Overcome the Olympic trauma and outgrow themselves: Minerva Hase and Nolan Seegert have ended a troubled season with the biggest success of their careers so far.

The three-time German pair skating champions fought for an unexpected fifth place at the World Championships in Montpellier.

Completely different from the Winter Games in Beijing, when Seegert, weakened by a corona quarantine, could not exploit his potential and only finished 16th with his partner, this time the two Berliners came through their freestyle almost flawlessly and acknowledged their performance with loud cheers .

"It was a wonderful season finale that means a lot to us," said the 22-year-old Hase, her partner added: "Our condition work paid off, we ran better than in training." The placement of the duo secured the German Ice Skating Union (DEU) a second starting place at the 2023 World Cup.

Russian athletes were not allowed to compete

The gold medal went to the USA for the first time in 43 years.

Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier took first place, followed by Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara from Japan and Canadians Vanessa James and Eric Radford in second and third place.

However, the three best Russian couples were missing in the southern French metropolis due to the ban imposed by the world ice skating association ISU, as well as the Chinese Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, who had to spend three weeks in quarantine after the Winter Games.

In the afternoon, World Championship debutant Nikita Starostin had only just achieved his minimum goal.

After a fall in the short program with a triple Axel, the Dortmunder had to be patient until his 23rd place and thus qualification for the freestyle decision on Saturday (11.00 a.m. / Eurosport and ONE) was secured.

In the absence of the injured Olympic champions Nathan Chen from the USA (2022) and Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan (2014 and 2018), the athletes from Japan are running towards a triple triumph.

Olympic bronze medalist Shoma Uno took the lead ahead of his compatriots Yuma Kagiyama and Kazuki Tomono.

"I'm happy when I can dance and show everything.

I really enjoy the step combinations in particular," said Starostin, who was born in St. Petersburg and has been at the start for DEU for four years.

Starostin cautiously distanced himself from the aggressive war in his native country in Ukraine: “I'm not for Russia, I'm German.

I've lived here for years and I'm proud to represent this beautiful country.” But the EM-13.

no German passport.

The emotional highlight of the day was Ivan Schmuratko's performance.

The Olympia 24.

completed his freestyle in a simple blue T-shirt with a heart in the colors of Ukraine attached.

Arriving in a roundabout way without any training from his war-torn home country, the 20-year-old reached the medal decision in 22nd place, directly ahead of Starostin.