Background
The World Championships occurred less than two months after the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision that killed multiple junior skaters and coaches of the Skating Club of Boston. [3] A ceremony was held at the start of the competition, honoring the skaters and coaches who perished. International Skating Union (ISU) president Jae Youl Kim attended the ceremony and stated, "Someone once told me time is a great healer, but for those who have experienced deep loss, we know that time does not simply erase pain. For many of us, it feels like we are frozen in time". [3] The ceremony was also attended by family members of the victims, as well as alumni of the Skating Club of Boston. [4]
Men's singles
Defending World champion, Ilia Malinin of the United States, entered the competition heavily favored to win. [4] Malinin had not lost a competition all season, but still felt grief over the loss of friends and training partners who had died on American Airlines Flight 5342. Malinin stated that he wanted to deliver a performance that he and everyone could be proud of. [5] When asked about rivals, Malinin responded, "I would consider myself to be my biggest rival... I always like to compete against myself and to really just push my own limit." [5]
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan entered the World Championships after a shocking loss to Cha Jun-hwan of South Korea at the 2025 Asian Winter Games. [4] Experimenting with new technical content and new jumps had led to a very inconsistent season and a World Championship medal, although in reach, was not a certainty. [6] Adam Siao Him Fa of France, who had been the last skater to beat Malinin in competition, had also had an inconsistent season, having lost his European Championship title to Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland and also withdrawing from the Grand Prix Final due to a persistent ankle injury. [4] [7] Due to the injury which had plagued him all season, he chose to simplify his technical content in order to achieve some consistency and allow his injury to heal properly, as his stamina due to the injury was causing mistakes, including at the 2025 Cup of China, where he had appeared visibly exhausted at the end of the free skate. [6] [8]
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who had replaced Siao Him Fa at the Grand Prix Final and ultimately finished there in fourth place, had also recently won the 2025 Four Continents Championships by a margin of 20 points. [6] [9] [7] Additionally, Shaidorov had become the first skater to land a difficult triple Axel-quadruple toe loop jump combination earlier in the season. [10]
Women's singles
Unlike the men's event, there was no clear front-runner in the lead up to the women's event. Three-time World Champion, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, had struggled throughout the season, finishing third at the Grand Prix Final and second at the 2025 Asian Winter Games. [5] Sakamoto admitted that she did not feel fully ready for the World Championships due to an adjustment in program difficulty and whether her stamina was ready for the demands of her free skate program this season. Sakamoto also faced pressure in Japan to maintain her high standards, with five out of the six skaters qualifying for the Grand Prix Final having come from Japan. [11] [10]
Reigning World silver medalist, Isabeau Levito of the United States, had missed out on most of the season due to a foot injury that had prevented her from skating for three months. [12] At the Olympic test event in Milan, she admitted she was still not completely fit and did a watered-down layout of her usual program, and there were concerns as to how she would do at the World Championships. [11] Amber Glenn, also of the United States, was undefeated in competition this season, having won the 2024 Grand Prix de France and the 2024 Cup of China, as well as the Grand Prix Final. [5] [10]
Reigning World bronze medalist, Kim Chae-yeon of South Korea, won the biggest title of her career at the 2025 Four Continents Championships with personal bests in the short program, free skate, and total score. [11] [13] Additionally, she had beaten Kaori Sakamoto at the Asian Winter Games. [14] Despite having lost the Grand Prix Final, she experienced consistency during the second half of the season and was favored to win a medal at the World Championships. [11]
Alysa Liu of the United States, who won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships, had returned to competition this season after a two-year hiatus. [5] [11] [15] She had finished in second place at the 2025 U.S. Championships and fourth at the Four Continents Championships leading up to the World Championships. [5] After the Four Continents Championships, she expressed her challenges and enjoyments of returning to competitive skating, stating, "It’s been so hard this season. I mean, of course, this was really hard to get through to, but it felt a lot lighter, and I could actually move through it with enjoyment." [13]
Pairs
Reigning World Champions, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada, faced a season full of injuries and illness. After winning the 2024 Skate Canada International and the 2024 Finlandia Trophy, they ultimately withdrew from the Grand Prix Final due to Deschamps being ill. They also physically struggled at the Four Continents Championships after Stellato-Dudek fell during practice and injured her back. [16] [17] In a happier moment of the season, it was announced that Stellato-Dudek had officially become a Canadian citizen, allowing her and Deschamps to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. [16]
Reigning silver medalists and 2023 World Champions, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, chose to switch choreographers at the start of the season due to feedback given by the skating community after losing their World title to Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps in 2024. Their consistency became a struggle, as multiple issues with their side-by-side jumps throughout the season led to losses at competitions throughout the season, notably at the Grand Prix Final. [18] They regained some momentum with a win at the Four Continents Championships over Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps. [5]
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany continued to maintain the momentum that had begun last season by winning both the Grand Prix Final and the 2025 European Championships. [16] [19] Their only loss of the season was at the 2024 Cup of China, where mistakes in their short program led to a second-place finish. [18] After a difficult season both personally and professionally, Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii of Italy returned to form throughout the season, winning the 2024 Cup of China and finishing second at the 2024 Grand Prix de France. [20]
Ice dance
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain were the only ice dance team to win two Grand Prix events this season – the 2024 Skate America and 2024 Finlandia Trophy – although they finished in third place at the 2025 European Championships. [21] Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Great Britain, four-time World Champions in ice dance, voiced their support for Fear and Gibson, with Torvill noting that "they have taken ice dancing in Great Britain to another level". [22] Dean was confident that momentum was on their side, stating, "there's the word of mouth around the events, the judges, the panel, the public perception of them, how the audience react – it does influence." [22]
The reigning silver medalists, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada, had had a disappointing Grand Prix season; while winning the 2024 Skate Canada International, they had lost at the 2024 Finlandia Trophy to Fear and Gibson. Their struggles continued at the 2024 Grand Prix Final, where they finished in fifth place after a fall in the rhythm dance. [21] [16] Their momentum had shifted by February, when they won the 2025 Four Continents Championships. [21] [16]
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States had also had an inconsistent season, with a shocking loss to Fear and Gibson at the 2024 Skate America and a loss to Gillies and Poirier at the 2025 Four Continents Championships. [21] [23] Additionally, their "Tour of the Decades"-themed rhythm dance had undergone multiple changes throughout the season. [24] Despite these setbacks, they had won the Grand Prix Final in December, as well as the 2024 NHK Trophy. [25] [16]
The reigning bronze medalists, Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy, had the most polarizing free dance of the season, where the two portrayed robots. [23] [26] [27] Despite the negative feedback to their robot program, Guignard and Fabbri won the 2024 Cup of China and the 2025 European Championships. [21] Acknowledging the criticisms they had received about their routine from both fans and judges, Fabbri stated, "We don't want to be remembered as a couple who can only do one type of thing... We've changed styles several times. That's how we want people to remember us." [26]
Results
Men's singles
Ilia Malinin won his second world title in dominant fashion. His short program became the highest scoring of his career. [4] His short program featured a quadruple flip and a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop jump combination. Malinin mentioned that he had been uncharacteristically nervous before skating, which changed once the music began, stating, "Once the music came on, I just got into a flow state and it really just went from there". [4] His free skate featured all six jumps – toe loop, Salchow, loop, flip, Lutz, and Axel – as quadruples, [35] plus his signature aerial twist (nicknamed the "raspberry twist"). [5] His 31.09-point margin over silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov was the second largest margin of victory in the men's discipline, after Nathan Chen's 47.63-point victory in 2018. [35] When asked about his victory after his free skate, Malinin replied, "Getting here, I wanted to give it my all and fight for every element. I feel like I did that. It's really inspiring to do this in front of the home crowd." [36]
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the silver medal, the first medal in the men's event for a Kazakh skater since Denis Ten in 2015. [36] He sat in third place after his short program, more than 15 points behind Malinin. [4] A personal best in his free skate, which included four quadruple jumps, moved him up to second place overall. [37] [35] When asked about his season overall, Shaidorov replied, "If someone had asked me at the beginning of the season that I would be on the world podium, I never would have believed it." [37]
Yuma Kagiyama scored one point behind his personal best in the short program, just over three points behind Malinin. [4] However, he discussed with the media that he felt Malinin was "invincible", and that even if he performed at his best, his efforts would still not be enough. [4] Kagiyama stated: "I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression is getting better year by year." [38] A fall on his quadruple Salchow, as well as a flawed triple Axel, dropped him to tenth place in the free skate, but finished overall with the bronze medal. [37] [35]
Adam Siao Him Fa of France did not have the short program he had hoped for, when a fall on his quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop jump combination placed him in ninth place. [4] Siao Him Fa became the first skater to perform a legal backflip at the World Championships since 1976, as the ban on backflips in competition had been overturned in 2024. [37] [39] Ilia Malinin also performed a backflip as part of his free skate later in the competition. [39]
Women's singles
Alysa Liu of the United States shocked the audience by winning her first World Championship title, adding to her bronze medal from 2022, and became the first American woman to win a World Championship since Kimmie Meissner in 2006. [41] Liu set a new personal best score in the short program. [42] Her free skate to Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park" received a standing ovation from the audience, set another personal best score, with a shocked Liu exclaiming "What the hell?" as she finished her program and received her scores. [43] [44] About her win after returning from a two-year retirement, Liu stated, "I’m not going to lie, this is an insane story. I don’t know how I came back to be World Champion". [43]
After a mistake on her combination jump, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan was in fifth place after the short program. [43] [15] Her free skate also received a standing ovation from the crowd, and Sakamoto finished overall with the silver medal. [43] Sakamoto had nothing but praise for Liu after the event, saying how happy she was to see her competing again: "She went away, and now she's back and the World Champion. I wouldn't say she's changed. Her cheerfulness and kindness and the way she's always happy brought her to the top step of the podium." [24] Speaking to Japanese media, Sakamoto, although happy with her skate, also said she was frustrated that her performance was not enough, with an under-rotation call on her triple flip-triple toe loop combination jump being the difference between gold and silver, but also emphasized how happy she was for Liu. [45]
Mone Chiba won the bronze medal, improving on her seventh place finish from the previous year. [45] Her disco-themed short program received a warm reception from the crowd. [15] Chiba said that she was nervous before the free skate, which led to mistakes, and told Japanese media that "getting on the podium wasn't even in my wildest dreams so I'm super happy". [45]
Isabeau Levito of the United States finished third in the short program, putting to rest any question whether her foot injury was healed or not, although Levito admitted that she was still feeling sore. [41] [15] Although her stamina from missing three months of training was not able to fully sustain her free skate, she dropped to fourth overall after a fall in her triple flip-triple toe loop jump combination and an edge call on her triple Lutz. [41] [46] Amber Glenn, also of the United States, had been undefeated all season, fell on her triple Axel in the short program and finished the segment in ninth place. [42] Despite this, she placed fifth overall after the free skate; her best ever result at the World Championships. [43] [41]
Pairs
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan won their second World Championship title. Having established a small lead in the short program, they lost points in their free skate due to stumbles on their side-by-side triple toe loop-double Axel jump combination, but ultimately won the World Championship title by 0.71 points. [48] [49] [50] Miura and Kihara's margin of victory was the second shortest margin in the history of the pairs event, behind only Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany in 2012. [48]
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany finished in second place. Placing third in the short program, both of them felt the routine was not their best, felt they held back a bit too much and didn't skate as close together as they should have. They produced the highest-scoring free skate of the event, setting a new personal best score. [48] [50] After the free skate, Hase stated, "For one second, we hoped it would be enough, but we did everything in this free skate, and we cannot be ashamed or regret that we held back." [48] After finishing second in the short program, Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii of Italy were able to finish third overall. They had the third best free skate of the evening, a feat Conti felt was impressive considering they had to follow Hase and Volodin's near-perfect performance. [50]
Defending World Champions, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada, finished in fifth place overall. After a disappointing seventh place finish in the short program, their free skate moved them up, with Stellato-Dudek admitting that they had nothing to lose: "We were so far behind after the short program, all we could do was give it our all and that’s what we did.” [51] [52] Stellato-Dudek also discussed the pressure they felt to defend their world title, stating that "being the returning champion has been so difficult. You're expected to win, you're asked about it every time. It's just been a new learning experience. I think I'm better at the chase, because I love it." [52]
Ice dance
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States won their third consecutive world title, the first ice dance team to achieve this milestone since Russia's Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov in 1996. [54] [24] After completing their rhythm dance, Chock stated that the performance had been the most fun competitive routine she had ever had. [24] [55] Their jazz-themed free dance was nearly perfect, receiving their only deduction for their choreographic twizzles. [56] After winning the event, Chock stated, "This definitely feels extra special, to do it in front of a home crowd and to have two of our best skates of the season. I don't think we could've done anything better than that." [54]
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada finished second in both segments and placed second overall. Poirier stated that the lead that Chock and Bates had created after the rhythm dance would be "tough" to catch. [24] Although disappointed with another silver medal, Gillies said, "We skated with joy, we skated with our hearts. The Olympic Games are coming up and our eyes are still on top of the podium, and silver's a stepping-stone for us." [57]
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain, despite finishing sixth in the free skate, held onto their lead over the other teams from the rhythm dance to finish third overall. It was Great Britain's first World Championship medal since 1984. [58] Fear commented, "I can't even describe my feelings, I'm still shaking, I'm in disbelief," with Gibson adding, "It's a dream come true." [58] On joining Torvill and Dean as British ice dance World Championship medalists, Gibson said, "we’ve been compared to them a lot, and I love it every time. It’s such an honor. I was inspired by them, and I hope so much that there are little kids out there in Great Britain seeing this and wanting to put their skates on as well.” [59] [60] Despite a great rhythm dance, their free dance was noticeably nervy in the first half with the judges marking them lower than expected on a lift and step sequence. [60]
Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy finished fourth in all segments. Their free dance scored five points below their season's best. [60] Guignard noticed that unlike their competitors, the crowd did not enjoy their free dance, which she said might have affected their scores. [59] Fabbri also stated that they had made mistakes: "It wasn’t flawless, but also it didn’t feel bad. Still, we were a bit tense today, not that relaxed." [59]
Ilia Malinin 
Riku Miura 
