Japan's Mao Shimada claims women's title at Skate Canada International

Now our final skater, this is Mao Shimada, who rang in her 18th birthday with the breakout skate in the short the other day. A four-time and reigning world champion, couldn't have asked for a much better start to her senior Grand Prix career. She hit her triple axel, had a four-point lead over Isabeau Levito heading into the free. Look at the smile, the confidence. She is so used to skating last. Winning her last 20 events as a junior, an unheard of stat, and yet she's challenging herself, triple axel, and as good if not better than the one in the short program. And she's been struggling with it this week in practice a little bit, but turn on the cameras. Okay, she's not done. She's got a planned quad to Very rare in the women's event. My goodness me. The camera didn't catch the foot, so I'm not quite sure how she hit the ice, but... She is smiling and upright, and she's got a green box. What is it that she can't do? This makes everything look so easy. Look at this speed. Let her go. A break in the choreography, catching her breath. This program would stand up very well to all of those skates. Years with her presentation in the last two or three years. Canada, her first competition as a senior. Welcome to the senior ranks. We've reserved your regular seat at the table. She joins, probably will join other Japanese women who have won their first Senior Grand Prix competition, likely will join the ranks of Ami Nakai, Rinka Watanabe and Rika Kihara. That's a pretty nice list. Her skating... Speaks for itself. Oh, it really does. But I want to hearken a little bit onto how much I think she's improved. Of course, adding a quad in the triple axel, that's incredible. That's amazing. That's a natural growth. But sometimes a skater coming out of their shell, finding the ability to perform, share her joy of skating, find it maybe, then share it. I'm amazed at the full breadth of her ability to be a performer as well as a tactician. I think Brenda's right. Podiums from now on, the number one spot is going to say Mao's Place. Yep. Look at that triple axel. So much performance on the landing of the landing of the hardest jump. And the quad. Look at the twist going in. And let's have a look at the landing. A little very short. A little bit short. Okay, but she's so over her foot that she comes down that short and she still looks like she landed a perfect jump. And that is raw confidence. She leaves the ice, she knows where she's going. She leaves the ice, she knows where she's going. Not necessarily the highest or biggest jumper, but her technique is consistent across all the jumps. This might sound strange. Some people have personality in their jumps. I feel like she matches hers. I get that completely. It's kind of a weird thing to say. Okay, what did they do with the quad? I'm curious to see how they marked it. Oh, the slow-mo. Oh, my gosh. We forgot to mention that she has won 20 straight international competitions. Oh, we mentioned it. That's crazy. Oh, yeah. Just crazy. That's incredible. 20 straight wins. And why not? Nathan Chen hasn't done that. Ilia Malinin hasn't done that. No. I don't know anyone else who's done that. And she's still only 18. Oh, dear. Sky's the limit. So this will be 21. The scores please. And they know it's okay. Gee, do you think she won? Problems. And you know what, her scores in both phases here are the highest this season, and they set the new standard for this new six jumping pass era. That's right. Wow. There was seven jumps. Now there's six. Now there's only six. So about 14 points there ahead of the silver medalist, Nina Petrakina. And what a skate by Mao. That was incredible. Also, Nina and Isabelle Levito, she ends up finishing on the podium in third place. As far as the Canadians are concerned, well, they had a little bit of a disappointing, I would say, Skate Canada International. Maddie, the top Canadian, followed by Fian Landry, and Sarah Maud Dupuis finishes in 11th place.