Kagiyama, Uno headline men's field as a first-time world champion will be crowned in Montpellier
The Japanese duo could go 1-2 at the Sud de France Arena, as Olympic champions Nathan Chen and Hanyu Yuzuru are out with injury. We preview the full men's event - plus a schedule and how to watch.
Figure Skating
There will be a first-time world champion in men's figure skating this weekend.
With the sport hosting the World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France, neither Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 champion Nathan Chen nor two-time Olympic gold medallist Hanyu Yuzuru are in attendance due to injury.
As the lone active skaters with a world title to their name, the winner here will be a maiden world champ - aptly fitting for the start of a new Olympic quad.
Beijing 2022 silver medallist and Youth Olympic Games Lausanne 2020 champion Kagiyama Yuma leads the way, following his standout performance last month in both the team and individual event. His Japanese compatriot Uno Shoma is not far behind.
Kagiyama won silver on debut last year at Worlds, while Uno is a two-time runner-up, in 2017 and 2018.
Hanyu is Japan's most recent world champ in men's singles, most recently capturing the crown in 2017, before Chen would win three straight from 2018 to 2021.
The men's short program kicks off the discipline's proceedings on Thursday from 1130 local (CET).
MORE: Follow all the action from Montpellier - Check out our live blog
2019 world bronze medallist Vincent Zhou is looking for redemption after he missed the men's event in Beijing due to a positive Covid test, and will be joined by big-jumping teammate Ilia Malinin, a 17-year-old who won silver at U.S. nationals in January.
South Korea's Cha Junhwan, Keegan Messing of Canada, Italy's Daniel Grassl and Deniss Vasiljevs of Latvia are other skaters to keep an eye on through the weekend.
Home hope Kevin Aymoz of France is also one to watch, as is Georgia's Morisi Kvitelashvili. On Thursday morning, crowd favourite Donovan Carrillo of Mexico was forced to withdraw after his equipment was lost en route to Montpellier.
Last month, the International Skating Union announced that "no skaters belonging to the ISU Members in Russia and Belarus shall be invited or allowed to participate in international ice skating competitions," including the world championships.
Women's short: Sakamoto soars | Pairs: USA goes 1-2
Preview: Kagiyama, Uno, Zhou have hardware to their names
While Zhou only skated the free skate in the figure skating team event in Beijing, both Kagiyama and Uno are coming off of strong performances there, where they each skated in the team and individual events.
Uno looked particularly comfortable on championship ice on Tuesday (22 March), putting in a strong practice as Kagiyama battled inconsistency through his.
Both men expressed wanting to turn their focus to Montpellier after Beijing, and Uno said he continued to face down the challenge of having both Hanyu and Kagiyama - great skaters years apart - as both teammates and foes.
He told Olympics.com exclusively in Beijing: "I want to be a skater who can lead... I'm determined to give everything I have at the World Championships."
Malinin is in unchartered territory at Worlds, having never skated at a senior ISU Championships event. He was the surprise star at U.S. Nationals in winning the silver, competing six quads across two programs.
He is the son of two Olympic figure skaters, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov.
While Kagiyama and Uno went silver-bronze in Beijing, the Korean Cha had a strong showing in fifth, while Grassl was seventh and Kvitelashvili 10th. Each of Messing, Vasiljevs and Aymoz have the potential to turn in show-stopping performances, as well, meaning they'll battle for spots in the men's free skate final group.
Schedule, how to watch World Figure Skating Championships 2022
The women and pairs skated first in Montpellier on Wednesday, with the men's short set for Thursday's afternoon session and the pair free skate scheduled for the evening.
The men will return to the ice Saturday afternoon (26 March) for their free skate. All times are local to France - Central European Time (CET).
Thursday, 24 March
11:30 Men's singles - short program
18:53 Pair skating - free skate
Saturday, 26 March
10:55 Men's singles - free skate
You can watch the world championships on your domestic broadcaster, or the ISU streams on YouTube in some territories. A list of ISU broadcasters can be found here.