Amber Glenn performs in the course of the Women’s quick program in the course of the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday.
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Michal Cizek/AFP by way of Getty Images
Has the top of the Winter Olympics left a rink-sized void in your coronary heart? If so, excellent news: the ISU Figure Skating World Championships are actually underway.
This 12 months’s competitors, held in Prague, started on Wednesday and ends on Saturday. Much just like the Olympics, it options two days of competitors in every of the 4 disciplines: ladies’s, males’s, pairs and ice dance.
It’s the final main occasion of the 2025-2026 figure skating season, providing athletes yet one more shot at a title and, in some instances, post-Olympics redemption.
Many Olympians, together with American gold medalist Alysa Liu, and reigning ice dance world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates, withdrew from worlds after medaling in Milan, which isn’t uncommon. But different fan-favorites, like Amber Glenn and Ilia Malinin, are aiming to make this podium after lacking out in Italy.
Competition kicked off with the ladies’s quick program, the place Glenn, performing her “Like a Prayer” routine, efficiently landed the triple soar that possible cost her an Olympic medal. She is in third place heading into Friday’s ladies’s free skate, which can decide who wins a medal (gold, silver and bronze, identical to the Olympics)l.
“It’s great being able to go into the free skate not feeling like I’m clawing my way up through the ranks for once,” Glenn instructed U.S. Figure Skating, including that competing so quickly after the Olympics helps. “Even though it’s been a month, it feels like it was yesterday.”
Malinin, who completed in eighth place in Milan after a collection of uncharacteristic stumbles, has his eye on a 3rd straight world title. He earned a world private greatest rating in his quick program on Thursday, topping the leaderboard by greater than 9 factors forward of Saturday’s males’s free skate.
Malinin said that he approached worlds with a objective of proving to himself that his Olympic slip-up “was a one-time thing.”
“But now I’ve realized that there’s much more than just skating,” he stated. “It’s being able to go out there, enjoy everything and just have fun. So, coming here, I had no real expectations but to finish the season.”
Ilia Malinin performs in the course of the males’s quick program on Thursday.
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Michal Cizek/AFP by way of Getty Images
Many acquainted faces are taking the ice, together with French ice dance champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron, who paired up final 12 months because of controversies involving their former companions. Reigning world silver medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, contemporary off Olympic silver, is trying to shut out her profession with a distinct shade medal.
It’s additionally an opportunity to see skating stars who did not compete in Italy. They embrace U.S. pairs skaters Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, who gained their second national title in January however missed out on the Olympics as a result of Finnish-born Efimova, who has a inexperienced card, did not get citizenship in time.
The first winners of the championship have been topped on Thursday, in pairs: Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin earned their first world title after profitable bronze in Milan. Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava took silver, as they did at the Olympics, and Canada’s Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud gained bronze.
Here’s what else to know within the last half of worlds.
How and when to observe
Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France, pictured at the Olympic exhibition gala, are the one Olympic gold medalists to take the ice at World Championships.
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Joosep Martinson/Getty Images
Here’s the general schedule, in jap time:
- Wednesday, March 25: Women’s & Pairs Short Programs (6:30 a.m., 1:45 p.m.)
- Thursday, March 26: Men’s Short Program & Pairs Free Skating (6:30 a.m., 1:15 p.m.)
- Friday, March, 27: Rhythm Dance & Women’s Free Skating (6:30 a.m., 1:00 p.m.)
- Saturday, March 28: Men’s Free Skating & Free Dance (7:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m.)
In the U.S., all occasions are streaming stay on Peacock and out there for replays for 72 hours. NBC and USA Network can even broadcast the competitors, and you may view the TV schedule here.
Americans to observe
Isabeau Levito performs in the course of the ladies’s quick program on Wednesday, the place she moved into fourth place.
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Michal Cizek/AFP by way of Getty Images
Women (Friday):
- Isabeau Levito, the third member of the U.S. “Blade Angels,” goals to enhance on her efficiency at the Olympics, the place she positioned Twelfth total after a fall in her free skate. The 2024 World silver medalist introduced her attribute grace and glamour — and a brand new, high-scoring opening soar — to her Sophia Loren medley quick program. She delivered a clear routine to complete the primary half of competitors in a detailed fourth place behind Glenn.
- Sarah Everhardt, a 19-year-old from Virginia, is competing in her first world championship after Liu withdrew, calling the chance “a gift given to me.” She has completed within the high 5 at nationals for the previous three years.
Men (Saturday):
- Andrew Torgashev, the reigning U.S. silver medalist, delivered a world private greatest within the quick program on Thursday. He heads into the free skate in seventh place, hoping to enhance on his Twelfth-place Olympic end.
- Jacob Sanchez is making his worlds debut at 18 years outdated, after a last-minute name to sub in for Jason Brown. Sanchez, who positioned fourth at U.S. nationals this 12 months, said he had “two days to really prepare” — and delivered a career-best rating in his quick program.
American ice dancers Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik positioned fifth of their Olympic debut final month.
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Elsa/Getty Images Europe
Ice dance (Friday, Saturday):
- Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik need to construct on the momentum of their breakout season, at which they completed fifth at the Olympics. They are seen because the heirs obvious to reigning world champions Chock and Bates, who’ve competed within the occasion for the final 12 years.
- Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are additionally competing contemporary off their Olympic debut, the place they completed in eleventh place.
- Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, the fourth-place finishers at U.S. nationals, are competing of their third worlds collectively. They completed sixth and ninth in 2023 and 2025.
Pairs (completed):
- National champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov completed in sixth place
- Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, contemporary off a seventh-place end at the Olympics, positioned sixteenth after a fall-ridden free skate. They subbed in on quick discover for Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, who withdrew after the Olympics.
- Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman completed Twelfth.
Competitors to observe
Women (Friday):
Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto performs in the course of the Women’s quick program in Prague, her final competitors earlier than retirement.
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Michal Cizek/AFP by way of Getty Images
- Kaori Sakamoto of Japan gained three straight world titles till Alysa Liu broke her streak in 2025, the place she gained silver. The similar sample repeated at the Olympics. A gold medal could be a becoming bookend for the 25-year-old, who’s retiring after this competitors. Her quick program — set to “Time to Say Goodbye” — launched her into first place.
- Mone Chiba of Japan sits in second place heading into the ultimate competitors. She is hoping to make the rostrum after ending fourth in Milan.
Men (Saturday):
France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, pictured throughout his quick program on Thursday.
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Michal Cizek/AFP by way of Getty Images
- Adam Siao Him Fa of France, who has additionally been identified to land backflips in competitors, enters the ultimate day of competitors in second place.
- Aleksandr Selevko, the four-time Estonian nationwide champion, scored a private greatest within the quick program to spherical out the highest three.
- Shun Sato of Japan is doubtlessly inside a medal’s attain, after claiming bronze in Milan. His countryman Yuma Kagiyama, who gained Olympic silver, fell on a soar in his quick program and stands in sixth place for now.
- Canada’s Stephen Gogolev delivered a private greatest rating in his gangster-themed quick program regardless of a free shoelace. He’s in fifth place heading into the free skate.
Ice dance:
Olympic bronze medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada are hoping to win their fifth worlds medal.
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Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
- Reigning Olympic champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France are the one gold medalists to take the ice in Prague. It’s their first world championships as a duo, and Beaudry said it had been their plan for the reason that begin of the season to compete at worlds, their first collectively as a duo, now “with a little bit less pressure than the Olympics.”
- Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier skated their approach to a triumphant bronze medal at the Olympics, taking some strain off what could be the last competitors of their profession. They’ve gained 4 worlds medals collectively, most just lately silver in 2024 and 2025.
- Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson gained bronze at worlds final 12 months, changing into the primary duo from Great Britain to medal at the occasion since 1984. The eight-time nationwide championships delighted audiences with their Spice Girl routine at the Olympics, the place they completed seventh.
