Mao Shimada

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.[3]

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

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.[3]

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.

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.[5] 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.[6] Shimada won the event with a lead of 23.28 points over South Korea's Kwon Min-sol.[7] 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.[8][9]

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.[10] 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.[11] 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."[12] She was the first Japanese and first non-Russian women's champion at the event since Kanako Murakami in 2009.[13][14]

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."[15] 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.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18][19] 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.[20]

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

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". Shimada said that in addition to defending her titles from the previous year, her goals included winning the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics.[21]

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.[22] 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.[23]