2014 World Championships Preview
It's official! The 2014 Figure Skating World Championships have begun, and if previous competitions held in Japan show us anything, is that they're hosted by one of the greatest, if not the best audience in the world.
As it usually happens in an Olympic season, most of the Olympic champions have decided to skip the Worlds, understandably so - after winning the most supreme of medals, they are entitled to a well deserved holiday. The only victor who will compete is Yuzuru Hanyu, probably because the Championships are held in his native country.
The other notable absentees are either Olympic medalists (the same right to a holiday applies) or skaters for whom the Olympic Games were the final chapter in their skating careers.
Patrick Chan and Brian Joubert are missing from the Men competition, with the Frenchman clearly retiring and the Canadian unsure about his future in figure skating. Another favourite of the audience who won't be attending is Florent Amodio due to lack of form. Denis Ten is also absent and Daisuke Takahashi joins the ranks of retired skaters.
With Chan out of the battle, the clear winner is Yuzuru Hanyu. The rest of the medals will most likely go to Javier Fernandez and Maxim Kovtun (if he can pull himself together), but Michal Brezina and Kevin Reynolds have a shot at the podium as well.
In the Pairs section, Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov are skipping the Worlds, but they have said they're not ready to retire yet. Who did retire are China's number one pair, Qing Pang/Tong Jian.
Under these circumstances, Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy, who had previously stated they were going to retire after the Olympics no matter what, changed their minds and seized the opportunity for another World gold medal, which they're most likely going to get. Right behind them are Ksenia Stolbova/Fedor Klimov, Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford and Vera Bazarova/Yuri Larionov, all within grasp of the podium.
The only important absentee in the Ladies event is Adelina Sotnikova. With or without her, the battle for the gold medal remains as difficult as ever this season, with no less than four skaters reaching for it: Carolina Kostner, Mao Asada, Julia Lipnitskaya and Ashley Wagner. Yuna Kim has officially retired after Sochi.
Everyone's favourites in dance, Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and Meryl Davis/Charlie White, are not competing in Saitama, but are no longer as sure of retirement as they were before Sochi. We'll just have to wait and see which way the wind blows.
Without these four, there are two obvious options for the World title: Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat or Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev. However, after Sochi, Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov seem very, very likely to defeat both couples. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje and Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte should not be easily cast aside either. Whoever wins, we are going to have new World champions this year, which is extremely exciting.
Here is the schedule of the competition:
Wednesday, 26th March
Pairs Short Programme
Men Short Programme
Thursday, 27th March
Ladies Short Programme
Pairs Free Skate
Friday, 28th March
Dance Short Dance
Men Free Skate
Saturday, 29th March
Dance Free Skate
Ladies Free Skate
Sunday, 30th March
Exhibition Gala
As it usually happens in an Olympic season, most of the Olympic champions have decided to skip the Worlds, understandably so - after winning the most supreme of medals, they are entitled to a well deserved holiday. The only victor who will compete is Yuzuru Hanyu, probably because the Championships are held in his native country.The other notable absentees are either Olympic medalists (the same right to a holiday applies) or skaters for whom the Olympic Games were the final chapter in their skating careers.
Patrick Chan and Brian Joubert are missing from the Men competition, with the Frenchman clearly retiring and the Canadian unsure about his future in figure skating. Another favourite of the audience who won't be attending is Florent Amodio due to lack of form. Denis Ten is also absent and Daisuke Takahashi joins the ranks of retired skaters.
With Chan out of the battle, the clear winner is Yuzuru Hanyu. The rest of the medals will most likely go to Javier Fernandez and Maxim Kovtun (if he can pull himself together), but Michal Brezina and Kevin Reynolds have a shot at the podium as well.
In the Pairs section, Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov are skipping the Worlds, but they have said they're not ready to retire yet. Who did retire are China's number one pair, Qing Pang/Tong Jian.
 |
| Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat in Sochi |
The only important absentee in the Ladies event is Adelina Sotnikova. With or without her, the battle for the gold medal remains as difficult as ever this season, with no less than four skaters reaching for it: Carolina Kostner, Mao Asada, Julia Lipnitskaya and Ashley Wagner. Yuna Kim has officially retired after Sochi.
Everyone's favourites in dance, Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir and Meryl Davis/Charlie White, are not competing in Saitama, but are no longer as sure of retirement as they were before Sochi. We'll just have to wait and see which way the wind blows.
Without these four, there are two obvious options for the World title: Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat or Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev. However, after Sochi, Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov seem very, very likely to defeat both couples. Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje and Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte should not be easily cast aside either. Whoever wins, we are going to have new World champions this year, which is extremely exciting.
Here is the schedule of the competition:
Wednesday, 26th March
Pairs Short Programme
Men Short Programme
 |
| Saitama, Japan |
Thursday, 27th March
Ladies Short Programme
Pairs Free Skate
Friday, 28th March
Dance Short Dance
Men Free Skate
Saturday, 29th March
Dance Free Skate
Ladies Free Skate
Sunday, 30th March
Exhibition Gala
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