US star Ilia Malinin and Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto seek redemption at the world championships in Prague, with Olympic champions absent from the season’s final event.
US star Ilia Malinin returns to the ice seeking the solace of a third straight world figure skating title after his shocking collapse at the Winter Olympics.
Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto also targets a fourth women’s gold starting Wednesday, with French ice dancers Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry the only Olympic champions competing.
Olympic men’s champion Mikhail Shaidorov and women’s gold medallist Alysa Liu are both skipping the final event of the season.
Kazakh Shaidorov pulled off one of the biggest shocks of the Winter Games as highly-fancied Malinin fell to his first defeat in over two years.
The 21-year-old, known as the “Quad God”, will be looking for redemption after tumbling to an eighth-place finish in Milan.
Malinin admitted his first Olympic experience was “so stressful, so much pressure”.
“But we have to get up and keep going no matter what. It’s not the last of me,” he said.
Yuma Kagiyama, a four-time world medallist, and Japanese teammate Shun Sato won silver and bronze at the Olympics and are in the mix for the podium.
France’s Adam Siao Him Fa is also a contender for the men’s title.
In Milan, Sakamoto was in tears as she took silver behind American Liu, who had also ended the Japanese star’s three-year reign as world champion last year.
The world championships will be the final event for the 25-year-old Sakamoto and she wants a golden farewell.
Sakamoto has unfinished business after the “frustration” of missing Olympic gold by just 1.89 points.
“I know I left something out there,” Sakamoto said.
A Japanese podium sweep is possible in the women’s event with world bronze medallist Chiba Mone finishing fourth in Milan.
However, US three-time national champion Amber Glenn could achieve her first world medal after surging to fifth at the Olympics.
Ice dancers Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron want to cap a hugely successful first season skating together.
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry upset reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA after a turbulent period.
Chock and Bates will not be competing at worlds.
“We’d really like to be world champions together,” said Cizeron, who won five world titles with previous partner Gabriella Papadakis.
The French skaters are recovering from illness after their success in Italy.
“I think the pressure just dropped suddenly,” said Fournier Beaudry, who was bedridden for six days.
“We can’t wait to relive those moments again in Prague,” added Cizeron.
In pairs, Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara will not compete after their stunning Olympic gold.
Silver medallists Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia and bronze medallists Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany are the favourites.
The four-day competition begins on Wednesday with the women’s and pairs short programmes.