The figure skating season reaches its climax this week as the best skaters from across the globe converge on Boston for the World Figure Skating Championships.
The championships will have an added poignancy, coming less than two months after the fatal crash of an American Airlines flight that killed 28 athletes, parents and coaches from the U.S. figure skating community, including several from the Skating Club of Boston. A tribute to the victims is planned on the opening day of competition.
At last year's World Championships in Montreal, Team Japan came away with one gold and two silver medals and the nation’s top skaters will be hoping to at least equal that haul this time round.
At last year’s World Championships in Montreal, Team Japan came away with one gold and two silver medals and the nation’s top skaters will be hoping to at least equal that haul this time around. However, these worlds carry an even greater significance than usual, as approximately 80% of the quota spots available in each of the four disciplines for the 2026 Winter Olympics — men's and women’s singles, pairs and ice dance — will be decided over the course of four days of competition.
With a deep domestic field, the Japanese skaters in Boston will together be aiming to secure a maximum three spots in both the men's and women's events to provide themselves with the greatest opportunity for selection to the Olympic team next year. The number of spots allocated to each country is decided by the combined ranking of the skaters.
Pre-Olympic world championships always manage to surprise with unexpected performances from those who rise to the occasion and others who falter under the pressure.
Here are some of the skaters to watch this week.
Kaori Sakamoto, Japan
Last year the five-time Japanese champion became the first woman to win three consecutive world titles in 56 years and the first Japanese skater ever to accomplish that feat. In fact, she was undefeated for the entirety of the 2023-2024 season.
In contrast, Sakamoto has struggled this season relative to her own high standards, with only two wins from five internationals, albeit while still making the podium in the other four events.
Even though she is an accomplished skater, she has not rested on her laurels. This season she has been trying out new combination jumps, which may account for the dip in her consistency.
Sakamoto has more often than not delivered the goods when it really counts. Her victory at last November's NHK Trophy also saw her amass the highest points total this season of all the women she will face in Boston. If she were to win a fourth world title in a row, she would be the first woman to do so since American Carol Heiss in 1960.
Amber Glenn, U.S.
This season has been a breakthrough one for the double United States national champion and she is the only contender for the women's title to remain undefeated in 2024-2025. This includes two victories over Sakamoto. Last November, the 25-year-old became the oldest American woman to win a Grand Prix at the Grand Prix de France. In December, she became the first American woman to mine gold at the Grand Prix Final since 2010.
Glenn came out as pansexual in December 2019 and has openly talked about her struggles coping with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
She now incorporates neurotherapy into her training regimen and credits that as improving her previously wayward consistency. Her key weapon is the triple axel, which will give her a big edge in points over her rivals if she lands it. The only question that remains is how she will cope with the pressure and expectation of performing at home. She will want to do well to solidify her position as the No. 1 American going into the Olympic season.
Ilia Malinin, U.S.
Known as the “Quad God,” Malinin is the defending champion in the men's event and the red hot favorite to win again in Boston. The American won all four of his international assignments in the first half of this season and took his third U.S. title in a row in January. He has increased his technical difficulty this season with the inclusion of a quadruple loop in his free program and he will be the only skater at the worlds attempting to land all six varieties of quadruple jumps. He will also perform a back flip following the removal of the long-standing ban on the move by the International Skating Union, as well as his own trademark choreographic move the "Raspberry Twist" (Malinin means "raspberry" in Russian).
Despite his seeming invincibility, there have been some glimmers of vulnerability that may give his competitors some hope.
Malinin finished second in the free program at two competitions this season. And at December's Grand Prix Final, every quadruple jump in his free was deemed to be short on rotation by the technical panel.
He will be hoping to avoid a repetition of that in Boston.
Yuma Kagiyama, Japan
Formerly in the shadow of such decorated Japanese skaters as Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, Kagiyama has become the undisputed leader of men's figure skating in Japan this season after collecting his first national title.
In their two head-to-heads at Lombardia Trophy in September and the Grand Prix Final in December, Kagiyama came up short against Malinin. He intended to add a quadruple lutz to his repertoire but decided to exclude the element for worlds after determining it wasn’t ready. With only three different types of quadruple jumps in his arsenal, matching the American technically will be a challenge. On paper, he has his work cut out for him and seems destined to pick up a fourth world championship silver medal.
A quintessential skater's skater, Kagiyama is admired for his mastery of the blade by figure skating experts and many of his fellow competitors, including Malinin. An area where he does have an advantage on the American is in the program components score. When the reigning world champion faltered in the Grand Prix Final free, Kagiyama placed first in the segment despite not skating perfectly, either, so there may be a slim path to gold for the 21-year-old.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, Japan
The Japanese pair champions come into this year's worlds aiming to mount the medal rostrum at the event for the fourth time since 2022. At last year's championships in Montreal, they came in as the title holders but were unable to retain gold.
This season began in rocky fashion when the pair botched a lift at Lombardia Trophy and only managed to finish second to Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii. They won at Skate America, but unexpectedly lost at NHK Trophy to Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava. At the Grand Prix Final, they could not keep pace with Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin from Germany and had to settle for silver.
At last month's Four Continents Championships, the pair overcame 2024 world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps from Canada, suggesting their form coming into Boston is on an upward trajectory.
The fight for the medals in Boston between the top five pairs will be intense.
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