By: Debbi Wilkes

This year’s ISU World Figure Skating Championships are now in the record books with the city of Prague showing its warm hospitality for the third time.

Four champions have been crowned … from 4 different countries … Men’s and Women’s titles, Ilia Malinin (USA) and Kaori Sakamoto (Japan) both defending champions and new title holders in Pairs, Minerva Hase & Nikita Volodin (Germany) and in Dance, Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron (France).

Things have changed a lot in the event’s history.

Photo Credit: Tina Weltz Media

Way back, if a country was a member of the International Skating Union (ISU), it was automatically entitled to enter a competitor in each discipline. Honestly, I can think back to some Worlds where a few competitors could barely land a single Axel!

Since then the ISU has made some smart decisions … all to protect the integrity of the event.

Qualifying rounds became standard fare, initially a whole separate “mini event” held before the real thing, now streamlined into the Short Program where only the top 24 in Singles and the top 20 in Pairs and Dance can proceed to the Freeskate.

In recent years, the ISU has also demanded a minimum technical score from an athlete/pair, one obtained during an internationally sanctioned event, a move which has increased the calibre of competitors at this highest level.

All of these tweaks have been important but none have improved the sport more than eliminating the old 6.0 judging system and inventing the new scoring system. It’s not so new anymore, but as the ISU continues to add refinements to make it better and easier to understand, it’s a living and breathing scoring system always under construction and always attempting to reflect the goals of the sport.

Photo Credit: Tina Weltz Media

Let’s face it … Figure skating is a tricky beast.

It’s like any other sport demanding excellence in special skills: talent, motivation, strength (both physical and mental), power, speed, endurance, balance and agility, coordination, control and mental acuity … the list goes on!

But there is this other part of the sport which makes it unique … creativity, artistry and innovation. All of it was on display in Prague.

Technically, even lower seeded skaters were tackling and succeeding with the most difficult elements, but to my eye the last groups were the competitors who captured the full mastery of skating’s potential marrying their incredible technical ability with charisma and programming creativity. WOW!

Ontario skaters were part of that magic too. While there were no world titles won this time in Prague, our athletes put on quite a show demonstrating present-day excellence and pointing to future success.

Photo Credit: Tina Weltz Media

Present day?

Dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier added to their incredible international and Olympic medal haul by winning silver. After electing to leave their magical “Vincent” – aka “ Starry, Starry Night” – as an unforgettable memory from Milan, they decided to bring back “Wuthering Heights”, a previously successful program from several years ago … a bold move considering they had only a month to get the program up to speed.

Our Canadian Champion Madeline Schizas erased her Olympic disappointment by delivering two solid programs to finish 15^th.

And the future?

Stephen Gogolev put up great scores with two exceptional performances to finish fourth in his first Worlds. He tackled every challenge with confidence and control and, under hugely stressful conditions, he quietly staked his claim to the podium in years ahead.

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud left me with the same impression … glorious work in both short and free with outstanding programming … and a bronze medal on the podium.

Photo Credit: Tina Weltz Media

With the kind of role in past skating history which Prague has played for our Ontario skaters, after a glorious week of competition, it’s clear we can write another chapter to add to that amazing story.

Finland will host next year. 2027 … here we come!!