A spectacular Rio Nakata of Japan soared to his second consecutive ISU Junior World title at the ISU Figure Skating Junior World Championships 2026 in Tallinn, Estonia, on Friday. The Junior Men delivered a high-level and exciting competition at the Tondiraba Ice Rink. 

Rio Nakata (JPN) continues record hunt

Rio Nakata of Japan defended his Junior World title in style, soaring to gold with new junior record scores. Korea’s Minkyu Seo repeated as silver medalist while Taiga Nishino clinched the bronze. 

Nakata was last to skate. One last handshake at the boards with his father and coach Makoto, one last glance between them and off he went. Nakata was determined to keep his title and he delivered a perfect, powerful performance. Taking the role of “Gladiator”, he nailed a quad Salchow and quad toe-triple toe as well as six more triples. That meant 178.96 points for the Free Skating and a total of 268.47 points, both personal bests for him and a new highest score for the Junior Men. Nakata could not have closed out his junior career in a better way. 

“When I landed my first quad I was relieved and I had confidence for my second quad,” Nakata said. “Then there were just triples left, they were easier than quads. I was just happy to skate clean.”

After two gold and one silver at Junior Worlds, the 17-year-old has set his eyes now on the senior level. “Next season in the senior circuit I’ll have difficult competition,” he noted. “I’m looking forward to competing with all these great skaters.” 

Seo missed his opening quad Salchow in his elegant routine to “Exogenesis Symphony” but recovered instantly to produce eight triples and difficult spins. The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final Champion scored 157.58 points and was third in the Free Skating but remained in second place at 243.91 points overall. 

Minkyu Seo took the silver medal on Friday in Tallinn © ISU

“Even though I made a mistake, I went on step by step, focusing on the elements,” the 2024 ISU Junior World Champion commented. “Something to improve is the quad as there was a mistake. The spins were good today. Even though it was a difficult situation after the mistake, I tried to do my best in the rest of the program. I am proud of being in second place.”

Seo has two silvers and one gold from the Junior World Championship and will move up to the senior level where he will continue his rivalry with Nakata. 

“Minkyu has been a very good rival from the beginning,” Nakata pointed out. “We competed in the Junior Grand Prix in Gdansk [in 2022], and he was third and I was fourth. It is hard to compete with Minkyu, he is such a good skater.”

Skating to “Moonlight Sonata”, “Symphony No. 5” and “For Elise” by Ludwig van Beethoven, Nishino turned in a strong performance that featured two quadruple jumps. The Japanese skater netted a new personal best of 160.09 points to move up one spot and claim the bronze on 241.23 points in his debut at the ISU Junior World Championships.

Minkyu Seo, Rio Nakata and Taiga Nishino pose in the Men's medal ceremony on Friday © ISU

“I was pretty nervous but I was able to skate a clean program and I fought until the end,” Nishino said. “I could improve the two quads as they were not as good as I can do them and the triple Axel got a q (slightly under-rotated).”

Sixteen-year-old Nishino will stay in juniors as he is not yet age-eligible for the senior level in the upcoming season.

Jacob Sanchez (USA) came fourth with a solid performance (229.10 points). Habin Choi (KOR) pulled up from ninth to fifth on 224.36 points while ISU Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist Lucius Kazanecki (USA) came sixth. 

Daiya Ebihara (JPN) dropped from third after the Short Program to ninth place. 

Where to Watch

All the events will be live-streamed on the Skating ISU YouTube channel.

What and when 

The schedule of the ISU World Junior Championships 2026 is as follows:

Wednesday, March 4: Junior Pairs & Junior Men’s Short Programs
Thursday, March 5: Junior Women’s Short Program & Junior Pairs Free Skating
Friday, March 6: Junior Rhythm Dance, Junior Men’s Free Skating
Saturday, March 7: Junior Free Dance, Junior Women’s Free Skating,

Full entry lists, results and further information are available on the ISU World Junior Championships event page and the official event website. Find more comments from the top three in the Press Conference Highlights on the ISU event website. Follow the discussion on social media using #WorldJuniorFigure and #FigureSkating. 

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