

Although she was unsure whether she was able to compete until the warm-up, she decided to go out and just do it. “My coach said, ‘I’ll help you when you collapse.’ So that kind of changed my gear and thought, ‘OK, I’ve got to do this.’”

Record-breaker: Mao Shimada (JPN) won her fourth consecutive Junior Worlds gold medal on Saturday in Tallinn, Estonia © ISU

Standing in third place following the Short Program, Bath attacked her Free Skating to “Fountain of Eternity” and “Lullaby for Sadness”, hitting a triple Axel-triple toe right out of the gate. She wobbled on the landing of the solo triple Axel but went on to reel off five more triple jumps. 

Bath won the Free Skating segment with a personal best score of 138.44 points and moved up one spot to second with 205.39 points. Her silver is the first medal for Australia in Single Skating at the ISU World Junior Championships. Australia had previously won medals only in Pair Skating. 

“I’m really proud to represent Australia and I’m really happy that I could win this for our country,” Bath said. “I could skate my best today. I wanted to really enjoy this Junior World Championships and I’ve been able to do that last year as well as this year. 

“I feel like I want to work harder from now on and work on lots more things, and I hope that from now on we can have more skaters in Australia and reach a high level and get better as a country.”

Australia's Hana Bath, who took silver at the 2026 ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia © ISU

Oka produced a strong performance to songs by Caroline Shaw, telling the story of a bird learning to fly. The Japanese Junior bronze medalist landed six clean triple jumps. She missed only her triple Axel. The 16-year-old was fourth in the Free Skating with 127.40 points and slipped from second to third with 197.17 points.

“I had some mistakes on my jumps but I was able to enjoy my performance until the end, and I was able to keep myself calm and focused,” Oka said. 

“This was my first Junior Worlds, so my goal was to give it my all and really constantly challenging myself to improve. And I realized that focusing on my own performance was the most important.”

Mayuko Oka (JPN) claimed bronze in her Junior Worlds debut in Tallinn, Estonia © ISU

While Shimada will move up to the senior level, Bath and Oka will stay as juniors next season. 

Sofia Shifrin (ISR) turned in an excellent program to “Schindler’s List” to come third in the Free Skating and fourth overall with 193.80 points. Yihan Wang (CHN) placed fifth, followed by Inga Gurgenidze (GEO) in sixth. 

Where to Watch

All the events were live-streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube channel.

What and when 

Full entry lists, results and further information are available on the ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships event page and the official event website. Find more comments from the top three in the Press Conference Highlights on the ISU event website. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldJuniorFigure and #FigureSkating. 

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