There are two teams in this dance field at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships who are World medalists, and they are the two expected to fight it out for the first World title this week. With the competitive landscape changes in this post-Olympic season, there are some veterans and some fresh faces ready for their time in the spotlight. Though it looks to be a two-team battle for gold and a three-team battle for bronze, in this era of ice dance, a lot can happen.
2023 Worlds predictions
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GOLD Madison Chock/Evan Bates USA - After an uncharacteristically slow start to their post-Olympic season (or maybe it was expected given it is the post-Olympic season), Chock/Bates have been on a rocketship trajectory over the past few months, starting with the Grand Prix Final. They took silver there behind Gilles/Poirier, but from what we saw of them at Four Continents, the time is now for the three-time World medalists to get that title.
SILVER Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier CAN - Gilles’ appendectomy at the end of December may prove to be something of a momentum-stopper, as we have not seen them in competition since their Grand Prix Final win. They have been back to full training over the past few weeks, but you wonder if their preparation has been what they hoped it would be coming into Worlds. The battle for gold may come down to a couple points.
BRONZE Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri ITA - As expected after the Olympic season, the Italian veterans have found themselves on the next level for this new quadrennial. They come in as the new European champions and are poised for their first World medal after a fourth-place finish last year. They were behind Gilles/Poirier and Chock/Bates at Grand Prix Final, and will pose the biggest challenge to those two teams.
4. Laurence Fournier Beaudry/Nikolaj Soerensen CAN - Of all the teams here, Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen have had the steepest ascent this season. After being 10-8-9 at their last three World Championships, they had some big results this season, including a win over Chock/Bates at NHK Trophy. Japan has been good luck for them this season, and bronze is well within reach.
5. Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson GBR - The European silver medalists took two silvers on the Grand Prix series and were just off the podium at the Grand Prix Final. Of the contenders for bronze, they are the ones with the most to gain from skating clean and getting all their levels. They will likely trail the others on components and will have to make up for that.
Top 20 DANCE season best pre-#WorldFigure 2023
— Jackie Wong (@rockerskating) March 21, 2023
220.81 Chock/Bates
219.49 Gilles/Poirier
214.08 Fournier Beaudry/Soerensen
213.74 Guignard/Fabbri
209.18 Fear/Gibson
198.21 Turkkila/Versluis
195.67 Reed/Ambrulevicius
194.19 Green/Parsons
192.85 Lopareva/Brissaud
191.31…
6. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons USA - The US silver medalists had a Four Continents competition that they would rather forget. They had been on the rise this season until that point, and a major mistake in the rhythm dance took them out of the medals. In their Worlds debut, two clean skates could really set them up well for the push toward Milano-Cortina.
7. Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis FIN - The three-time Finnish champions have really hit their stride this season, and their bronze at Europeans capped what has been a strong lead-up to this event.
8. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius LTU - With some big and very visible improvements this season, Reed/Ambrulevicius have really made their mark in their sixth season together. They were fourth at Europeans in January and will look to move up from their tenth-place finish last year.
9. Evgeniia Lopareva/Geoffrey Brissaud FRA - Without Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron in competition this year, Lopareva/Brissaud have taken on the mantle as the top French dance team, and they have really made the best of it. Two years ago, they were 17th at Worlds, and this year, they have a great shot at top ten.
10. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko USA - After the withdrawal of Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean-Luc Baker from Worlds, Carreira/Ponomarenko were called up for the spot. They will be looking for a top ten finish here in their first Worlds.
Others to watch for: Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi (JPN), Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler (CZE)