Post-Olympics Worlds are weird. Skaters who have been eyeing retirement have a hard time working themselves up for one last event after the emotional and physical toll of the Games. Injured skaters who pushed through for a chance at the big stage will often end their seasons early to get a head start on rehab and recovery. Some medal winners have their training schedules thrown off by media appearances and decide that they have what they really wanted out of the season and duck out. Medal hopefuls that missed can be hungry for revenge skates. You see a lot of Worlds medals in these seasons that you wouldn’t in others.
But the thing is, in non-Olympic years, Worlds IS the big deal and prize at the end of the season, and more importantly, you don’t secure spots for your country at next year’s Worlds by virtue of your Olympic results…it’s based on results at THIS year’s Worlds. So there are still very much real stakes at hand and it all starts on Wednesday!
This is another giant competition, so I’m going to do just brief snapshots of the field in each discipline, including mentioning if any notable names have elected to skip.
Men
Not here: Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan), Jun-Hwan Cha (South Korea), Matteo Rizzo (Italy), Jason Brown (USA)
Who to Watch
Ilia Malinin (USA)
I’ve gone on at length about Ilia over the course of this season and I’m not going to get too much into him here except to note that he is hungry for a win here to reaffirm his spot at the top of the men’s game after the way the Olympics went for him. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to earn a third straight title…unless his mental game has been thrown off very badly.
Yuma Kagiyama (Japan)
Again, I’ve written a ton about Yuma since this fall, so I’m not going to repeat myself (which would be boring for both you and me), but I am going to cross all of my fingers and hope that we finally get a clean free skate because it’s one of my favorite men’s programs this season!
Shun Sato (Japan)
Seems silly not to predict the Olympic bronze medalist for the top of the pack even though I remain baffled by what other people see in his skating.
Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
He’s been up and down all season and in my heart of hearts, I think the probability of a post-Olympics bombing out at Worlds is relatively high. But I’d like to see him get some redemption after that disaster free in Milan, and he’s certainly capable of being in the top echelon.
Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
Another skater who I don’t really respond to, this once-lauded junior who struggled hard after he went senior and hit his growth spurt has really had a HUGE turnaround this season, likely aided by very low expectations keeping the pressure down. He’s been very steady and if/when others falter he could be well-placed to climb up the ranks.
Women
Not here: Alysa Liu (USA), Loena Hendrickx (Belgium), Kimmy Repond (Switzerland)
Who to Watch
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)
This is for real her very last competition, and I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t want to see her with one last gold medal around her neck after coming so agonizingly close to the top step of the Olympic podium.
Amber Glenn (USA)
Maybe the most viable threat to a gold for Kaori if she’s clean because of her technical content and high PCS ceiling, a medal of any color would be her very first world medal. We likely only have one more season from her at best so it would be wonderful to see her be rewarded for her skills with a podium finish.
Ami Nakai (Japan)
She’s skated with joy and freedom all season, with Kaori and to a lesser extent Mone shouldering the high expectations for Japanese women’s skating and leaving Ami with more room to have fun. Will her Olympic medal finally start bringing those pressures to bear?
Mone Chiba (Japan)
She had two clean, solid skates she should be proud of in Milan but just barely missed the podium. After a season where we started to see her struggle with nerves, I’m sure another world medal would help her feel more secure.
Isabeau Levito (USA)
Alysa and Amber took up most of the oxygen at the Games for American women’s skating, but Isabeau is a strong-willed competitor in her own right and was the world silver medalist just two years ago (she was fourth last year). After a disappointing outing in Milan, another world medal puts her right back in the mix domestically.
Pairs
Not here: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (Japan), Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (Italy), Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea (USA), Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (Canada)
Who to Watch
Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov (USA)
Alisa’s lack of US citizenship denied them a place in Milan, but that doesn’t matter for Worlds and since they’re apparently continuing on in the hopes of the 2030 team, I have to imagine they’re gunning hard for the podium.
Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (Germany)
They haven’t been clean all season but were better in their last two outings (Europeans and the Olympics) so maybe they can grab the gold if they can finally put down two solid skates.
Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (Georgia)
They’re young and hungry to establish themselves as the world’s top pair, let’s all hold our collective breath that the ever-present threat of him dropping her in a lift remains unrealized.
Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (Hungary)
I have called them the boring Hungarians all season because their skating is so dull to me but with a depleted field they will gunning to make a big move and they’ve been very clean all season so they have a good shot!
Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud (Canada)
They left their best skates on the ice in the team event at the Games and I have to imagine they’re ready to redeem themselves and maybe even sneak onto the podium to snag a medal.
Ice Dance
Not here: Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA), Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (Italy)
Who to Watch
Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Guillaume Cizeron (France)
Their most significant competition is out with the withdrawal of Chock and Bates, and the skating community is largely hoping that they take the gold they will almost certainly earn here to match the one they got in Milan and retire.
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier (Canada)
I’d assumed they’d bow out after having such a Moment at the Games, but they clearly want to be ready to capitalize if the French make mistakes. They’re making noises about wanting to stick around next season as well, which would take a lot of their goodwill and flush it straight down the toilet.
Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud (France)
Everyone’s favorite weird Frenchies could very well push for the podium here with two of the top Olympic five out.
Emilia Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik (USA)
These two have hardly put a foot wrong this whole season and if they’re able to podium here, they set themselves up even more strongly as the US #1 (once Chock and Bates formally retire) and a top international contender to boot. They’ll need momentum going into next season because her inexperience will make the return of the pattern a challenge for them.
Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson (Great Britain)
They’re in an interesting spot where they’ve been a major player over the past four years but have had a hard time this season even though they’ve had good material. They stumbled in their twizzles in the free at Euros and even more badly at the Games, so another outing with errors starts to really set in a narrative about them…which, given that they too will likely have a rough go with the pattern next season, could presage their decline. A righting of the ship, though, will help them bolster their reputation and confidence.
It should be interesting to see how things shake out here! If Ilia stumbles again, the blood is really in the water and the men’s field is opening back up, but a decisive victory helps him set the tone for the next four years. Kaori remains the sentimental favorite to wrap up a legendary career with a final championship, but Amber and Ami’s technical content with their triple axels could edge her out if they all go clean. The top step on the pairs podium is anyone’s to claim with no former world champions competing, all of the top teams are too error-prone to feel confident about. And with two of the last quad’s top-scoring teams out, there’s rare room to push up in the dance field. Can’t wait to see what happens, and I’ll be back with your last skating recap of the season once it’s all over.
Thanks for reading,
G