2024 World Figure Skating Championships: How to watch

Photo illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images

Winter is coming to an end and the Summer Olympics are just around the corner, but it’s time to watch my favorite sport: a sport that blends effortless grace, incredible athleticism, Broadway-level performance skills, and the fear of being cut by a knife. There’s still a chance to. On March 20th, the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships will open in Montreal, with approximately 200 of the world’s best skaters participating across his four disciplines: men’s, women’s, pairs and ice dance. Whether you’re a casual viewer tuning in to check out the outlandish costumes and bizarre music medleys, or a die-hard fan who knows the difference between a “troop” and a “lutz,” this year’s event promises to be great. A particularly attractive watch.

The Russian skater, known for doping scandals, competitive rankings and a tendency to dominate almost every contest he enters, has been banned from international competition due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. Their absence gives skaters from other countries a chance to show off their true abilities. All eyes will be on US champion Ilia “Quadg0d” Marin. Her historic quad axel made her the first skater to land all six quads in competition. There are even rumors that he is working on a “quinto” that involves an unprecedented five revolutions in the air. In the women’s category, Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto will be aiming for her third world title. This feat has not been achieved by a woman since 1968. Among the notable American skaters are a TikTok star, a soon-to-be-married ice dance duo, and a seasoned Olympian whose entertaining programs almost always earn standing ovations.

Can you name one skater we mentioned earlier? Here’s your cheat sheet for understanding the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships.

Figure skaters will compete in two routines: a 2 minute 40 second short program and a 4 minute free program. Like gymnastics, the routines are made up of technically demanding elements, each of which is scored differently. A complex rating system awards points not only for the difficulty of each challenge element, but also for how well they are executed, artistry and general skill. In singles competition, skaters earn the most points for jumps and spins. In pairs, the two athletes are scored for their mastery of jumps, spins, gravity-defying moves, over-the-head lifts, and a move ironically called the “death spiral.” And in ice dancing, a category of skating derived from ballroom dancing, skaters earn points with complex lifts, complex step sequences, and side-by-side traveling turns known as “twizzles.”

Men’s: The player to keep an eye on this year is definitely Marin. He is an up-and-coming teenager and is seen as the successor to Nathan Chen, who retired after winning the Olympic gold medal in 2022. The 19-year-old Malin has an impressive ace up his sleeve: his game-changing quadruple axel. To accomplish it, he throws himself into the air on one leg, spins around four and a half times, and lands backwards on the other leg. Marinin’s mastery of this move is unparalleled, but he is not immune to accidents. At the Grand Prix Final in December, he fell on the quad axel (which did not prevent him from winning the overall gold medal), stumbled on the step sequence, and also fell on the quad Lutz jump he had planned for earlier in the season.he’s skating here inheritance Last year’s theme:

Marinin will face his biggest rival, Japan’s Shoma Uno, the reigning world champion. A record breaker himself (Uno was the first skater to land a quad flip jump in 2016), he is widely considered one of the best all-around male skaters today, bringing maturity and grace on the ice. It gives me a chill every time I see it. he plays Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama has the potential to be a dark horse after returning from injury last season. And, of course, there’s Jason Brown, a favorite with American audiences. His exciting routines make him one of my favorite skaters.

Women’s: This year’s gold medal went to Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto. Powerful and expressive in her own right, Sakamoto has always won high praise for her pure skating skills, making everything look easy. But she missed a high-scoring jump in the free skate at last year’s world championships and faces stiff competition from her Japanese teammates and charismatic, confident Belgian skater Roena Hendricks. (I was coached by my girlfriend’s brother who is an Olympian. No more sibling rivalry!)

When 2023 U.S. champion Isabeau Levit burst onto the world stage, she seemed like the answer to the wave of untouchable Russian teenagers dominating the ice. But for me, perhaps the most exciting skater is Amber Glenn, the first openly queer U.S. women’s champion, thanks to her immersive, anything-goes style. She is one of the few female skaters who can land a triple axel, and if she can perform a clean program this week, she has a good chance of making it to the podium.

pair: Teams of pairs often train together for years to gain the symmetry needed to win gold medals. But this year, there is a very real possibility that the team will follow up the World Junior Figure Skating Championship title with a senior-level title. Georgia’s Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berlava haven’t skated together for a full year, but they’re already a team to watch with their ability to move seamlessly in unison and jump technique. To win, they will have to defeat last year’s world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, as well as two experienced teams from Italy.

But the story of this event belongs to Canada’s Diana Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps. At 40 years old, Stellato-Dudek is one of the oldest skaters to compete on the world stage. In a sport where female athletes are thrown high into the air and hoisted like pretzels over the heads of their partners, she proved that even the best skaters can thrive well past their teenage years.

ice dance: This field combines passionate performance with a particularly rigorous scoring system. (Ice dancers, for example, are judged by which side of the blade they use when spinning and how they grip each other in the process.) The gold medal favorite is reigning U.S. and world champion Madison Chock and Evan Bates. The on- and off-ice couple will aim to defend their titles by skating in front of Queen and Pink Floyd in costumes designed by Chock. In my opinion, they are the best dressed team of all time.

Challenging them will be Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who will hope to win at home, and Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Matteo Fabbri. Another super fun team to check out is Britain’s Lyla Fear and Lewis Gibson, who earned the nickname “Disco Blitz” for their tongue-in-cheek club-style routines. I also keep an eye on American national silver medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who are coached by two-time Olympic gold medalist Scott Moir.

The 2024 World Figure Skating Championships will be live-streamed on Peacock from March 20-24 and will also be broadcast on USA Network. (Additionally, the International Skating Union will stream the competition for free on its YouTube channel, but users in the United States will need a VPN to watch.) Watch the women’s free program Friday at 6pm ET. Please watch it. The ice dance and men’s free programs can be viewed on Saturday at 1:30pm and 6pm respectively.