We're still in the afterglow of the Olympics, but one of the final major ISU events of the season just went down in Estonia. The 2026 World Junior Figure Skating Championships featured a record breaking short program from Rio Nakata, and an incredible 4th consecutive win from Mao Shimada.

While Japan took the top spots in the men's and women's event, the rest of those podiums were no less impressive. Korea's Minkyu Seo delivered two gorgeous programs, even though his total score lagged almost 25 points behind Nakata. Australia's new superstar Hana Bath gave stunner skates on her way to a Silver.

American ice dancers Hana Maria Aboian and Danniil Veselukhin edged out terrific French and Ukrainian teams for Gold. With huge charisma and sharp skills, this young US team could be dominant in Juniors for several years to come.

Canada took the top two spots in Pairs, with the win going to Ava Kemp and Yohnatan Elizarov. But the big surprise for us was the Bronze finish of terrific new Ukrainian team Hannah Herrera and Ivan Khobta.

(Also, how many Hana's and Hannah's were in this competition?!?)

After we wrap the Juniors, we catch up on other skating news — primarily who's in, or out, of the upcoming senior Worlds competition.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro 00:01:28 Junior Women's Competition 00:19:06 Junior Ice Dance Competition 00:25:09 Junior Men's Competition 00:37:47 Junior Pairs Competition 00:46:26 Gold in our Hearts 00:47:52 Other Skating News 00:58:36 Wrap-Up