2022 World Championships preview (women): Doors are open

A post-Olympics World Championships is already unorthodox in a number of ways - different faces from the Olympics because of a variety of reasons, varying kinds of motivation, and a range of levels of preparedness across the board. But the 2022 World Championships have an additional wrinkle - no Russia or Belarus skaters will be competing because of the Ukraine invasion and the subsequent ban from the IOC and then the ISU of athletes from those two countries. The women’s event will feel that dramatically; what once was a high-probability Russian sweep is now an open door for the first Japanese win since Mao Asada’s last World title in 2014 and a variety of other skaters who could step onto the podium.

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2022 Worlds predictions
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GOLD Kaori Sakamoto JPN - The surprise Olympic bronze medalist perhaps comes in as the biggest favorite in a still very wide open field. Her programs have bloomed throughout the season, skated with freedom, emotion, and abandon. She put down some of the best skating of her life in Beijing to get on the podium, and she’s two clean programs away from her first World medal and first World title.

SILVER Wakaba Higuchi JPN - Four years ago, Higuchi salvaged a season in which she didn’t make the Olympic team with brilliant skating at Worlds to win silver. This time around, she comes in after taking fifth at the Olympics and becoming one of only five women ever to land a triple axel in Olympic competition. A lot of whether she can hang with Sakamoto will depend on the consistency of that triple axel this week.

BRONZE Alysa Liu USA - It’s been a downright scary few months for Liu and her family - and the extent to which and time period during which Liu knew about the potential surveillance her father (and likely her family) was under is still not clear. But either way, her performances at the Olympics were a return to joy for Liu, and she has the opportunity to have a brilliant debut at Worlds to close out a harrowing season.

4. Young You KOR - Like Liu, You is making her Worlds debut and has a grand opportunity for the podium. And though it’s been a solid season for her, most recently with a sixth-place finish at the Olympics, if you look at her international results, they have been up and down - and literally one competition up, then another one down. Can she break that streak at Worlds? Her triple axel will be the biggest hurdle, and it just hasn’t quite been the same this season in its rotation.

5. Loena Hendrickx BEL - How does the recent injury change the Hendrickx’s trajectory this week? In full form, she is absolutely a podium favorite, but she has not been able to train as much since Beijing, and her team is tempering expectations heading into Montpellier. 

6. Mariah Bell USA - After a top 10 at the Olympics, Bell likely enters her fourth Worlds with a sense of freedom that she has not had her entire career. She skates her best when she can let her emotions run free, and that’s exactly the position she’s in at this point in her career.

7. Haein Lee KOR - Silver at Four Continents - and ahead of Young You - Lee makes her return to Worlds after Yelim Kim withdrew because of a positive COVID test. It’s a grand opportunity for a skater who has the goods to be a dark horse for the podium.

8. Anastasiia Gubanova GEO - In her first season competing for Georgia, Gubanova was 11th in her Olympic debut - and in a lot of people’s eyes, underscored for the quality of skating that she delivers in her programs. Of all the Olympians here, she’s the one I see having potentially the greatest post-Olympics impact. But she does train in Russia under Evgeni Rukavicin, and it remains to be seen what the impact of the war has been on her, including whether her coaching team is even able to attend Worlds.

9. Karen Chen USA - The triple loop, normally one of her best jumps, completely got into her head and derailed her Olympics. It’s been four weeks since, and Chen has the chance to redeem herself and close out this season strongly. At her best, she’s an outsider for the podium, but we have not seen her skate a clean competition yet this season.

10. Ekaterina Kurakova POL - After a disappointing short in Beijing, Kurakova came back and put down one of the memorable programs in the free to finish 12th overall.