In brief
Mao Shimada scored a personal‑best 82.11 in the women's short program, while Rio Nakata finished second in the men's event with a 249.25 total, after a strong short but a misfortuned free skate. Shimada, 18, landed a triple‑axel and a quadruple toe loop in competition, whereas Nakata admitted frustration over errors that cost him the gold.
Japanese skater Mao Shimada topped the Swell at Skate Canada International in Kelowna on Oct. 31, 2026, with a personal‑best short‑program score of 82.11, putting her first ahead of U.S. skater Isabeau Levito and Estonian Niina Petrokina. Shimada, who turned 18 on Thursday, opened with a triple axel and landed a triple lutz‑triple toe‑loop combination before completing flawless spins. She added an under‑rotated triple flip and still said she was "really surprised" by the score, noting there was room to improve after the under‑rotation.
Men’s two‑time junior world champion Rio Nakata finished second overall, with a total of 249.25 to French skater Kevin Aymoz’s 258.43, who won the event. Nakata led the short program but dropped to fourth in the free skate, after turning his second and third quad toe loops into doubles and scoring 156.61. In the free skate he added a quad salchow but could not recover from the mistakes.
Nakata said: "I’m frustrated and I feel I’m weak…I want to push myself more." He admitted that finishing second was unsatisfactory, as he had only been aiming for gold. The other men’s podium finishers included Estonian Mihhail Selevko with 248.66 and Japan’s Kazuki Tomono in sixth place.
