The 2019 World Figure Skating Championships were held from March 18–24, 2019, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. 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. Nathan Chen of the United States won the men's event, Alina Zagitova of Russia won the women's event, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China won the pairs event, and Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France won the ice dance event. The competition would have determined the entry quotas for each skating federation at the 2020 World Championships; however, the 2020 World Champions were eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background The World Figure Skating Championships are considered the most prestigious event in figure skating. The 2019 World Figure Skating Championships were held from March 18–24, 2019, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Qualification The number of entries from each nation for the 2019 World Championships was based on the results of the 2018 World Championships. These nations were eligible to enter more than one skater or team in the indicated disciplines.
+Number of entries per discipline Spots Men Women Pairs Ice dance 3 2
Changes to preliminary assignments The International Skating Union published the initial list of entrants on February 25, 2019. Date Discipline Withdrew Added Reason/Other notes Refs February 26 Pairs Miu Suzaki / Ryuichi Kihara N/A Concussion (Kihara) February 27Ladies Stanislava Konstantinova Evgenia Medvedeva Further consideration * * * March 5 Viveca Lindfors Emmi Peltonen Medical March 6 Matilda Algotsson Anita Östlund Further consideration March 13 Men Maxim Kovtun Andrei Lazukin Medical
Records
The following new record high scores were set during this event.
+Record high scores Date Skater Segment Score March 20 Pairs Short program 79.24 81.21 March 21 Free skating 155.60 Total score 228.47 234.84 March 22 Ice dance Rhythm dance 88.42 March 23 Free dance 134.23 Total score 222.65 Men Free skating 206.10 Total score 300.97 Free skating 216.02 Total score 323.42
Results Men's singles Defending World Champion Nathan Chen finished first after the short program, with his American teammate Jason Brown finishing in second place. Chen was satisfied with his performance, saying, "There are always things I can do better, things I can improve on but ultimately everything I did, I did as best as I could and I hope to continue that into the free program". Brown's short program, despite not having any quad jumps in comparison to his competitors, has been praised as one of the best short programs of the season. After moving to Toronto in the off-season, Brown reflected on his newfound maturity, noting, "There's a bit of confidence, a maturity confidence. As far as the skating goes, there's still a lot of changes that we have to make, but as the season's gone on, I've gotten a lot more confidence. I think it's a sense of maturity, the way that I'm carrying myself." Two-time Olympic and World Champion Yuzuru Hanyu, rounded out the top 3 despite doubling his quad salchow attempt. While commenting about his performance at the press conference Hanyu expressed his surprise of being awarded third place, despite missing the second half of the season due to an injured ankle, "I'm disappointed with my short program, I made a big mistake and I've got to reform and improve for the free skate, but I'm honored to be in the top three." Four Continents Bronze Medallist Vincent Zhou finished in fourth, European bronze medallist Matteo Rizzo was fifth, while Four Continents champion, Olympic silver medallist and two-time defending silver medallist Shoma Uno completed the top six.
Chen maintained the lead he gained in the short program, becoming the first American male skater to defend a World Title since Scott Hamilton in 1984. He finished 22 points ahead of Hanyu, who became the first skater to break the 200-point mark since the introduction of the +5 GOE system, marking the fifth consecutive year of a Japanese skater winning the silver medal. Hanyu was called for an under-rotation and uneasy landing on his quad salchow, missed half of the season due to a lingering ankle injury and was proud of his performance despite not having enough strength in his ankle. Zhou's bronze medal was his first major ISU Championship senior medal, making himself and Chen the first two American men to make the world championship podium since 1996. After breaking the free skate world record at Four Continents, Uno's fourth-place finish was a shock to the home crowd—with a fall on his quad flip, an under-rotation on a combination jump and incomplete landing call on his opening quad salchow—was notably in tears when speaking to Japanese media stating feelings of regret and disappointment. When reflecting on his season, Uno was upset at his performance "If I recall, there are more competitions that I got disappointed over joyful ones in this season, [...] Overall, I am still disappointed in myself. I need to become much stronger mentally." Jin Boyang finished in fifth with two triple Axels and a big cheer from the crowd, with his performance component score bringing down his marks. Despite a second-place finish in the short program, Brown could not maintain his lead and dropped to ninth overall after a messy free skate, including a fall on his quad salchow, although was positive about his incredible improvement throughout the season. Kevin Aymoz suffered an injury to his hands after cutting them when trying to save a jump gone wrong, resulting in blood dripping on the ice.
Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1 Nathan Chen 323.42 1 107.40 1 216.02 2 Yuzuru Hanyu 300.97 3 94.87 2 206.10 3 Vincent Zhou 281.16 4 94.17 3 186.99 4 Shoma Uno 270.32 6 91.40 4 178.92 5 Jin Boyang 262.71 9 84.26 5 178.45 6 Mikhail Kolyada 262.44 10 84.23 6 178.21 7 Matteo Rizzo 257.66 5 93.37 10 164.29 8 Michal Březina 254.28 8 86.96 8 167.32 9 Jason Brown 254.15 2 96.81 14 157.34 10 Andrei Lazukin 248.74 11 84.05 9 164.69 11 Kévin Aymoz 247.47 7 88.24 12 159.23 12 Alexander Samarin 246.33 20 78.38 7 167.95 13 Morisi Kvitelashvili 240.74 12 82.67 13 158.07 14 Keiji Tanaka 238.40 19 78.76 11 159.64 15 Keegan Messing 237.64 14 82.38 15 155.26 16 Nam Nguyen 237.27 13 82.51 16 154.76 17 Vladimir Litvintsev 230.84 16 81.46 19 149.38 18 Alexander Majorov 229.72 17 79.17 17 150.55 19 Cha Jun-hwan 229.26 18 79.17 18 150.09 20 Brendan Kerry 222.02 21 78.26 21 143.76 21 Deniss Vasiļjevs 218.52 23 74.74 20 143.78 22 Alexei Bychenko 216.60 22 77.67 22 138.93 23 Julian Zhi Jie Yee 205.97 24 73.63 23 132.34 24 Daniel Samohin 205.28 15 82.00 24 123.28 25 Peter James Hallam 66.06 25 66.06 colspan=2 26 Luc Maierhofer 65.78 26 65.78 colspan=2 27 Aleksandr Selevko 63.25 27 63.25 colspan=2 28 Paul Fentz 63.24 28 63.24 colspan=2 29 Ivan Shmuratko 62.99 29 62.99 colspan=2 30 Burak Demirboğa 60.79 30 60.79 colspan=2 31 Slavik Hayrapetyan 60.66 31 60.66 colspan=2 32 Valtter Virtanen 55.73 32 55.73 colspan=2 33 Donovan Carrillo 54.99 33 54.99 colspan=2 34 Lukas Britschgi 54.58 34 54.58 colspan=2 35 Ihor Reznichenko 50.15 35 50.15 colspan=2
Women's singles 2018 Olympic gold medallist Alina Zagitova took the lead in the short program, ahead of home crowd favourite and Japanese national champion Kaori Sakamoto who achieved a personal best score after performing a near perfect triple flip-triple toe-loop combination. Zagitova mentioned that she was nervous before beginning her program as she had experienced several mistakes and errors throughout the season, although stated that she felt more mentally prepared in comparison to the rest of her season. Sakamoto was pleased with her performance, "I was able to execute everything as I did in practice and will aim to do that again in the free skate." Zagitova's training partner Elizabet Tursynbaeva surprised both critics and the crowd to finish in third. After a rocky season, two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva finished fourth by achieving a seasons best for a short program that was first performed in December, receiving a standing ovation from the Japanese crowd despite an under-rotation call on her triple toe-loop. Short program world record holder and Grand Prix Final champion, Rika Kihira finished in seventh after singling her triple Axel attempt. 2017 World bronze medallist and 2018 Olympic Team Champion Gabrielle Daleman made her return to international competition after taking personal leave for mental health reasons, finishing in 11th despite skating clean. Zagitova took first in the free skate to win her first world title, becoming the first female skater since Yuna Kim to complete a Career Grand Slam after silver medal finishes at the Grand Prix Final and Europeans. When speaking to the media Zagitova stated "I realized that I needed a clean skate and I went into each jump determined to land it". Tursynbaeva became the first senior woman to land a quad jump, completing a clean quad salchow in the free skate to take silver for Kazakhstan, their first in any discipline since Denis Ten in 2015. Tursynbaeva couldn't believe she landed her quad after falling in her previous two attempts in competition. Medvedeva narrowly beat Kihira for the bronze by a tenth of a mark, despite Kihira beating Medvedeva in the free skate the deficit from the short program it was not enough to change the standings. Kihira's Japanese teammates, short program silver medallist Sakamoto and Satoko Miyahara finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with Sakamoto popping her planned triple-flip which cost her a place on the podium. The judging panel came under scrutiny with Medvedeva not being called for her lutz performed with the wrong edge, with critics and fans criticising a lack of consistency amongst the judging of other skaters, marring the final result.
Rank Name Nation Total points SP FS 1Alina Zagitova237.50182.081155.42 2Elizabet Tursynbaeva224.76375.964148.80 3Evgenia Medvedeva223.80474.233149.57 4Rika Kihira223.49770.902152.59 5Kaori Sakamoto222.83276.865145.97 6Satoko Miyahara215.95870.606145.35 7Bradie Tennell213.471069.507143.97 8Sofia Samodurova208.58970.428138.16 9Mariah Bell208.07671.269136.81 10Lim Eun-soo205.57572.9110132.66 11Gabrielle Daleman192.671169.1912123.48 12Loena Hendrickx186.291362.6011123.69 13Ekaterina Ryabova179.881757.1813122.70 14Yi Christy Leung177.221458.6014118.62 15Laurine Lecavelier170.591956.8115113.78 16Nicole Schott170.561263.1817107.38 17Alexandra Feigin165.312056.6916108.62 18Daša Grm161.161657.5818103.58 19Chen Hongyi157.591558.531999.06 20Eliška Březinová153.451857.132096.32 21Natasha McKay151.562156.402195.16 22Eva Lotta Kiibus149.992355.382294.61 23Alaine Chartrand148.972255.892393.08 24Isadora Williams143.222455.202488.02 25Ivett Tóth54.87 2554.87 colspan=2 26Pernille Sørensen54.36 2654.36 colspan=2 27Marina Piredda53.27 2753.27 colspan=2 28Emmi Peltonen53.22 2853.22 colspan=2 29Julia Sauter53.11 2953.11 colspan=2 30Anita Östlund53.07 3053.07 colspan=2 31Roberta Rodeghiero51.50 3151.50 colspan=2 32Nicole Rajičová51.22 3251.22 colspan=2 33Alexia Paganini50.51 3350.51 colspan=2 34Valentina Matos50.25 3450.25 colspan=2 35Aurora Cotop48.83 3548.83 colspan=2 36Kailani Craine48.82 3648.82 colspan=2 37Sophia Schaller48.72 3748.72 colspan=2 38Elžbieta Kropa47.95 3847.95 colspan=2 39Anastasia Galustyan47.75 3947.75 colspan=2 40Kyarha van Tiel41.85 4041.85 colspan=2
Pairs