ISU

Olympic Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France won Rhythm Dance at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) on Friday, setting a new record score en route. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) came second ahead of their teammates Madison Chock/Evan Bates. All three teams achieved a personal best score.

Pair Skaters Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) claimed the first ISU World Pair Skating title for the USA since 1979 when striking gold at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) Thursday. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) took silver, the highest finish in history for a Pair Skating team of Japan. Vanessa James/Eric Radford (CAN) earned the bronze.

Two-time Olympic medalist Shoma Uno led the Japanese Men to a sweep of the Men’s Short Program at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) on Thursday. 2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama and Kazuki Tomono follow in second and third. All three Men set a new personal best for themselves in what was a high-level competition.

Pair Skaters Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (USA) skated to the lead in the Pairs Short Program at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) on Wednesday.

Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) speeded to the lead in the Women Short Program at the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) on Wednesday. Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx came second followed by Mariah Bell (USA).

Don’t miss any of the action from the season’s thrilling performances at the ISU Figure Skating Championships 2022, which will be streamed live to all fans on the ISU Skating YouTube Channel. Make sure to subscribe to receive live stream notifications. Some geo-restrictions will apply on YouTube, but if you find yourself unable to watch the stream, check out the channel in your territory to get access.

Olympic and World medallists, including Olympic Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France, headline the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier (FRA) March 21 to 27, 2022.

Japan’s Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi are unique in many ways and they have made Figure Skating history. They are the first Japanese Ice Dancers to win a silver medal at an ISU Championship when they came second at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in January. But that is not everything. Daisuke is a successful former single skater, an ISU World Champion, ISU Four Continents Champion and Olympic bronze medalist and he is the first World Champion single skater to make a comeback in Ice Dance.

Team Fintastic Junior (FIN) successfully defended their title as the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships concluded in Innsbruck (AUT) on Saturday. Team Skyliners Junior (USA) claimed the silver medal and the bronze went to the newcomers from Team Elite Junior (USA). It was an exciting battle until the end with only 1.50 points separating the winners from the bronze medalists.

Speed skating is the fastest human powered sport on earth and Kjeld Nuis (NED) made it a little faster again last Thursday. The Olympic 1500m champion skated 103km/h on a frozen lake in Norway, to break his own unofficial world speed record on skates with 10km/h. Nuis skated on a specially prepared track behind a car with a windscreen to give him a draft.

Japan’s young star Yuma Kagiyama soared right to the top in his debut at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021, taking the silver medal. The now 18-year-old continued this season where he had left off and earned the silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN) and now is again a hot medal favorite for the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2022 in Montpellier (FRA) from March 21-27.

It is not unusual that two successful Skaters from different countries team up to continue their career together, but it does not happen so often that two accomplished athletes come out of retirement to start from scratch. But this is exactly what Canadians Vanessa James and Eric Radford did and they returned on to the Olympic stage as “new” team that has been skating together for less than a year. James, 34, won the European title in 2019 and World bronze in 2018 with her former partner Morgan Ciprès, competing for France. Radford, 37, is the 2015 and 2016 ISU World Champion and 2018 Olympic bronze medalist with Meagan Duhamel, representing Canada. James competed in her fourth Olympic Games and Radford in his third and yet everything was different this time around. 

The ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships will be held in Innsbruck (AUT) March 17-19, 2022. A total of 23 teams representing 18 ISU members have been entered for the Championships. This is the seventh edition of the ISU World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships, which was a biennial event, and has become annual beginning of 2017. The event was cancelled in 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.

Newly minted Olympic Ice Dance Champions Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron of France have been busy since coming home from Beijing. They still relive their Olympic experience, they perform in shows, meet the media and now are gearing up for another highlight: The ISU World Figure Skating Championships at home in France, in Montpellier (March 21-27).

When Ice Dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (USA) finished their Free Dance at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, they took it all in, savoring their moment on Olympic ice. The Skaters knew that it was their last competitive performance at the Olympic Games as they announced they will retire after this season. Beijing 2022 meant a lot to both of them and not just because they won the bronze medal.