The 2026 Prague World Championships for Figure Skating have officially closed the 2025-2026 skating season, and brought forth many many highlights to close out the season, and a few careers. This article is to help answer questions, highlight some amazing performances, and review the championships as a whole.
Why Weren’t Some of the Skaters There?
If you’re not a full time figure skating fan, you may have been confused as to why individuals like Alysa Liu, the Olympic gold medalist in women’s singles, or Mikhail Shaidorov, the gold medalist in men’s singles, weren’t there. Silver winning ice dancers Madison Bates and Evan Chock also weren’t there, which confused fans who were hoping the couple would win gold at Worlds. Other skaters, like Russia’s Adeliia Petrosian and Petr Gumennik, both singles skates for their respective genders, also weren’t there. These absences are for two reasons. Number 1, typically those who win the gold medals have a lot of press and interviews and pressure on them and decide to withdraw from Worlds to give themselves more time to celebrate their wins, and open new opportunities, as well as give their competitors a time to shine. Number 2, is that some countries are banned from participating in international competitions if their country is violating certain rules and restrictions. This means Russia, for example, is banned from these competitions due to the ongoing genocide and war in Ukraine. Unfortunately, this means skaters like Petr Gumennik and Adeliia Petrosian cannot compete in most to all international competitions, resulting in their absence at Worlds.
The Quad-God’s Redemption, and a Goodbye to Sakamoto:
The World Championships was certainly a fight, with each skater giving their absolute best to try and obtain the gold medal spot. Ilia Malinin, self-titled Quad God and American Figure Skater, had a redemption in Prague, after his struggle during the free program portion of the Olympics. He skyrocketed to the top after his freeskate, and finished with a 23 point lead (329. 40) above his Japanese competitors, Yuma Kagiyama (306.67) and Shun Sato (288.54). His loss at the Olympics only made him more determined to win his third consecutive World Championship, and prove to the world that he is more than one bad performance. Another key skater was Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto, who announced her retirement after the 2025-2026 season, and many fans were praying for a fourth win for the skater. Her emotional short program to ‘Time to Stay Goodbye’ and her freeskate to a French medley scored her a first place win, and allowed her to be the one of the few women to have four world title wins, along with a 10 point lead over her fellow Japanese skater, Mone Chiba who got silver, followed by Belgium’s Nina Pinzarrone, who got bronze. She had a tearful gala skate to ‘A Million Dreams’ from the Greatest Showman and closed off her season on a fantastic note.
Upcoming: Skaters to Keep an Eye On
Figure skating is a sport where we constantly see young upstarts and standouts pave their way to the top all the time. Ami Nakai, for example, who placed 9th at Worlds, was one of the youngest women to podium at the Olympics at just 17, getting bronze during her debut senior season. Other skaters include Daniel Grassl, Donovan Carrillo (who didn’t know he’d be competing till weeks before), Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nikita Volodin (German Pair Skaters), and Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik (American Ice Dancers).
Figure skating is a difficult sport to follow and keep up with, but it is super fun when you can understand it and track the events. This season certainly had its ups and its downs, but, as always, it unified the competitors and brought together hundreds of people from different countries and allowed them to share a common love for their sport.
