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2026 World Figure Skating Championships

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2026 World Figure Skating Championships
Logo of the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships
Type:ISU Championship
Date:25 – 29 March
Season:2025–26
Location:Prague, Czech Republic
Host:Czech Figure Skating Association
Venue:O2 Arena
Champions
Men's singles:
United States Ilia Malinin
Women's singles:
Japan Kaori Sakamoto
Pairs:
Germany Minerva Fabienne Hase
and Nikita Volodin
Ice dance:
France Laurence Fournier Beaudry
and Guillaume Cizeron
Navigation
Previous:
2025 World Championships
Next:
2027 World Championships

The 2026 World Figure Skating Championships were held from 25 to 29 March at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance.

Background

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The World Figure Skating Championships are considered the most prestigious event in figure skating.[1] The 2026 World Championships were held from 25 to 29 March at the O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.[2]

Qualification

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The number of entries from each nation for the 2026 World Championships is based on the results of the 2025 World Championships. Skaters from Russia and Belarus were banned from participating "until further notice" due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[3]

The following nations were eligible to enter more than one skater or team in the indicated disciplines.[4]

Number of entries per discipline[4]
Spots Men Women Pairs Ice dance
3  France
 Japan
 Kazakhstan
 United States
 Japan
 United States
 United States  Canada
 United States
2  Georgia
 Italy
 Latvia
 South Korea
 Belgium
 Estonia
 South Korea
 Switzerland
 Australia
 Canada
 Georgia
 Germany
 Hungary
 Italy
 Japan
 Uzbekistan
 Czech Republic
 Finland
 France
 Georgia
 Great Britain
 Italy
 Spain

Changes to preliminary entries

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The International Skating Union published the initial list of entrants on 25 February 2026.[5]

Date Discipline Withdrew Added Notes Ref.
26 February Women
  • Belgium
Injury [6]
27 February Pairs N/a Short turnaround time from the Olympics. [7]
Ice dance N/a The Italian Ice Sports Federation had entered only one ice dance couple despite qualifying two spots. [8]
6 March Pairs N/a [9]
7 March Women Insufficient time post-Olympics to prepare. [10] [11]
9 March Ice dance Decided to end season with their Olympic performance [12]
10 March Men N/a [13]
13 March Women N/a Injury [14]
Ice dance N/a Surgery (Kazimov) [15]
16 March Pairs Injury [16]
18 March Men N/a
Women N/a [17]
20 March Pairs N/a [18]
21 March Men N/a [19]

Required performance elements

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Single skating

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Women competing in single skating will first perform their short programs on Wednesday, 25 March, while men will perform theirs on Thursday, 26 March.[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds[20], the short program has to include the following elements:

For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.[21]

For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one flying spin; one layback spin, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface.[21]

Women will perform their free skates on Friday, 27 March, while men will perform theirs on Saturday, 28 March.[2] The free skate performance for both men and women can last no more than 4 minutes,[20] and has to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one had to be a flying spin, and one had to be a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.[22]

Pairs

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Couples competing in pair skating first perform their short programs on Wednesday, 25 March.[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds,[20] the short program has to include the following elements: one pair lift, one double or triple twist lift, one double or triple throw jump, one double or triple solo jump, one solo spin combination with a change of foot, one death spiral, and a step sequence using the full ice surface.[23]

Couples will perform their free skates on Thursday, 25 March.[2] The free skate performance can last no more than 4 minutes,[20] and has to include the following: three pair lifts, of which one has to be a twist lift; two different throw jumps; one solo jump; one jump combination or sequence; one pair spin combination; one death spiral; and a choreographic sequence.[24]

Ice dance

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Couples competing in ice dance will perform their rhythm dances on Friday, 27 March.[2] Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds,[20] the theme of the rhythm dance this season is "music, dance styles, and feeling of the 1990s".[25] Examples of applicable dance styles and music include, but are not limited to: pop, Latin, house, techno, hip-hop, and grunge. The rhythm dance has to include the following elements: one pattern dance step sequence, one choreographic rhythm sequence, one dance lift, one set of sequential twizzles, and one step sequence.[25]

Couples will then perform their free dances on Saturday, 28 March.[2] The free dance performance can last no longer than 4 minutes,[20] and has to include the following: three dance lifts, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements.[25]

Judging

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All of the technical elements in any figure skating performance – such as jumps and spins – are assigned a predetermined base point value and then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −5 to 5 based on their quality of execution.[26] The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) is determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE is added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements are added together to generate a total elements score.[27] At the same time, judges evaluate each performance based on three program components – skating skills, presentation, and composition – and assign a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25 point increments.[28] The judging panel's final score for each program component is also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores are then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results are added together to generate a total program component score.[29]

Program component factoring[30]
Discipline Short program
or rhythm dance
Free skate
or free dance
Men 1.67 3.33
Women 1.33 2.67
Pairs 1.33 2.67
Ice dance 1.33 2.00

Deductions are applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls.[31] The total elements score and total program component score are added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.[32]

Medal summary

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Medalists

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Medals are awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest overall placements in each discipline.

Medal recipients
Discipline Gold Silver Bronze
Men United States Ilia Malinin Japan Yuma Kagiyama Japan Shun Sato
Women
Pairs
Ice dance

Small medals are awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest short program or rhythm dance placements in each discipline.

Small medal recipients for highest short program or rhythm dance
Discipline Gold Silver Bronze
Men United States Ilia Malinin France Adam Siao Him Fa Estonia Aleksandr Selevko
Women Japan Kaori Sakamoto Japan Mone Chiba United States Amber Glenn
Pairs
Ice dance

Small medals are awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest free skate or free dance placements in each discipline.

Small medal recipients for highest free skate or free dance
Discipline Gold Silver Bronze
Men United States Ilia Malinin Japan Yuma Kagiyama Japan Shun Sato
Women
Pairs
Ice dance

Medals by country

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Table of medals for overall placement:

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Japan1214
2 United States1012
3 France1001
 Germany1001
5 Canada0112
6 Georgia0101
7 Belgium0011
Totals (7 entries)44412

Results

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Men's singles

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Men's results
Rank Skater Nation Total SP FS
1st place, gold medalist(s) Ilia Malinin  United States 329.40 1 111.29 1 218.11
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Yuma Kagiyama  Japan 306.67 6 93.80 2 212.87
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Shun Sato  Japan 288.54 4 95.84 3 192.70
4 Stephen Gogolev  Canada 281.04 5 94.38 4 186.66
5 Adam Siao Him Fa  France 271.56 2 101.85 8 169.71
6 Aleksandr Selevko  Estonia 270.42 3 96.49 6 173.93
7 Kévin Aymoz  France 269.13 11 84.74 5 184.39
8 Daniel Grassl  Italy 254.94 8 88.53 9 166.41
9 Lukas Britschgi  Switzerland 251.90 9 88.30 10 163.60
10 Andrew Torgashev  United States 249.41 7 89.07 11 160.34
11 Nika Egadze  Georgia 248.62 15 78.84 7 169.78
12 Jacob Sanchez  United States 241.74 10 85.15 12 156.59
13 Kyrylo Marsak  Ukraine 234.67 12 83.36 16 151.31
14 Vladimir Samoilov  Poland 233.41 16 77.98 13 155.43
15 Adam Hagara  Slovakia 230.29 18 76.75 14 153.54
16 Chen Yudong  China 225.02 22 74.36 17 150.66
17 Andreas Nordebäck  Sweden 224.66 24 72.59 15 152.07
18 Tamir Kuperman  Israel 224.40 19 76.63 18 147.77
19 Donovan Carrillo  Mexico 219.74 14 79.65 20 140.09
20 François Pitot  France 218.75 21 74.61 19 144.14
21 Deniss Vasiļjevs  Latvia 211.54 13 82.27 23 129.27
22 Georgii Reshtenko  Czech Republic 207.16 20 75.14 21 132.02
23 Gabriele Frangipani  Italy 207.07 17 76.89 22 130.18
24 Genrikh Gartung  Germany 192.31 23 73.20 24 119.11
25 Kao Miura  Japan 71.05 25 71.05 Did not advance
to free skate
26 Semen Daniliants  Armenia 70.94 26 70.94
27 Cha Young-hyun  South Korea 70.92 27 70.92
28 Kim Hyun-gyeom  South Korea 70.71 28 70.71
29 Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté  Spain 69.12 29 69.12
30 Maurizio Zandron  Austria 67.82 30 67.82
31 Vladimir Litvintsev  Azerbaijan 65.10 31 65.10
32 Li Yu-Hsiang  Chinese Taipei 64.74 32 64.74
33 Edward Appleby  United Kingdom 64.30 33 64.30
34 Alp Eren Özkan  Turkey 60.10 34 60.10
35 Dias Jirenbayev  Kazakhstan 59.34 35 59.34
36 Fedirs Kuļišs  Latvia 56.85 36 56.85

Women's singles

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Women's results
Rank Skater Nation Total SP FS
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kaori Sakamoto  Japan 238.28 1 79.31 1 158.97
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Mone Chiba  Japan 228.47 2 78.45 2 150.02
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Nina Pinzarrone  Belgium 215.20 5 71.82 3 143.38
4 Isabeau Levito  United States 206.99 4 72.16 7 134.83
5 Lara Naki Gutmann  Italy 205.12 7 69.33 5 135.79
6 Amber Glenn  United States 203.12 3 72.65 9 130.47
7 Niina Petrõkina  Estonia 202.27 11 67.29 6 134.98
8 Shin Ji-a  South Korea 201.89 13 65.24 4 136.65
9 Ami Nakai  Japan 200.00 8 69.10 8 130.90
10 Anastasiia Gubanova  Georgia 198.81 6 69.92 10 128.89
11 Sarah Everhardt  United States 197.43 9 68.74 11 128.69
12 Sofia Samodelkina  Kazakhstan 187.53 12 66.95 12 120.58
13 Lee Hae-in  South Korea 185.18 10 68.50 16 116.68
14 Iida Karhunen  Finland 181.44 14 61.40 13 120.04
15 Madeline Schizas  Canada 178.29 15 61.35 15 116.94
16 Zhang Ruiyang  China 178.13 18 58.96 14 119.17
17 Olga Mikutina  Austria 169.84 16 60.11 17 109.73
18 Lorine Schild  France 165.23 17 59.14 20 106.09
19 Ekaterina Kurakova  Poland 164.54 19 58.10 19 106.44
20 Nataly Langerbaur  Estonia 162.18 21 56.56 21 105.62
21 Livia Kaiser  Switzerland 159.58 22 54.91 22 104.67
22 Julia Sauter  Romania 159.51 23 52.67 18 106.84
23 Alexandra Feigin  Bulgaria 155.36 20 58.05 23 97.31
24 Barbora Vránková  Czech Republic 142.66 24 50.59 24 92.07
25 Anastasia Gracheva  Moldova 49.91 25 49.91 Did not advance
to free skate
26 Kristen Spours  Great Britain 49.20 26 49.20
27 Nargiz Süleymanova  Azerbaijan 49.00 27 49.00
28 Niki Wories  Netherlands 48.41 28 48.41
29 Julija Lovrenčič  Slovenia 47.81 29 47.81
30 Jade Hovine  Belgium 47.05 30 47.05
31 Meda Variakojytė  Lithuania 45.47 31 45.47
32 Mia Risa Gomez  Norway 42.51 32 42.51
33 Stefania Yakovleva  Cyprus 38.53 33 38.53

Pairs

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Pairs' results
Rank Skaters Nation Total SP FS
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Germany 228.33 1 79.78 1 148.55
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Georgia 218.41 2 79.45 4 138.96
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Canada 216.09 3 75.52 2 140.57
4  Japan 209.13 5 69.55 3 139.58
5  Hungary 205.08 4 69.92 6 135.16
6  United States 202.51 7 67.29 5 135.22
7  Germany 194.11 10 65.35 7 128.76
8  Armenia 190.46 8 67.12 9 123.34
9  China 184.90 14 62.69 10 122.21
10  Switzerland 184.56 16 60.12 8 124.44
11  Poland 182.27 13 63.59 11 118.68
12  United States 179.60 11 64.42 12 115.18
13  Great Britain 176.33 9 66.34 15 109.99
14  Austria 170.61 19 58.22 14 112.39
15  Czech Republic 170.46 20 56.58 13 113.88
16  United States 169.91 6 69.02 20 100.89
17  France 169.20 15 61.17 17 108.03
18  Ukraine 168.28 17 58.85 16 109.43
19  Canada 167.75 12 63.99 18 103.76
20  Italy 160.95 18 58.79 19 102.16
21  Netherlands 48.77 21 48.77 Did not advance
to free skate

Ice dance

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Ice dance results
Rank Skaters Nation Total RD FD
1st place, gold medalist(s)  France 230.81 1 92.74 1 138.07
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Canada 211.52 2 86.45 3 125.07
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  United States 209.20 4 84.21 4 124.99
4  Great Britain 208.98 3 85.09 5 123.89
5  Spain 206.37 6 81.06 2 125.31
6  France 203.77 5 83.07 7 120.70
7  Lithuania 200.66 9 79.66 6 121.00
8  United States 200.56 7 80.89 8 119.67
9  Canada 199.06 8 80.81 10 118.25
10  Georgia 198.65 10 79.34 9 119.31
11  Czech Republic 190.17 12 76.74 12 113.43
12  United States 189.98 13 76.42 11 113.56
13  Canada 181.66 20 69.70 13 111.96
14  Australia 179.61 16 71.12 15 108.49
15  South Korea 178.82 19 69.83 14 108.99
16  Great Britain 178.29 18 70.82 16 107.47
17  Germany 177.53 17 71.02 17 106.51
18  Czech Republic 173.93 14 76.35 19 97.58
19  Japan 173.49 15 72.33 18 101.16
WD  Finland Withdrew 11 78.03 Withdrew from competition
21  Hungary 68.71 21 68.71 Did not advance
to free dance
22  Finland 67.45 22 67.45
23  Italy 63.84 24 63.84
24  China 63.75 24 63.75
25  Cyprus 61.94 25 61.94
26  Italy 60.63 26 60.63
27  Ukraine 59.45 27 59.45
28  Switzerland 59.34 28 59.34
29  Sweden 58.20 29 58.20
30  Israel 58.04 30 58.04
31  Azerbaijan 50.65 31 50.65

References

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  1. ^ Murphy, Margot (31 March 2025). "Victors made in the City of Champions: ISU World Figure Skating Championship returns to Boston". The Huntington News. Archived from the original on 4 July 2025. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "ISU Figure Skating World Championships – 2026 Prague – Announcement" (PDF). International Skating Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 February 2026. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  3. ^ Burke, Patrick (7 June 2022). "ISU extends ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, but motion on changing suspension rules fails". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Communication No. 2732" (PDF). International Skating Union. 18 July 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2025. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  5. ^ "ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026". International Skating Union. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  6. ^ Anything GOEs [@AnythingGOE] (26 February 2026). "🇧🇪 Loena Hendrickx is withdrawing from #WorldFigure" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  7. ^ Smirnova, Lena (27 February 2026). "Olympic champions Miura Riku/Kihara Ryuichi withdraw from 2026 World Figure Skating Championships". International Olympic Committee.
  8. ^ Anything GOEs [@AnythingGOE] (27 February 2026). "🇮🇹 Giulia Isabella Paolino/Andrea Tuba have now been added to the #WorldFigure entries" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  9. ^ Anything GOEs [@AnythingGOE] (6 March 2026). "🇮🇹 Sara Conti/Niccolò Macii have withdrawn from #WorldFigure" (Tweet). Retrieved 6 March 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  10. ^ Skretta, Dave (7 March 2026). "Olympic champion Alysa Liu withdraws from world figure skating championships". Associated Press.
  11. ^ Erzberger, Tyler (12 March 2026). "Alysa Liu Opens Up About Why She Really Dropped From World Championships". Newsweek.
  12. ^ Zaccardi, Nick (9 March 2026). "Madison Chock, Evan Bates withdraw from figure skating worlds: 'We left it all on the ice in Milan'". NBC Sports.
  13. ^ "🇮🇹 Matteo Rizzo has withdrawn from #WorldFigure, he is replaced by Gabriele Frangipani". X. Anything GOEs. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  14. ^ "Kimmy Repond has withdrawn from #WorldFigure to continue her recovery from her foot injury". X. Anything GOEs. Retrieved 13 March 2026.
  15. ^ Real Federación Española de Deportes de Hielo [@fedhielo]; (13 March 2026). "Comunicado médico – Asaf Kazimov" (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 March 2026 – via Instagram.
  16. ^ O'Shea, Daniel [@dannyoshea213]; (16 March 2026). "We've made a tough decision to withdraw from World Championships next week". Retrieved 16 March 2026 – via Instagram.
  17. ^ @rockerskating; (18 March 2026). "Latest World Championships entry updates as of March 18, 2026". Retrieved 18 March 2026 – via Instagram.
  18. ^ @AnythingGOE (20 March 2026). "🇦🇺 Anastasiia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore have withdrawn from #WorldFigure" (Tweet). Retrieved 20 March 2026 – via X (formerly Twitter).
  19. ^ "ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026, Prague". isu-skating.com. Retrieved 21 March 2026.
  20. ^ a b c d e f S&P/ID 2024, p. 82.
  21. ^ a b S&P/ID 2024, p. 106.
  22. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 110–111.
  23. ^ S&P/ID 2024, p. 119.
  24. ^ S&P/ID 2024, p. 122.
  25. ^ a b c "Communication No. 2704: Ice Dance Requirements for Technical Rules, Season 2025/26" (PDF). International Skating Union. 8 August 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2025. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  26. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 83–84.
  27. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 15–16.
  28. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 84–85.
  29. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 16–17.
  30. ^ S&P/ID 2024, p. 17.
  31. ^ S&P/ID 2024, pp. 18–19.
  32. ^ S&P/ID 2024, p. 20.

Works cited

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