Along with the women's category, that of couples is the most impacted by the exclusion of Russians (and Belarusians) decided by the International Skating Federation (ISU), in line with the recommendation made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the end of February.
Both at the recent Olympics-2022 and at the Worlds-2021, they occupied two of the three steps of the podium.
Without them or Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, freshly crowned Olympic champions, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are in the lead after the short program, with 76.88 points, ahead of another American duo, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc (75.85 ), and the Japanese Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (71.58).
Vanessa James, who is skating this season for Canada alongside Eric Radford after being crowned European champion in 2019 under the colors of France, with Morgan Ciprès, ranked fifth (66.54).
Canadians Vanessa Jame and Eric Radford, 5th after the short pairs program at the World Figure Skating Championships, March 23, 2022 in Montpellier Sylvain THOMAS AFP
The free program will take place on Thursday evening.
© 2022 AFP