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The story
The 18-year-old Mao Shimada (Kinoshita Group), four-time reigning World Junior champion, scored this season’s world-best 235.44 points to win the women’s free skate at Skate Canada — her very first Senior Grand Prix event. She won by a dominant margin of more than 14 points over second place, while Saki Miyake, who sat 4th after the short program, finished 4th overall with 210.09 points. On 5ch, many commenters drew parallels to Mao Asada and Rika Kihira — Japanese skaters whose careers were held back from the Olympics by age-eligibility rules — while others worried whether she can stay at her peak until the next Olympics, three years and three months away.
TBS, Monday, November 2, 2026, 06:52
■ Figure Skating — GP Series Round 2: Skate Canada (Kelowna, Canada; November 2 Japan time)
The women’s singles free skate was held at Skate Canada, where Mao Shimada (18, Kinoshita Group), the four-time reigning World Junior champion, won with this season’s world-best score of 235.44 points. She pulled off the stunning feat in her very first Senior Grand Prix appearance. Meanwhile, Saki Miyake (23, Sysmex), who placed 4th in the short program, finished 4th overall with 210.09 points.
Source: newsdig.tbs.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Hope this girl stays injury-free and makes it to the Olympics safely.
Never thought Kihira would actually end up missing the Olympics.
Kihira wasn't dominating though — she was 4th at Worlds.
Her coach is a real 'crusher' (slang for a coach notorious for pushing skaters into career-ending injuries).
Three years and three months until the next Olympics, huh. Staying at your peak that long is rough.
Mao Asada → Rika Kihira → Mao Shimada
Why do Japan's most promising skaters keep missing the Olympics because of the age limit, over and over?
She's great now, but it'll be a tragedy if Russia is dominating again in 4 years and she still can't take the gold.
'Tsukuzuku' (つくづく) is an adverb meaning to reflect on something deeply or feel it keenly — just a vocab note.
In figure skating, isn't it that Japan's young skaters benefit from maturing later — or rather, keeping a light, child-like build — compared to Western skaters?
If there are two amazing skaters, isn't that just reassuring? You'd think so, but this fandom has a lot of unhinged obsessives.
Actually, Shimada was overwhelmingly the better one even back in juniors. Nakai is more the type who suddenly broke out once she went senior.
Nah, I doubt that's an actual skating fan. Probably some old guy who became a Nakai fanboy because of the Olympics.
It costs a ton of money, doesn't pay well, and careers are short. Has to be in the top 3 worst sports to get into if you think it through practically — and abroad, people care even more about the money.
Isn't its popularity in Japan already fading too?
Skate Canada's level is insane if 210 points couldn't even get Miyake on the podium. Petrokina could've won if she'd been at the France event — France was the easy one.
GPS France
1 Nakai………219.74
2 Gubanova…202.82
3 Lalanaki…202.37
4 Aoki……200.62
5 Yuson…192.57
GPS Canada
1 Shimada………235.44
2 Petrokina…221.07
3 Levito……212.22
4 Miyake………210.09
5 Samode……206.89
Some of them are already married with kids now. Curious how far Russia can compete now that it's doping-free and rebuilding its talent pipeline from scratch.
Trusova came back just a year after giving birth and is already landing quads again, lol.
From the older generation, Tuktamysheva retired last year. Not quite as long-lived as Fumie Suguri, but still a long career. I guess when you've got unfinished business, you keep going longer — same with [soccer's] Kazu or [ski jumper] Kasai.
Apparently her mother was a fan of Mao Asada and named her after her.
https://static.chunichi.co.jp/image/article/size1/5/7/5/b/575bcc7b644e00a3b4bd4311a1d65146_1.jpg
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The Senior Grand Prix series in figure skating is an official circuit featuring skaters selected by their national federations, and the scores serve as a reference for World Championship and Olympic team selections. It’s easy to overlook that “this season’s world-best score” is only a provisional figure this early in the season, and other skaters may well surpass it later. In the thread, some worried about a recurring pattern — following Mao Asada and Rika Kihira — of Japanese skaters falling short of the Olympics, but the actual circumstances behind why each of them missed the Games differ, so it’s not necessarily fair to lump them into the same narrative. It’s also worth noting that comparisons to Shizuka Arakawa’s gold medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics are hard to make directly, since scoring rules have changed significantly between generations. That she achieved this ranking in her very first Senior GP appearance is itself a useful reference point for projecting her results at the upcoming GP Final and World Championships.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread “[Figure Skating Women’s Skate Canada] Mao Shimada Wins Senior GP Debut in Dominant Fashion, Marking This Season’s World-Best 235.44 Points — Over 14-Point Lead Over 2nd Place.”
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