Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier/Photo: Robin Ritoss
The 2021 World Championships are set to take place in Stockholm, Sweden, March 22-28. No spectators will be permitted to attend this competition. Sweden is also not taking on foreign volunteers for these Championships but is sourcing people from within the country to enter a bubble for seven to 10 days.
The ISU tested out its Competition Bubble at a series of speed skating competitions in different venues over a 38-day time period and reported zero cases. A similar competition bubble will be in place in Stockholm.
No draw for the free skate/free dance will take place at the 2021 World Championships. The ISU will use the same format as that of the Grand Prix Series; i.e., the starting order for the free skate/free dance will be the reverse order of the results of the short program/rhythm dance.
Since these Championships serve as a qualifying event for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, the ISU Council reviewed the Olympic qualification system at its meeting on March 2. With almost all ISU member nations sending skaters to the Championships, the newOlympic qualification system remains in place.
The Spanish federation held a skate-off between its two ice dance teams, Olivia Smart and Adrián Díaz and Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavin. Both teams presented their programs for virtual evaluation with Hurtado and Khaliavin earning the berth. The Ice Academy of Montréal could set a record at these Championships with 11 ice dance teams scheduled to compete in a field of 33.
The U.S. pairs team of Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson withdrew citing personal reasons. Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc were subsequently assigned to the team. Georgian ice dancers Maria Kazakova and Georgy Reviya have withdrawn due to Reviya re-inuring his back. Australia′s Brendan Kerry withdrew after suffering a foot injury that required a cast. South Korean ice dancers Yura Min and Daniel Eaton are also out with injury.
The Russian team will compete at the 2021 World Championships under the banner of the Russian Figure Skating Federation,with uniforms bearing the insignia ″Figure Skating Russia″(FSR). As the Russian anthem is not permitted to be played at any major international competition, a small section of Tchaikovsky’s ″Piano Concerto No. 1″ will replace it for Russian skaters who stand atop the podiums in Stockholm. Elizaveta Tuktamysheva qualified for her first World Championships in six years. At 24, she is the second oldest Russian lady to compete at the global competition behind Elena Sokolova who went to 2007 Worlds at age 27.
Skaters who did not have the required minimum technical scores to compete at the 2021 World Championships had the option of submitting videos to the ISU for evaluation. On March 2, the ISU published its updatedTechnical Elements Scores Statistics.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier/Photo: Robin Ritoss