Three-peats for Uno Shoma and Sakamoto Kaori? What to watch for in figure skating in 2024 

It's been 56 years since two skaters won parallel back-to-back-to-back world titles.

Can Uno Shoma and Sakamoto Kaori break that streak in 2024?

The Japanese singles stars will try to do just that at the coming 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, with both having claimed gold in 2022 and 2023..

It was Emmerich Danzer and Peggy Fleming who won in 1966, 1967 and 1968.

Figure skating will end one season and begin another in the coming calendar year - but it's a pivotal one, with Montreal marking the halfway point to the coming Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Uno and Sakamoto are two of the most intriguing stories to watch, but not the only ones. From their respective three-peat quests to Ilia Malinin's history-making quadruple Axel, an it's-there-for-the-taking pairs race and a host of veteran teams in ice dance... 2024 will be a year of intrigue in the sport.

And the ever-looming question in skating: Will any Olympic medallists be making a comeback with the next Games only two seasons away?

We explore that and much more below.

Figure skating: Top stories to follow in 2024

Uno Shoma, Sakamoto Kaori go after three-peats

Both Uno and Sakamoto triumphed brilliantly in front of home fans at the World Championships s in 2023, claiming the men's and women's singles titles respectively at the Saitama Super Arena on the outskirts of Tokyo. Uno appears to have a stiffer test awaiting him in Montreal than Sakamoto does, with the teenager Malinin winning the men's Grand Prix Final last month and Uno's Japanese compatriot Kagiyama Yuma back to full health.

The Japanese men continue to be the deepest team in the world, with Miura Kao set to join Uno and Kagiyama in Montreal. While USA's Malinin, still just 19, can light up the scoreboard with his massive jumping skills and growing artistic reportoire, France's Adam Siao Him Fa and Kevin Aymoz are two to keep an eye on, as well.

For Sakamoto, the challenger she's come up against the most is fellow 20-something Loena Hendrickx, but the Belgian has struggled with her consistency, this season being felled by her technical content during her free skate at multiple events. Sixteen-year-old American Isabeau Levito is trying to find more sturdy footing in her second year at the senior level, while a host of others - including Japan's Yoshida Hana and Chiba Mone, American Amber Glenn, and Lee Hae-in, the Korean 2023 world silver medallist.

Ilia Malinin and the quadruple Axel

After holding back on the quadruple Axel for much of the Grand Prix Series, Malinin pulled out the jump at the Final, hitting it for the first time in a short program after landing a fist full of free skate attemps last season. Prior to the Final, he had told Olympics.com he was tempted to do the quad Axel at every event he skated, but wished for the jump to be valued more in the ISU's scoring system.

Though, with a consistent quad Axel and a marked improvement in his artistry, the question arises: Is Malinin unbeatable when he's firing on all cylinders? "I must have the best skate of my career," Uno said after capturing his sixth career national title in December.

Pairs field wide open

While Russian skaters remain ineligible from competing at internationally-sanctioned skating events, their absence has been felt in pairs, where no one team has taken control as the one to beat as we round the corner to the next Winter Games.

2022 world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier have not skated since the conclusion of the 2023 season, while reigning world champs Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi have been off of competition ice since September due to an ongoing back issue for him.

It was Canadians Deanna Stellato Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (more on them below) who emerged as the top team during the Series, but they struggled at the Final, leaving an opening for the new German duo of Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin to go golden in the first half of the season.

Italy, set to host the Olympics in Milano Cortina, has strengthened its skating team across the board, with no discipline showcasing more improvement than pairs, where reigning world bronze medallists Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii lead a trio of Grand Prix medal-winning teams.

Chock/Bates lead the charge in dance

While pairs will search for a top-ranked team at Montreal, the dance field is crowded, strong, and full of veteran duos. Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates are reigning world champions, winning their first global title in their 10th appearance.

But it's not Chock/Bates vs. the world. Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri won silver at Worlds last year, and have continued to go from strength-to-strength this season, as have the 2022 Grand Prix Final champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada.

Have Chock/Bates bubbled above those foes? They went three-from-three on the Grand Prix to end 2023, though none of the top three teams have committed to skating through 2026, instead taking a season-by-season approach. It is hard to imagine any of them stopping after Worlds in 2024, though all six individuals are now in their 30s.

On the rise? Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, the British duo that has opted for more crowd-pleasing programs the last few season - and are slowly making their way up

Will Chen or Papadakis/ Cizeron return?

It's the question that always looms largest over figure skating at this point in the Olympic quad: Who's going to make a comeback ahead of the next Olympics?

The timing is key: Because it's a judged sport with many layers of nuance, many skaters or teams prefer to return a full year before the Olympic season, just like Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir did in 2016 after taking a two-year hiatus post-Sochi. (They went on to win gold at PyeongChang 2018.)

In November, Beijing 2022 men's champion Nathan Chen told Olympics.com he wasn't actively thinking about a return, saying: “I'm so wrapped up in academics [at Yale] that I haven't really given it too much thought. If I get to a position where I feel that [internal drive] again is the motivator, then I'm more than happy to step back into that world... But I'm really happy with where I am right now.”

Chen said he's feeling healthy after carrying several injuries through the Games in 2022, a major factor for the kind of pounding his body takes from the many quadruple jump attempts he makes in practice.

And what about his fellow Olympic champs, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron? The two have not committed to a comeback, and Cizeron's Instagram account has been otherwise wiped clean of the French duo's time on the ice together.

If social media is any indication, however, some heads have been turned by 2018 pairs winner Aljona Savchenko, who has posted a myriad of videos of her skating again with former partner (at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympics) Robin Szolkowy. The two were preparing for an exhibition show, but certainly look in good form.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek eyes historic podium

What's the story you just MUST know about in skating this year - and beyond? That would be Stellato-Dudek, the 40-year-old pair skater for Canada who took some 16 years away from the sport after leaving it due to injury following a successful junior career.

She and partner Maxime Deschamps have levelled up their skating over the last couple of seasons, emerging as one of the best teams in the world and putting themselves in contention for the podium in Montreal, Deschamps' hometown (and their training base).

The two plan to compete through to the Olympic season in 2026, when Stellato will be 42 years young.

Milano Cortina 2026 draws closer...

Montreal will mark that true halfway point from Beijing to Milano Cortina - as well as the shifting of the sport as skaters build their programs, technical content and - they hope - results towards the ultimate performance at the coming Olympics.

Olympic qualifying spots are allotted at the World Championships in 2025 (set for Boston), which has a trickle-down impact to 2024, where skaters will help to earn as many spots as they can for their respective countries for 2025.

How will it all play out? That's our cue to sit back, watch and find out.