Wakaba Higuchi is in third place following the short program at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday in Tallinn, Estonia. Higuchi received a score of 61.27 points and trails Russia's Evgenia Medvedeva (68.48) and Serafima Sakhanovich (63.09) heading into Friday's free skate.

The 14-year-old Tokyo native, who is Japan's reigning national junior champion, skated to "Beloved Czardas" by Vittorio Monti. Higuchi opened with a double axel, but was marked down for stepping out of her triple flip/triple toe loop combination jump. She went on to land a triple lutz and received level-fours for two of her spins and her step sequence.

Higuchi, who finished an impressive third at her first senior nationals in Nagano in December, was the bronze medalist at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, earlier the same month.

"I am glad that I have the same placement as in the Final and I will try my best to be in the top three in the free skating as well," Higuchi was quoted as saying by the ISU website.

Kaori Sakamoto, a 15-year-old from Kobe, is in fifth place with 58.72. Sakamoto finished second at the junior nationals behind Higuchi.

Yuka Nagai, a 16-year-old from Tokyo, is sixth on 56.93.

Kanako Murakami is Japan's most recent female world junior champion, having earned the honor in 2010.