2020 World Figure Skating Championships

The 2020 World Figure Skating Championships were scheduled to be held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from March 16–22, 2020.[1] Figure skaters would have competed for the title of world champion in men's singles, ladies' singles, pairs, and ice dance. This would have been the first time that Montreal hosted the World Figure Skating Championships since 1932.[2] The competition was supposed to determine the entry quotas for each federation at the 2021 World Championships.

2020 World Figure Skating Championships
Type:ISU Championship
Date:March 16 – 22
Season:2019–20
Location:Montreal, Canada
Host:Skate Canada
Venue:Bell Centre
Defending champions
Men's singles:
Nathan Chen
Ladies' singles:
Alina Zagitova
Pair skating:
Sui Wenjing / Han Cong
Ice dance:
Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron
Previous:
2019 World Championships
Next:
2021 World Championships

The competition was cancelled on March 11 due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, with the possibility of being held later in the year, but not within the current season.[3][4] It was the second time the event had been cancelled for reasons other than a World War, after the 1961 World Championships were cancelled following the Sabena Flight 548 crash.[5]

The competition was formally cancelled on April 16, after the International Skating Union (ISU) previously considered rescheduling to later within the year.[6]

Reactions to 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak

After a spike in COVID-19 cases from the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the 2020 Women's Ice Hockey World Championships in Nova Scotia by the International Ice Hockey Federation, the ISU was placed under intense pressure to make a public statement on the status of the 2020 World Figure Skating Championships, as the disease rapidly intensified across the world. The ISU had implemented prevention methods at its events since February 4, 2020 and required all attendees seeking accreditation to complete a questionnaire and temperature check.[7]

Skate Canada, the host federation, issued a statement on Friday, March 6, that all athletes will be screened for symptoms at the border, undergo health checks, and be required to fill out questionnaires throughout the competition.[8] On Tuesday, March 10, media, officials, skaters, and coaches scheduled to attend the event received a lengthy Coronavirus Information Package from the ISU. All individuals attending the event will be required to undergo a temperature check upon arrival to the competition and must check-in under 38 °C (100 °F).[9] The Quebec Health Ministry held a press conference the same day to discuss "all major events in the province...with input from the Public Health Agency of Canada."[9] At the meeting, Quebec Minister of Health Danielle McCann indicated that cancellation was a possibility, but a final decision had not yet been reached, despite athletes being scheduled to arrive within the next few days.[9]

At 3:30 PM EDT on Wednesday, March 11, the Quebec government and Quebec Health Ministry made the decision to cancel the World Championships.[3] The ISU posted a statement agreeing with the decision, saying that the event could possibly be rescheduled for later in the year, but not before October 2020.[4] It was unclear how the cancellation would affect the upcoming season and its subsequent Grand Prix assignments, which will begin before then.

On April 12, 2020, ISU Vice-President for Figure Skating, Alexander Lakernik, told media that the chances of rescheduling the championship were slim, due to the ongoing pandemic.[10] The ISU confirmed a complete cancellation of the event, with no chance of postponement to a later date, on April 16.[6]

ISU member nations' response

Prior to the cancellation announcement on March 11, the Polish Figure Skating Association asked its athletes on March 10 to make personal decisions by the next day, March 11, on whether or not to attend the event, following the Polish Minister of Sport's recommendation to avoid travel to foreign events.[11]

Skate Canada, the host federation, postponed several conference calls with its skaters from March 11 to March 13, while awaiting a decision by the local Quebec government on the status of the event.[12]

Several prominent skaters, including two-time reigning men's World Champion Nathan Chen, and coaches Rafael Arutyunyan, Lee Barkell, Marie-France Dubreuil, and Brian Orser, expressed concerns over the possibility of rescheduling the competition to fall 2020, citing the disruption to their training schedules and the proximity to the 2021 edition of the event.[5]

Qualification

Age and minimum TES requirements

Skaters are eligible for the 2020 World Championships if they turned 15 years of age before July 1, 2019 and have met the minimum technical elements score requirements. The ISU accepts scores if they were obtained at senior-level ISU-recognized international competitions at least 21 days before the first official practice day of the championships.[1] The ISU raised the minimum for ladies' singles in both segments on January 8, 2020.[13]

Minimum technical scores (TES)
Discipline SP / RD FS / FD
Men3464
Ladies3051
Pairs2744
Ice dance3347
Must be achieved at an ISU-recognized international event
in the ongoing or preceding season.
SP/RD and FS/FD scores may be attained at different events.

Number of entries per discipline

Based on the results of the 2019 World Championships, each ISU member nation can field one to three entries per discipline.[14]

Spots Men Ladies Pairs Dance
3  United States
 Japan
 Russia
 Kazakhstan
 Japan
 China
 Russia
 Russia
 United States
 Canada
2  China
 Russia
 Italy
 Czech Republic
 United States
 South Korea
 Canada
 France
 Canada
 Italy
 United States
 Austria
 Germany
 France
 Italy
If not listed above, one entry is allowed.

Schedule

Date Discipline Time Segment
Wednesday, March 18 Pairs 10:30 Short program
All 14:45 Opening ceremony
Ladies 15:45 Short program
Thursday, March 19 Men 10:45 Short program
Pairs 18:00 Free skating
Friday, March 20 Ice dance 11:25 Rhythm dance
Ladies 18:00 Free skating
Saturday, March 21 Ice dance 14:30 Free dance
Men 19:00 Free skating
Sunday, March 22 All 16:00–18:30 ISU Skating Awards
All times are listed in local time (UTC−04:00).[15]

Entries

Member nations began announcing their selections in December 2019. The International Skating Union published a complete list of entries on February 26, 2020.

Country Men[16] Ladies[17] Pairs[18] Ice dance[19]
 Armenia Slavik Hayrapetyan Anastasia Galustyan Tina Garabedian / Simon Proulx-Sénécal
 Australia Brendan Kerry Kailani Craine Holly Harris / Jason Chan
 Austria Maurizio Zandron Olga Mikutina Miriam Ziegler / Severin Kiefer
 Azerbaijan Vladimir Litvintsev Ekaterina Ryabova
 Belarus Viktoriia Safonova
 Brazil Isadora Williams
 Bulgaria Larry Loupolover Alexandra Feigin Mina Zdravkova / Christopher M. Davis
 Canada[20] Nam Nguyen Emily Bausback
Alicia Pineault
Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro
Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud
Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier
Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha
Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus
 China Jin Boyang Chen Hongyi Peng Cheng / Jin Yang
Sui Wenjing / Han Cong
Tang Feiyao / Yang Yongchao
Wang Shiyue / Liu Xinyu
 Croatia Lana Petranović / Antonio Souza-Kordeiru
 Czech Republic Michal Březina Eliška Březinová Natálie Taschlerová / Filip Taschler
 Estonia Aleksandr Selevko Eva-Lotta Kiibus
 Finland[21] Emmi Peltonen Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis
 France[22] Kévin Aymoz Maé-Bérénice Méité Cléo Hamon / Denys Strekalin
Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre
Marie-Jade Lauriault / Romain Le Gac
Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron
 Georgia Morisi Kvitelashvili Alina Urushadze Maria Kazakova / Georgy Reviya
 Germany[23] Paul Fentz Nicole Schott Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert
Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel
Katharina Müller / Tim Dieck
 Great Britain[24] Peter James Hallam Natasha McKay Zoe Jones / Christopher Boyadji Lilah Fear / Lewis Gibson
 Hong Kong Yi Christy Leung
 Hungary Ivett Tóth Ioulia Chtchetinina / Márk Magyar Emily Monaghan / Ilias Fourati
 Israel Alexei Bychenko Anna Vernikov / Evgeni Krasnopolski Shira Ichilov / Laurent Abecassis
 Italy Daniel Grassl
Matteo Rizzo
Alessia Tornaghi Nicole Della Monica / Matteo Guarise
Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini
Charlène Guignard / Marco Fabbri
Katrine Roy / Claudio Pietrantonio
 Japan[25] Yuzuru Hanyu
Keiji Tanaka
Shoma Uno
Wakaba Higuchi
Rika Kihira
Satoko Miyahara
Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara Misato Komatsubara / Tim Koleto
 Kazakhstan Maxine Weatherby / Temirlan Yerzhanov
 Latvia Deniss Vasiļjevs Angelīna Kučvaļska Aurelija Ipolito / J.T. Michel
 Lithuania Allison Reed / Saulius Ambrulevičius
 Malaysia Julian Zhi Jie Yee
 Netherlands[26] Niki Wories Daria Danilova / Michel Tsiba
 Philippines Alisson Krystle Perticheto
 Poland Ekaterina Kurakova Natalia Kaliszek / Maksym Spodyriev
 Russia[27] Dmitri Aliev
Artur Danielian
Alena Kostornaia
Anna Shcherbakova
Alexandra Trusova
Aleksandra Boikova / Dmitrii Kozlovskii
Daria Pavliuchenko / Denis Khodykin
Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov
Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov
Alexandra Stepanova / Ivan Bukin
Tiffany Zahorski / Jonathan Guerreiro
 South Korea Cha Jun-hwan Kim Ye-lim
You Young
Yura Min / Daniel Eaton
 Spain[28] Laura Barquero / Tòn Cónsul Olivia Smart / Adrián Díaz
 Sweden[29] Nikolaj Majorov Matilda Algotsson
  Switzerland[30] Lukas Britschgi Alexia Paganini Victoria Manni / Carlo Röthlisberger
 Turkey Burak Demirboğa Nicole Kelly / Berk Akalın
 Ukraine[31] Ivan Shmuratko Oleksandra Nazarova / Maxim Nikitin
 United States[32] Jason Brown
Nathan Chen
Vincent Zhou
Mariah Bell
Bradie Tennell
Ashley Cain-Gribble / Timothy LeDuc
Jessica Calalang / Brian Johnson
Madison Chock / Evan Bates
Kaitlin Hawayek / Jean-Luc Baker
Madison Hubbell / Zachary Donohue

Changes to preliminary entries

Date Discipline Withdrew Added Reason/Other notes Refs
February 26, 2020 Pairs Alexa Scimeca Knierim / Chris Knierim Jessica Calalang / Brian Johnson C. Knierim retired [33]
March 5, 2020 Ladies Anita Östlund Matilda Algotsson Injury recovery [34]
March 6, 2020 Ice dance Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen Carolane Soucisse / Shane Firus Recovery from knee surgery (Sørensen) [35]
March 7, 2020 Men Roman Galay N/A
March 9, 2020 Men Alexander Lebedev N/A

References

  1. "ISU 2020 World Figure Skating Championships Announcement". International Skating Union.
  2. "Skate Canada to host the ISU World Figure Skating Championships® 2020 in Montreal" (Press release). Skate Canada. September 21, 2017.
  3. "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC News. March 11, 2020.
  4. "ISU Statement – ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020, Montreal". International Skating Union. March 11, 2020.
  5. Hersh, Philip (March 11, 2020). "Nathan Chen, skating coaches react to cancellation of world figure skating championships". NBC Sports.
  6. "ISU Statement – Definite cancellation of pending 2020 ISU Championships". International Skating Union. April 16, 2020.
  7. "ISU Statement – Coronavirus – ISU Events season 2019/20". International Skating Union. March 2, 2020.
  8. "Here's how major events in Montreal are handling COVID-19 concerns". CBC News. March 9, 2020.
  9. Ewing, Lori (March 10, 2020). "ISU clamps down on access to world figure skating championships in Montreal amid COVID-19 concerns". Global News.
  10. Dolgopolov, Nikolai (April 12, 2020). "Лед подождет и дождется" [The ice will wait and wait] (in Russian).
  11. Tascher, Jacek (March 10, 2020). "Ważna informacja dotycząca koronowirusa" [Important information about coronavirus] (in Polish). Polish Figure Skating Association. Archived from the original on March 11, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  12. Ewing, Lori [@Ewingsports] (March 11, 2020). "Quebec Premier (my prvs tweet said health minister) says decision to be announced today on next week's world figure skating championships in Montreal" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  13. "Communication No. 2302: ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020, Minimum Total Elements Score - Ladies". International Skating Union. January 8, 2020.
  14. "Entries for ISU Figure Skating and Synchronized Skating Championships 2020". International Skating Union.
  15. "Event Schedule – Montreal 2020". Skate Canada. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  16. "ISU World Championships 2020: Men". International Skating Union. February 26, 2020.
  17. "ISU World Championships 2020: Ladies". International Skating Union. February 26, 2020.
  18. "ISU World Championships 2020: Pairs". International Skating Union. February 26, 2020.
  19. "ISU World Championships 2020: Ice Dance". International Skating Union. February 26, 2020.
  20. "Joukkue taitoluistelun MM-kilpailuihin" [Team for the Figure Skating World Championships] (in Finnish). Finnish Figure Skating Association. February 24, 2020.
  21. "Championnat du Monde 2020 de Patinage artistique & Danse sur glace" [2020 World Figure Skating & Ice Dance Championship] (in French). Fédération Française des Sports de Glace. February 12, 2020.
  22. "Nominierung WM-Mannschaft" [World Cup team nomination] (in German). Deutsche Eislauf-Union. February 18, 2020.
  23. "British Ice Skating selections to latest ISU major championships". British Ice Skating. February 20, 2020. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020.
  24. "ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2020" (PDF) (in Japanese). Japan Skating Federation. December 22, 2019.
  25. "Daria Danilova/Michel Tsiba en Niki Wories naar WK Kunstrijden in Montréal (15 – 22 maart)" [Daria Danilova / Michel Tsiba and Niki Wories to the World Championships Figure Skating in Montreal (March 15–22)] (in Dutch). KNSB. February 24, 2020.
  26. "Состав российской команды на чемпионат мира в Монреале" [Russia's team to the World Championships in Montreal] (in Russian). Figure Skating Federation of Russia. January 31, 2020.
  27. "Olivia Smart & Adrián Díaz representarán a España en el Mundial de Patinaje Artístico" [Olivia Smart & Adrián Díaz will represent Spain in the World Figure Skating Championships] (in Spanish). Federación Española de Deportes de Hielo. January 29, 2020.
  28. "Anita Östlund och Nikolaj Majorov uttagna till VM i konståkning 2020" [Anita Östlund and Nikolaj Majorov selected for the World Cup in figure skating 2020] (in Swedish). Skate Sweden. February 24, 2020.
  29. "Eiskunstlauf/Eistanz: Selektionen für die ISU Weltmeisterschaften und Junioren-Weltmeisterschaften 2020" [Nominations for the ISU World and World Junior Championships] (in German). Swiss Ice Skating. February 17, 2020. Archived from the original on February 20, 2020.
  30. "ЗАТВЕРДЖЕНО СКЛАД КОМАНД УКРАЇНИ ДЛЯ УЧАСТІ В ЧЕМПІОНАТАХ СВІТУ З ФІГУРНОГО КАТАННЯ" [Composition of Ukraine's World Championships teams approved] (in Ukrainian). Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation. February 7, 2020. Archived from the original on February 7, 2020.
  31. "Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson added to U.S. World Team". U.S. Figure Skating. February 26, 2020.
  32. Östlund, Anita (March 5, 2020). "Hi everyone! Unfortunately I have decided to withdraw from the World Championships this year" (Instagram).
  33. Skate Canada [@SkateCanada] (March 6, 2020). "#Montreal2020 announcement: Ice dancers Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Nikolaj Sorensen have withdrawn from the world championships due to Nikolaj recovering from surgery" (Tweet) via Twitter.
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