From March 24th to March 29th, the World Figure Skating Championship took place in Prague. The best skaters from every corner of the world were invited to participate in this event.
The skaters representing Canada are: Madeline Schizas in women’s singles, Stephen Gogolev in men’s singles, Kelly Ann Laurin, and Loucas Ethier in pairs. Also, Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud are in pairs. Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are in the Ice dance category, with two more competitors in the team.
During the Olympics, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier are our only Canadian figure skaters to have won a bronze medal.
The two also won silver medals at the championships held not long ago. Lia Peireira and Trennt Michaud won a bronze medal at the same event.
Did you know that, during the 2026 Olympics, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, a Canadian pair skater, became the oldest woman to compete in an Olympic figure skating event since 1928 at the age of 42.
In the men’s categories, Ilia Malinin secured his third straight world gold medal, followed by Kagiyama Yuma, who won second place, and Sato Shun with his bronze medal.
In the women’s categories, Kaori Sakamoto successfully won the gold medal, followed by Mone Chiba with the silver medal, and Nina Pinzarrone with the bronze medal.
Also, Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin got first place in the pair categories. Moreover, Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron secured their gold medal in the Ice dance category.
Fun fact: In 1976, Terry Kubicka was the first person to do a backflip in her solo during a competition. Since then, the backflip on ice has been forbidden for the safety of the skater. In 2024-2025, the right to do backflips on ice has been reinstated. Since then, Ilia Malinin has won the world championship and has integrated a backflip into his performance. The quad god once said in an interview, “Compared to what other things we do on the ice, a backflip is one of the easier things. It’s really just more of a mental game”.
