If you look at the season in the men’s event this season, four skaters have broken away in their own stratospheric pack. The four of them have scored some monumental scores this season, including three of them who have broken 300. On paper, it looks to be the four of them fighting for the podium, but these are high risk-high reward programs, and they can drop as quickly as they soar. Each of them bring in their own trajectory and momentum this season—could that be the secret sauce for the World title?
2024 Worlds top 12 predictions
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GOLD Yuma Kagiyama JPN - Doing the surprise pick here—and this is a combination of Kagiyama’s momentum, his increased base value since earlier this season, and what could probably be the most balanced program in terms of risk-consistency-reward. As we saw at Four Continents, the quad flip made its way into the free skate, and grades of execution, if he’s clean, just go through the roof. Clean is crucial, but what a way this would be to put a stamp on his comeback season.
SILVER Ilia Malinin USA - Two years in a row, Malinin comes into Worlds on the heels of a poor free skate at Nationals. Last year, he rallied for a bronze at Worlds, and this year, he has the highest season total of any skater in the field, thanks in huge part to a six-quad free skate that includes the quad axel. He puts down two clean programs, and the numbers just don’t work out for anyone else. But with potentially nine quads across two programs, the risk is so high. Can he throw down?
BRONZE Shoma Uno JPN - The two-time and defending World champion comes in looking a bit underdog-ish. In his three internationals this season, he’s been the silver medalist—once to Siao, once to Kagiyama, and then once to Malinin. He’s taken the sal out of the free skate this season to focus on staying clean, but he’s had more rotation calls this season than he’s had in his career. He could be feeling that here this week.
4. Adam Siao Him Fa FRA - Six international titles for Siao makes him the one with the most gold medals this season among this group—but you wonder if he front-loaded his season a bit too hard (he kind of did similarly last year and came to 2023 Worlds not looking up to par). What has been encouraging this season has been an increased consistency and a better command of his quads, which he has had a history of throwing with abandon. And he’s been able to right the ship when it goes awry.
5. Kao Miura JPN - Last year, Miura arguably had the resume to earn one of the Worlds spots, but a sixth-place finish at Nationals took him off the World team. He made it this year, and on the merit of an incredibly strong Grand Prix series. One question mark coming in is his subpar free skate showing at the Tallink Hotels Trophy, which was the one event between Japan Nationals and Worlds for him. But he’s had another month to train, and you better believe this Worlds is about proving his place on the world stage.
6. Junhwan Cha KOR - The reigning World silver medalist has had a bit of a trying season after making the decision to return to South Korea to train full-time during the summer. But here’s where momentum is important—his last two competitions were strong, including bronze at Four Continents with the best skates of his season so far. Let’s see if he’s able to rekindle the magic from a year ago.
7. Lukas Britschgi SUI - It’s been a solid but not spectacular season for Britschgi. After his eighth-place breakthrough last year at Worlds, he’s made a few splashes this season. He was even in second after the short at Europeans, but faltered in the free and dropped off the podium. If he puts it together, there’s so much to like about his all-around skating.
8. Jason Brown USA - For the first time in a few seasons, I’m actually not sure what to expect from Brown here. In a lot of ways, he’s been experimenting with how to balance what has essentially turned into a pro-am career—he took the Grand Prix series off, alternately competing and skating in big international shows, and doing things his own way. If Nationals was any indication, it’s not the jumps themselves but the program stamina. He can very much figure into the top six if he is clean.
9. Mikhail Shaidorov KAZ - Of all the skaters here, Shaidorov is very much flying under the radar, even though he’s shown some very strong skating this season, including a bronze at Cup of China. He most recently won Challenge Cup on his way to Montreal.
10. Boyang Jin CHN - The road has felt long for Jin, but he’s never wavered in his dedication to getting back to the top of his game. After all, he’s a two-time World bronze medalist, but the past few seasons since the Olympics have been all about rebuilding, reconstructing, retooling. He’s a more complete skater now, and his jumps are also coming back during this rediscovery period. A top 10 here would be huge.
11. Aleksandr Selevko EST - The surprise European silver medalist finally showed the world the tremendous skating that he’s capable of. And it’s been a really transformational season for him, as he’s found some consistency in his big jumps, which he’s had a history of popping. Another showing like he had at Europeans could make him the surprise of this event.
12. Camden Pulkinen USA - Pulkinen is no stranger to a high finish at Worlds. Two years ago, he was the huge surprise, finishing third in the free skate and fifth overall in the competition of his career. He’s back at Worlds after a strong Nationals showing. Top ten is within reach, but as always, he needs to watch out for those pops.
Others to watch for the top 12: Wesley Chiu, Roman Sadovsky, Nika Egadze, Gabriele Frangipani, Nikolaj Memola, Deniss Vasiljevs, Adam Hagara