World Figure Skating Championships 2025 Preview: Women and Pairs
THE 2025 World Figure Skating Championships are upon us, and we are ANXIOUS!
In this week’s episode, we break down the favorites, dark horses, underdogs, and possible spoilers in the Women’s and Pair’s events happening in Boston, Massachusetts.
And if the pressure for the podium (or even top 10 finish!) weren’t enough for everyone, all of the competitors also have the extra weight of Olympic spots for their countries on the line.
Women’s Championship
From reigning Queen Kaori Sakamoto to “undefeated in the ’24/’25 season” Amber Glenn, the competition this year is going to be intense. We’re seen our 3-time World Champ, Sakamoto, falter a bit this season. However, she tends to bring her best to the big competitions — and it doesn’t get bigger than this in a non-Olympic year.
Amber Glenn has not competed since winning her second US National title in January, and that time away could be to her advantage. However, based on current momentum, the edge could go to Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim — who recently had big back-to-back victories at Asian Winter Games and Four Continents.
Mone Chiba and Wakaba Higuchi from Japan did not have their best outings at Four Continents, but have had such a strong season that we cannot count either of them out for any spot on the podium here.
There is also the surging European Champion, Niina Petrokina, who moved into the conversation after her powerful skate in her home country of Estonia. Not to be forgotten, there’s also the wild card — Isabeau Levito — who has been out with injury much of the season. She’s the reigning World Silver medalist, and she’s not going to step off that podium without a fight.
While the group of women above are the most obvious frontrunners, there’s a fantastic group of women who are absolutely coming to Worlds to make a statement including former World medalist Alyssa Liu, Kimmy Repond, Nina Pinzarrone, Anastasia Gubanova, and many more who could all come in for an upset.
Pairs Championship
It really seems like it has narrowed down to 5 strong teams all vying for 3 spots on the podium. Reigning World Champions, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps have had a very up-and-down season, but with a big comeback at Four Contents to take silver with their best free skate so far this season they may bring some momentum. 2023 World Champions, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, may have a bit more steam since they took gold at Four Continents and have have an all-around strong season.
However, the favorites coming in have to be Germany’s Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin — who have looked crisp and clean nearly every time we’ve seen them this year. They may not have the passion of Dudek and Deschamps or the heart of Miura and Kihara, but they have the strength and consistency that could take them to victory.
The other 2 teams most likely to stand in their way are the Georgians Metelkina and Berulava and the powerful Italian team of Conti and Macii. Both could certainly challenge here, especially if any of the top three don’t skate their best. It will be a nail-biter, for sure!
Chapters
0:00 — Intro
3:06 — Worlds Preview Part One
3:53 — Women’s Top Competitors
20:28 — Women’s Dark Horse Candidates
31:21 — Women’s Podium Predictions
33:32 — Pairs Top Competitors
43:40 — Pairs Dark Horse Candidates
51:00 — Pairs Podium Predictions
54:00 — Wrap-Up
