# 2022 World Figure Skating Championships

The 2022 World Figure Skating Championships were held from March 21 to 27, 2022, at the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier, France. Sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), the World Championships are considered the most prestigious event in figure skating. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The competition determined the entry quotas for each skating federation at the 2023 World Championships. Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto, both of Japan, won the men's and women's events, respectively. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States won the pairs event, and Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won the ice dance event.


## Background
The World Figure Skating Championships are considered the most prestigious event in figure skating. The 2022 World Figure Skating Championships were held from March 21 to 27, 2022, at the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier, France. The 2022 World Championships were notable for a number of absences following the 2022 Winter Olympics. Reigning World and Olympic champion Nathan Chen of the United States and two-time World and Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan bowed out, citing injuries. Additionally, the Chinese Skating Association opted not to send any skaters to the competition.


### Ban of Russian and Belarusian figure skaters
In 2016, an independent report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed allegations that the Russian Olympic team had been involved in a state-sponsored doping program, active from at least late 2011 through August, 2015. On December 9, 2019, the WADA banned Russia from all international competitions after it found that data provided by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency had been manipulated by Russian authorities in order to protect athletes involved in its state-sponsored doping scheme. Under the ban imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Russian athletes could not use the Russian flag or anthem in international competition and had to present themselves as "Neutral Athletes" or a "Neutral Team" at any world championships. On February 19, 2022, Anna Shcherbakova stated her intention to compete at the World Championships after winning the Olympic gold medal.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nathalie Péchalat, then-president of the French Federation of Ice Sports, announced that no Russian or Belarusian athletes would be allowed to compete at the World Championships in France due to travel restrictions imposed by the French government, with no official word from the International Skating Union (ISU) as to whether the ban would extend further. When Péchalat's announcement was made, there were discussions about Russian skaters trying to attend the World Championships by flying into neighboring countries and traveling to Montpellier by road. On March 1, 2022, the ISU banned all Russian and Belarusian skaters from participating in any international skating events. These World Championships became the first major sporting event around the world, excluding the 2022 Winter Paralympics, to proceed with a Russian and Belarusian ban.


## Qualification
The number of entries from each nation for the 2022 World Championships was based on the results of the 2021 World Championships. These nations were eligible to enter more than one skater or team in the indicated disciplines.


## Changes to preliminary entries
The International Skating Union published a complete list of entrants on March 2, 2022.


## Required performance elements
### Single skating
Women competing in single skating first performed their short programs on Wednesday, March 23, while men performed theirs on Thursday, March 24. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds, the short program had to include the following elements:
For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.
For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one flying spin; one layback spin, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and one step sequence using the full ice surface.
The top 24 skaters after completion of the short program component of the competition moved on to the free skating component. Women performed their free skates on Friday, March 25; men performed theirs on Saturday, March 26. The free skate performance for both men and women could last no more than 4 minutes, and had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one had to be a flying spin, and one had to be a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.


### Pair skating
Couples competing in pair skating performed their short programs on Wednesday, March 23. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 40 seconds, it had to include the following elements: one pair lift, one twist lift, one double or triple throw jump, one double or triple solo jump, one solo spin combination with a change of foot, one death spiral, and a step sequence using the full ice surface.
The top 20 couples after completion of the short program component moved on to the free skating component, which were performed on Thursday, March 24. The free skate performance could last no more than 4 minutes, and had to include the following: three pair lifts, of which one had to be a twist lift; two different throw jumps; one solo jump; one jump combination or sequence; one pair spin combination; one death spiral; and a choreographic sequence.


### Ice dance
Couples competing in ice dance performed their rhythm dances on Friday, March 25. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, the theme of the rhythm dance this season was "street dance rhythms". Examples of applicable dance styles included, but were not limited, to: hip-hop, disco, swing, krump, popping, funk, jazz, reggae (reggaeton), and blues. The required pattern dance element was the Midnight Blues. The rhythm dance had to include the following elements: the pattern dance, the pattern dance step sequence, one dance lift, one set of sequential twizzles, and one step sequence.
The top 20 couples after the rhythm dance moved on to the free dance, which was held on Saturday, March 26. The free dance performance could last no longer than 4 minutes, and had to include the following: three dance lifts, one dance spin, one set of synchronized twizzles, one step sequence in hold, one step sequence while on one skate and not touching, and three choreographic elements, of which one had to be a choreographic character step sequence.


## Judging
For the 2021–2022 season, all of the technical elements in any figure skating performance – such as jumps, spins, and lifts – were assigned a predetermined base point value and were then scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −5 to 5 based on their quality of execution. The judging panel's Grade of Execution (GOE) was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (that is, an average after deleting the highest and lowest scores), and this GOE was added to the base value to come up with the final score for each element. The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a total element score. At the same time, judges evaluated each performance based on five program components – skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music – and assigned a score from .25 to 10 in .25 point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the following chart; the results were added together to generate a total program component score.

Deductions were applied for certain violations like time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The total element score and total program component score were added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.


## Medal summary
### Medalists
Medals were awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest overall placements in each discipline.

Small medals were awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest short program or rhythm dance placements in each discipline.

Small medals were awarded to the skaters or teams who achieved the highest free skate or free dance placements in each discipline.


### Medals by country
## Records
The following new record high scores were set during this event.


## Results
### Men's singles
Donovan Carrillo of Mexico had to withdraw prior to the short program when the luggage with his skates did not arrive in time for the competition. Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea withdrew from the free skate due to problems with his boots. 
During the short program, one judge received backlash from fans and the media for noting that Ivan Shmuratko of Ukraine had committed a "costume/prop violation" for wearing the Ukrainian national team's training outfit rather than his traditional skating costume. Shmuratko did not receive a deduction due to a majority of the judges' votes being required, while the crowd gave him a standing ovation for his performance.
Shoma Uno of Japan won the gold medal after a free skate that featured a quadruple loop, quadruple Salchow, quadruple flip, and a quadruple toe loop in combination, and his free skate score of 202.85 was a career-best for him. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan won the silver medal, while Vincent Zhou of the United States rallied back from a sixth-place finish in the short program to win the bronze medal.


### Women's singles
Kaori Sakamoto of Japan won the gold medal in the women's event, outscoring silver medalist Loena Hendrickx of Belgium by nearly twenty points. Despite an injury, Hendrickx became the first Belgian to win a World Championship medal in the women's event. "I had a lot of pain," Hendrickx stated after the competition, "but I wanted to show one last time that I can do it to finish my season strong." With six triple jumps, Alysa Liu of the United States finished in third place. "I think I did really good. I’m really proud of myself," Liu stated. "I didn’t think I could do better than the Olympics."


### Pairs
Sofiia Holichenko and Artem Darenskyi of Ukraine chose to withdraw from the free skate due to a lack of training time following the Winter Olympics as well as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc of the United States, who were in second place after the short program, were forced to withdraw after Cain-Gribble fell during the free skate and knocked her head against the ice, requiring her to be removed from the ice on a stretcher and hospitalized.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States won gold medals; it was the first time that an American pairs team had won the World Championship title since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979. Knierim and Frazier received a career-best score of 144.21 in the free skate and 221.09 overall to win the gold. "I had so many emotions," Knierim stated afterward. "It was so much gratitude, fulfillment, excitement, and disbelief."


### Ice dance
One day prior to the rhythm dance, the ISU rejected the proposed program by Ukrainian ice dancers Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin. Their program was set to music by Ukrainian artists – "1944" by Jamala and the Ukrainian folk song "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna" performed by Andriy Khlyvnyuk of BoomBox – and included a fifteen-second snippet of a speech by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Ukrainian language calling for peace; the ISU cited the speech portion of the program as "propaganda". Following intervention by their federation, Nazarova and Nikitin were allowed to compete using a version featuring only the music and, like Ivan Shmuratko, they wore the colors of the Ukrainian national team rather than their traditional costumes and received a standing ovation. Despite limited training time leading up to the event, they said that they wanted to perform their new program to "express what they are living through." After the rhythm dance, Mikhail Makarov, president of the Ukrainian Figure Skating Federation, issued an appeal to Jan Dijkema, president of the ISU, and Sergey Bubka, president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, seeking to understand the rationale behind the ISU's decision. Nazarova and Nikitin later withdrew from the free dance, feeling that performing their upbeat program set to music from Moulin Rouge! was inappropriate in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, who were favored to win the ice dance event, broke their own world record scores in the rhythm dance, the free dance, and the overall total, ultimately winning their fifth World Championship title. Cizeron described the experience as "one of the most beautiful competitions of our career." Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States, in what ended up being the last competition of their career, finish second, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates, also of the United States, finished third. "I feel incredibly emotional,” Chock stated afterward. “It was a dream... to be back on the podium after what feels like a very, very long time."


## Qualification for 2023 World Championships
The number of entries from each nation for the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships was based on the results of the 2022 World Championships. These nations would be eligible to enter more than one skater or team in the indicated disciplines.  


## Controversy
On March 23, Simon Reed, who was providing commentary for the 2022 World Championships, was caught on a hot mic referring to Meagan Duhamel, two-time World Champion in pair skating, as "that bitch from Canada," while his co-host Nicky Slater could be heard laughing in the background. Duhamel had criticized the pair's commentary the day before on social media. As a result, the International Skating Union (ISU) removed both Reed and Slater as commentators for the remainder of the competition, as well as any future ISU events. "There is no place for harassing and abusive language or remarks and behavior in sport and our society," the ISU said in a statement.


## References
## Works cited
"Special Regulations & Technical Rules – Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.


## External links
Official website
2022 World Championships at the International Skating Union
2022 World Championships at Skating Scores