Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova looks to turn domestic success into world title; Sui/Han eye third triumph

Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova would like to turn her domestic success into international triumph.

The 16-year-old won her third consecutive national title in December with spellbinding figure skating, and will lead of trio of Russian women at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, set for 24-28 March in Stockholm, Sweden.

Shcherbakova, Alexandra Trusova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva will represent Russia after 2020 European champion Alena Kostornaia struggled to recover from a recent battle with Covid-19. Neither Olympic champ Alina Zagitova nor PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist Evgenia Medvedeva competed this season.

While Kihira Rika will lead a strong Japanese contingent, it’s quite possible that Russia and Japan could fill the top six slots at the first worlds since 2019, after last March’s event in Montreal was cancelled.

In pairs, China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong remain at the pinnacle of the sport, the two-time world champs and Olympic silver medallists favoured in a field that will also feature a strong test from team Russia.

Russia vs. Japan: Two nations lead the way in ladies

Russia has gone from strength to strength (to strength) in ladies’ figure skating over the last eight years, and that will be on full display in Stockholm, where quadruple-jumping Shcherbakova, coached by Eteri Tutberidze, will go head-to-head with former training mate Trusova, also a quad jumper, who is now coached by Olympic champ Evgeni Plushenko.

Tuktamysheva, a veteran at age 24 and armed with a triple Axel herself, is making her first appearance at worlds since winning the title in 2015.

Kihira landed a quad Salchow herself on her way to winning Japanese nationals in December, a jump she’ll almost certainly need to secure a spot on the podium. Sakamoto Kaori and Miyahara Satoko will round out the Japanese challenge, both successful skaters on the international stage.

While Kostornaia was the favourite heading into 2020 worlds, she is instead absent this year, setting up what will be an intriguing race for the Russian team ahead of Beijing 2022 over the coming season.

The world championships serves as an Olympic qualification event in figure skating in terms of number of spots per country in each discipline, but not for individual skaters themselves.

Ladies: Who else can challenge? Tennell, Chen will try

Said Olympics qualification will be on the minds of Americans Bradie Tennell and Karen Chen, who will try and earn back a third spot for the American team. They need to finish a combined 13th for Team USA to get three spots.

In 2017, Chen was pivotal in helping the U.S. get its third spot back, capturing fourth while Ashley Wagner finished seventh. Two-time U.S. champ Alysa Liu is not age-eligible yet for senior international competition, though she will be for the Olympic season.

It is possible that the eight aforementioned competitors could fill out the top eight spots, though Leona Hendrickx of Belgium, Switzerland’s Alexia Paganini and South Korean teenagers Kim Yelim and Lee Haein will look to factor among the best finishers, including others.

Pairs: Sui/Han go after a third world title

It’s hard to know just what kind of form Sui and Han are in, after the duo withdrew from Cup of China in November as Han continued to recover from hip surgery in April 2020.

But they are world champs in both 2019 and 2017, having finished as runners-up in 2015 and 2016. Should they be healthy and back at their full training capacity, they should be the ones to beat, especially as they’ve shown in the past – including at worlds in 2019 – a propensity for making strong comebacks after time off of the ice.

That said, Russia’s Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov looked sharp en route to winning their third national title and first since 2019, and they will no doubt be a part of a Russian pairs contingent dead set on pressuring the Chinese for the podium – if not for gold.

That includes Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii, the 2020 Russian and European champions, as well as Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, the 2019 world junior champions.

Sui and Han are trying to become the first pairs team to win a trio of world titles since Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won five from 2008 to 2014.

The pairs field: Chasing the Chinese, Russians

Who else can make noise in pairs? Sui and Han’s teammates, Peng Cheng and Jin Yang are two-time Four Continents medallists, while Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro have shown flashes of brilliance in their skating, the duo having won two Four Continents medals, as well.

New U.S. duo Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier will make their debut as a team on the world stage having won a national title in January, while Italy’s Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise, and Miriam Kiefer and Severin Ziegler of Austria are ones to watch, as well.

What else you should know

No fans will be in attendance at worlds, which will be held with Covid-19 protocols set in place for competitors and officials.

For some, including Sui/Han and Moore-Towers/Marinaro, it will be the first international competition of the season after a series of event cancellations during the 2020-21 figure skating calendar.

And while all eyes will be on the Russian women in attendance, the lingering battle for Olympic spots will be heavy on the mind, as well, as juniors like Kamila Valieva, the 2020 world junior champ, will be eligible for senior international competition next year. That will make the Russian field – which is likely to include Kostornaia – that much more crowded.

The ladies’ short program kicks off competition on Wednesday (24 March) from 10am local time, while the pairs short is that evening at 630pm local. Find a full list of TV times here.

We’ll have a preview of the men and ice dance tomorrow (21 March).