On March 25, Beijing time, the 2022 Figure Skating World Championships decided the first championship, the pair skating competition American combinations Alexa Nereem and Brandon Fraser won the gold medal, the Japanese combination of Kihara Ryuichi and Miura Rirai won the silver medal, and Canada's Vanessa James and Eric Radford won the bronze medal.
This edition of the World Championships was star-studded, with Beijing Winter Olympic champions Han Cong/Sui Wenjing absent and another Chinese player, Peng Cheng/Jin Yang, who finished fifth at the Beijing Winter Olympics. In addition, the three Russian pairs at the Winter Olympics were also absent, namely - runner-up Tarasova/Morozov, third-place Mishnah/Gallamov, and fourth-place Boykova/Kozlovsky.
In this way, the top five players of the Beijing Winter Olympics were all absent, making this World Championship unworthy of its name, and the excitement was far less than that of the World Championships.
The American duo successfully picked up leaks at this World Championship. Alexa Neerim and Brandon Fraser were ranked first in both the short show competition and the free skate show, and were the larger lead. In the short-program competition, Alexa Nerim and Brandon Fraser finished first with 76.88 points, Japan's Ryuichi Kihara and Riri Miura 71.58 points second, Georgia's Karina Safina and Luka Berurava scored 67.36 points third, and Canada's Vanessa James and Eric Radford scored 66.54 points fourth.
In the free skating competition, the American duo of Alexa Nerim and Brandon Fraser ranked first with 144.21 points, Canada's Vanessa James and Eric Radford finished second with 130.78 points, and Japan's Ryuichi Kihara and Riri Miura 127.97 points third.
In the final overall ranking, the American combination of 221.09 points was the first, the Japanese combination of Kihara Ryuichi and Miura Ryurai 199.55 points was the second, and the Canadian team of Vanessa James and Eric Radford was third with 197.32 points.
At the World Championships, only one pair of players scored 200 points on total, which is indeed a bit unreasonable. It should be known that at the Beijing Winter Olympics, 7 pairs of players had a total score of more than 210 points, of which Han Cong and Sui Wenjing ranked first with a total score of 239.88 points.
At this World Championship, the American combination played well, and the two only ranked sixth at the Beijing Winter Olympics, with a total score of 212.68 points. The Japanese duo made a lot of mistakes in the free skating program, but eventually won the silver medal, which was also because the other players performed worse.
Obviously, the gold content of the championship of this World Championship is not high. For Han Cong and Sui Wenjing, it is a pity not to participate in the competition, because as long as they play, they can basically win the championship, because the 3 pairs of Russian teams cannot participate. For Peng Cheng/Jin Yang is even more regrettable, if Han Cong and Sui Wenjing have already won the World Championship, the regret is smaller, then Peng Cheng/Jin Yang also has a great chance to win the championship, once there is a World Championship title, it will be a great encouragement for their self-confidence. It is a pity that the two did not achieve it.