American figure skater Ilia Malinin found redemption after his shock Winter Olympics loss by winning his third straight world title. The World Figure Skating Championship 2026 took place at the O2 Arena in Prague.
GB’s Mixed Fortunes in Prague
All eight figure skaters who represented Team GB in Milan are back in Prague following a mixed Games on the ice for Britain. Ice dance couple Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won Britain’s first world championship medal since 1984 when they claimed bronze last year in Boston.
It raised hopes of an Olympic podium, but a mistake by Fear during their free dance left them in a disappointing seventh place. They will aim for better in Prague. However, Fear and Gibson missed out on the top spot after incurring two deductions.
Also competing for Britain in ice dance are Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, fresh from reaching the free dance on their Olympic debuts. According to reports, GB’s Bekker and Hernandez ‘make it through unscathed’ in their free dance routine.
In the pairs, Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby will aim to build on an encouraging 15th place from Milan after a turbulent start to the Games including a fall for Vaipan-Law in the team event and a wrist injury for Digby.
Kristen Spours competes in the women’s event – her last competition before her injury enforced retirement – while Edward Appleby is in the men’s singles.
Women’s Competition Outlook
Just as at the Olympics, expect the women’s competition to be a fight between USA and Japan for the medal places. However the balance has been tipped back in favour of the Japanese after Liu, the reigning world champion who added Olympic gold last month with a stunning free skate routine, withdrew from competition.
It completed an incredible comeback for Liu, who quit the sport aged 16 after the 2022 Olympics as she was not enjoying herself.
Since the Olympics, Liu has become a mainstream celebrity in the USA – she was recently seen at the Oscars – but admits she has not had enough prep time to compete effectively at the Worlds.
“There’s so many commitments I have and activities that are overlapping with the Worlds,” she told NBC. “And then also I don’t have much time training, so I was like, I can’t be doing the Worlds. I don’t think I would be able to put out my best performance.”
Most likely to step up to the top of the podium is Milan silver medallist and three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, in her final performance before retirement.
Her Japanese compatriot and heir apparent is 17-year-old Ami Nakai, whose Olympic bronze marked her as a star of the future.
Meanwhile American champion Amber Glenn will be looking for atonement after a disaster in Milan, where an invalid element in her short program scuppered her medal chances.
One of the most shocking moments of Milan-Cortina was the sight of Ilia Malinin, unbea
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