Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

The French Federation has released the official poster which, no surprise, features Papadakis & Cizeron.

The news out of France is that they have announced a "Godmother" for Worlds as announced by the French Federation on Twitter:

SURYA BONALY will be the godmother of the 2022 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, in Montpellier-Occitanie

Oh Dear....she would have been my last choice, not the most skillful skater but most vocal about judges decisions, etc. Wonder whether we will be seeing her skating...

I thought it an interesting that someone who is now a US citizen was chosen. Why not Brian Joubert or many other top tier French skaters?

Judy wrote: Wed Jan 05, 2022 8:15 pm I thought it an interesting that someone who is now a US citizen was chosen. Why not Brian Joubert or many other top tier French skaters?

I think that most of them are currently coaching (or in trouble with the law). Surya is currently still skating and doing shows.

The Canadian team has been announced today:https://skatecanada.ca/2022/01/skate-ca ... pionships/

It is the same as the team for the Olympics.

MEN
Keegan Meesing
Roman Sadovsky

WOMEN
Madeline Schizas

PAIRS
Vanessa James / Eric Radford
Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro

ICE DANCE
Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Soerensen
Piper Gilles / Paul Poirier
Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha

As posted in its own thread, the ISU is excluding skaters and officials from Russia and Belarus from their upcoming events: https://isu.org/isu-news/news/145-news/ ... teParam=15

This exclusion, plus travel restrictions imposed by the ongoing war in Ukraine, will undoubtedly change the "complexion" of the Worlds competition.

A number of countries have named their teams - Jackie Wong is compiling an ongoing list on his website: https://www.rockerskating.com/news/2021 ... s-entrants Here is what he is currently showing, by discipline:

WOMEN

• Olga Mikutina AUT
• Stefanie Pesendorfer AUT
• Madeline Schizas CAN
• Jenni Saarinen FIN
• Lea Serna FRA
• Nicole Schott GER
• Natasha McKay GBR
• Wakaba Higuchi JPN
• Mana Kawabe JPN
• Kaori Sakamoto JPN
• Yelim Kim KOR
• Young You KOR
• Lindsay van Zundert NED
• Mariah Bell USA
• Karen Chen USA
• Alysa Liu USA

MEN

• Maurizio Zandron AUT
• Keegan Messing CAN
• Roman Sadovsky CAN
• Kevin Aymoz FRA
• Adam Siao Him Fa FRA
• Nikita Starostin GER
• Graham Newberry GBR
• WD Yuzuru Hanyu JPN (ankle injury)
• Yuma Kagiyama JPN
• Kao Miura JPN (new!)
• Shoma Uno JPN
• Junhwan Cha KOR
• Sihyeong Lee KOR
• Nathan Chen USA
• Ilia Malinin USA
• Vincent Zhou USA

PAIRS

• Ziegler/Kiefer AUT
• James/Radford CAN
• Moore-Towers/Marinaro CAN
• Kovalev/Kovalev FRA
• Hase/Seegert GER
• Jones/Boyadji GBR
• Miura/Kihara JPN
• Danilova/Tsiba NED
• Cain-Gribble/LeDuc USA
• Knierim/Frazier USA

ICE DANCE

• Fournier Beaudry/Sorensen CAN
• Gilles/Poirier CAN
• Lajoie/Lagha CAN
• Turkkila/Versluis FIN
• Papadakis/Cizeron FRA
• Janse van Rensburg/Steffan GER
• Fear/Gibson GBR
• Fear/Waddell GBR
• Muramoto/Takahashi JPN
• Chock/Bates USA
• Hawayek/Baker USA
• Hubbell/Donohue USA

The official list of entries and alternates/substitutes, by discipline, has now been posted: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00111055.htm

There are no Russian or Belorussian skaters as they have been banned. There are also none from China, apparently by the choice of their federation. There are some reports that this may have to do with the vaccine used in China not being recognized by the WHO which means they would not be allowed into France.

Withdrawals from 2022 World Figure Skating Championships as of 3/3:

MEN
Larry Loupolover BUL (no replacement)

ICE DANCE
Anastasia Polibina / Pavel Golovishnikov POL will make their Worlds debut, replacing their training mates in Torun, Natalia Kaliszek/Maksym Spodyriev (ISU bio says Maksym was born in Kharkiv ) who reportedly withdrew due to Coronavirus.

More changes in the entries since 3/3:
MEN - no longer listed:

• Slavik Hayrapetyan (no replacement) 3/14
• Georgii Reshtenko (no replacement) 3/8

PAIRS: Safina/Berulava replaced Metelkina/Parkman 3/13
DANCE: Ichilov/Byelikov (debut) replaced Nosovitskaya/Nosovitskiy 3/13

More withdrawals today (14/3):
WOMEN: Ukraine’s Anastasiia Shabotova, who was to make her Worlds debut for is no longer listed

PAIRS: Jelizaveta ZUKOVA / Martin BIDAR (no replacement).

From IFS Magazine on Twitter:

Nathan Chen has withdrawn from the World Championships.

" I have a nagging injury that I've been dealing with, and I don’t want to risk further injury by practicing and competing next week.”

Camden Pulkinen will replace Chen at Worlds.

Another change in the JPN entries from Jackie Wong (RockerSkating) on Twitter:

update: Kao Miura (originally subbed in for Yuzuru Hanyu WD) out (injury), Kazuki Tomono in

Also, in the Women's event:
Haein Lee has replaced Yelim Kim (the latter is reported to have had a positive COVID test)

going to be very interesting Worlds this year and perhaps a chance for the talents skating in the shadows of their great heroes to shine.

happyheini wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:01 pm going to be very interesting Worlds this year and perhaps a chance for the talents skating in the shadows of their great heroes to shine.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing

A reminder that the latest lists of entries and alternates, by discipline, can be found here: https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00111055.htm

The link to the schedule/start orders/results will appear on that same page early next week.

The full time and practice schedule: http://results.isu.org/schedules/WC2022 ... hedule.pdf

Although we have moved to Daylight Saving Time already, the change in France only happens on Sunday morning, March 27th, thus reducing the usual time difference by an hour for the earlier days of the week.

The CBC Sports streaming & TV broadcast schedules can be found here: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... /broadcast

The "welcome mat" is out at the Montpellier airport - shown in the photo is Natalie Pechalat, former competitor, and now President of the French Figure Skating Federation (FFSG).

On the eve of Worlds, a lengthy story on the career of Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron and their coach Romain Haguenauer: https://www.insideskating.net/2022/03/2 ... to-the-top

After the required daily COVID test, Jackie Wong is in the arena for practices on this first day in Montpellier. Everyone who is accredited, skaters, coaches, officials, media, must have daily testing done. The audience are not required to wear masks but "encouraged" to do so.

His prespective of the rink:


This is the practice rink:

Want to watch the Worlds?

From: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/wint ... /broadcast

CBC Sports Streaming – 2022 World Figure Skating Championships
Wednesday March 23
6:05 AM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Women's Short Program - Montpellier
1:30 PM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Short Program - Montpellier
Thursday March 24
6:00 AM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Men's Short Program - Montpellier
1:15 PM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Pairs Free Program - Montpellier
Friday March 25
6:00 AM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Rhythm Dance - Montpellier
1:00 PM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Women's Free Program - Montpellier
Saturday March 26
5:55 AM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Men's Free Program - Montpellier
12:05 PM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Ice Dance Free Dance - Montpellier
2:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships – Montpellier (as on TV)
Sunday March 27
1:30 AM CBC Sports Late Night: Road to the Olympic Games - 2022 World Figure Skating Championships – Montpellier (as on TV)
8:30 AM 2022 World Figure Skating Championships: Gala
1:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships – Montpellier (as on TV)
Saturday April 2
4:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships – Gala (as on TV)
Sunday April 3
1:30 AM CBC Sports Late Night: Road to the Olympic Games - 2022 World Figure Skating Championships – Gala (as on TV)


Streaming will also be available from the ISU YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkatingISU
Links for each of the events are now available there.


CBC TV – 2022 World Figure Skating Championships
Saturday March 26
2:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships - Montpellier
Sunday March 27
1:30 AM CBC Sports Late Night: Road to the Olympic Games - 2022 World Figure Skating Championships - Montpellier
1:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships - Montpellier - Check local listings
Sat Apr 2
4:00 PM Road to the Olympic Games: 2022 World Figure Skating Championships - Gala
Sun Apr 3
1:30 AM CBC Sports Late Night: Road to the Olympic Games - 2022 World Figure Skating Championships - Gala


It appears that NBC TV will only have a delayed broadcast of the Women's free skate available to us in Canada (Saturday evening from 8 to 10 p.m.) - all other coverage will be on Peacock, USA, etc.

Although the start orders have not yet been posted, the Entries/Schedule/Start Orders/Results page is now live: http://www.isuresults.com/results/seaso ... /index.htm

Skate Canada's press release on the Canadian team: https://t.co/NzcmuN4Ync


PJ Kwong's podium picks: https://t.co/74Zvs99gq5

There are ongoing reports of positive COVID tests in Montpellier, leading to even more withdrawals including two Italian pairs teams

The start order for the Women's SP:



The detailed time schedule:



The start order for the Pairs SP - since there are now only 14 competing they will all be going on to the free skate.



The detailed time schedule:

In case you were wondering why it was Skate Canada team leader Manon Perron at the boards & in the Kiss 'n Cry with Madeleine Schizas, here's information from a post-skate interview in the mixed zone as posted on Twitter:

"You don't always get the perfect program, it was definitely a fight through the program today and through this whole week. So I'm just happy with how I skated and excited to put out another strong performance in the free."
Madeline Schizas said her coach Nancy Lemaire tested positive for COVID. "She feels fine, she feels like she has a bit of a head cold. We were not being together as much as we could because we knew that there was potentially some exposure at home."
"So we've been isolated. We weren't spending time with each other at all. It's just we've been really careful and then she unfortunately tested positive when she got here."

By the way, Danielle Earl had to cancel her plans to travel to Worlds at the last minute due to + test too

Start order for the Men's SP


According to reports from Montpellier, Donovan Carrillo will be skating in new boots & blades & without his costumes. His luggage has not arrived and is reported as "lost in Paris"

Elizabeth wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:43 am
According to reports from Montpellier, Donovan Carrillo will be skating in new boots & blades & without his costumes. His luggage has not arrived and is reported as "lost in Paris"

Lost in Paris sounds like a movie title and definitely a nightmare for the skater. That is REALLY too bad. I tuned in for the second group of Women this morning. I'm presently in the CT zone which makes it tricky. I'm also sorry to hear about Madeline's coach & Danielle Earl testing positive. Good grief!

At the Worlds 2022 opening ceremony, after it was declared officially open by the ISU representative, Madame Samaranch (far left), the Ukrainian team - Maxim Nikitin, Oleksandra Nazarova, Ivan Shmuratko, Sofiia Holichenko, Artem Darenskyi and their coach (left to right) - were introduced by Nathalie Pechalat, and the audience stood and gave them one minute of applause.





The pairs team, first out in the SP, have had a total of two days of training since returning from the Olympics.

After the SP, due to their challenges in getting to Montpellier and lack of training, they said they that they were withdrawing from the FS but appreciated all the support.