Losses due to coronavirus
If at the individual world figure skating championship in Stockholm significant losses of participants were avoided, then the coronavirus pandemic affected the team tournament quite strongly.
The entire Chinese team, led by the silver medalists of the World Cup in pair skating, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, refused to come to Osaka.
And Jin Boyan will never have the opportunity to rehabilitate himself for his failure in Sweden, where he took only 22nd place.
The representatives of the Celestial Empire will be replaced by the French national team, but it will be difficult to call this replacement equivalent.
At a forum a month ago, its representatives did not make it into the top eight in any form.
The situation could have been saved by dancers Gabriela Papadakis and Guillaume Sizeron, but for the sake of a trip to Osaka, they did not interrupt the pause they took this season.
The coronavirus also prevented the Canadian national team from exhibiting all of its strongest athletes who played in Stockholm.
Upon returning home, they all had to go to a two-week quarantine, which was supposed to end only the other day.
There could be no question of serious preparation for the team tournament in such conditions, and figure skaters from the second echelon had to be sent to Japan.
Canadians will seriously weaken in pair skating and ice dancing, but now the well-known Nam Nguyen, Roman Sadovsky and the Olympic champion of the team tournament Gabrielle Deilman will be able to perform.
The Italian team also suffered a loss.
Matteo Rizzo, who took 11th place in Stockholm, announced that he would not fly to Osaka, but did not disclose the reason for this decision.
His replacement Gabriele Frangipani will not be able to arrive in Japan on time, so the Italians will only exhibit Daniel Grassl in men's singles.
Great expectations of Kolyada
The Russian national team will perform in Osaka in its strongest composition - with the reigning world champions in three disciplines and the silver medalist Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
But the team will also have a weak point - this is men's single skating.
Neither Mikhail Kolyada nor Evgeny Semenenko won prizes in Stockholm, taking fifth and eighth places, respectively.
On the whole, no surprises were expected from Semenenko.
For him, a debutant of world championships, the main thing was to avoid major mistakes and keep up with Kolyada.
The 17-year-old athlete completely coped with this.
Kolyada, on the other hand, went to Stockholm as a contender for at least bronze, but in the end he lost more than 17 points to Yuzur Khan in the dispute for it.
Then the student of Alexei Mishin lost at the same time to Nathan Chen, Sema Uno and Yuma Kagiyama.
He will meet the first three in Osaka on the same ice.
Taking into account the fact that it is the national teams of Japan and the United States that are traditionally strong at the World Team Championship, Kolyada is urgently required to impose a fight on them, not forgetting about other rivals - in Stockholm, Jason Brown and Kevin Aimoz lost to the Russian, but not by a very large margin.
Kolyada has two ways to improve his result, but both will be quite difficult.
First, to avoid their own mistakes, which were many at the World Cup.
Starting with a mark on the cascade in the short program, he missed points on three jumping elements in the free program.
In particular, Kolyada fell on a triple axel, which was absolutely impossible to allow.
Secondly, Kolyada has not yet made a breakthrough in the components he was betting on.
In the short program, he became the fifth in this aspect, and in the free program - the fourth.
The judges were conquered by the performances of Hanyu and Chen, but Kolyada did not always receive even nines for his skates.
A skater who loves to skate more than to jump still focuses on higher marks.
However, on the second try, the judges may treat Kolyada's performances more favorably, especially if there are no more falls.
Kihira's Phantom Menace
At the World Championships in Stockholm, Russian figure skaters achieved unprecedented success and took the entire podium.
As much as the fans wanted, but only two out of three athletes could be sent to Osaka, and they were Anna Shcherbakova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva.
Even a bronze medal did not help Alexandra Trusova to stay in the team.
Of the participants in the Osaka tournament, the American Karen Chen and the Japanese Kaori Sakamoto were the closest to the Russians.
Rika Kihira, who was originally considered one of the main contenders for the title, performed extremely poorly and became only seventh.
It was one of the most unpleasant surprises of the world championship - with difficult content and authority among the judges, they expected more from the 18-year-old Japanese woman.
Now this defeat should additionally motivate Kihira to take revenge on the Russian skaters at the last start of the season, and in no case should she be underestimated.
Even if she took seventh place, it is not the total score that matters in the team tournament, but the points for individual skates.
It will be appropriate to recall here that in the short program Kihira bypassed Tuktamysheva, and not due to the technique, but due to the higher components.
And if the Japanese woman avoided two under-rotations, she could well catch up with Shcherbakova, whose basic cost of the program is four points lower.
The results of the free program could have been approximately the same, but there the Japanese athlete herself made too many unforgivable mistakes.
At the same time, the judges made it clear that they value her efforts very much - in some components she became the second, and in total she lost only to Shcherbakova and Tuktamysheva.
How high this score could have been if not for the fall and a few more missed jumps is anyone's guess.
In favor of the fact that Kihira still has a chance to surpass the Russians, two more factors speak.
Firstly, the advantage of home ice - both the sympathy of the judges and the attention of the organizers can be provided for it.
Secondly, Russian skaters may face serious fatigue at the end of the season.
The World Team Championship will be the third tournament for Shcherbakova in 2021, and the fourth for Tuktamysheva.
They have never had such competitive loads before.
In addition, between performances in Stockholm and Osaka, both athletes toured with the show "Champions on Ice" - Kihira did not have to strain so much all winter and spring.
Different goals of couples and duets
In addition to Shcherbakova, two more Russian duos will perform in a new status of world champions.
Anastasia Mishina / Alexander Gallyamov and Victoria Sinitsina / Nikita Katsalapov should become the main favorites in their disciplines, especially since none of the Stockholm winners in pair skating and ice dancing will fly to Osaka.
In the case of Mishina and Gallyamov, it will be interesting to see how young athletes pass the copper pipe test.
They made their way from a couple that did not qualify for the national team to the world champions too quickly, and even for the judges.
If we analyze their marks for artistry, it’s hard to believe that Tamara Moskvina's students were recognized as the best couple on the planet - in the short program, their components were even worse than those of the second Chinese duet.
The gold was provided for them by technical difficulty and impeccable skating, and with them, many skaters who did not prepare for such a long season may have problems.
If Mishina and Gallyamova won the most real competitive struggle, then Sinitsina and Katsalapov will be reminded for a long time that they became European champions because of the mistake of Papadakis and Sizeron, and world champions because of their absence.
This can only be answered with dry numbers, which, fortunately for the students of Alexander Zhulin, are steadily growing.
In Stockholm, they set a personal best with a score of 221.17 points and showed the fifth result in dance history.
The team tournament gives Sinitsina and Katsalapov a great chance to establish themselves as the best duo on the planet, which is very useful before the new Olympic season.