Meet The Top Contenders For The Women’s Figure Skating World Title
As Olympic champion Alysa Liu skips the 2026 World Championships, Kaori Sakamoto, Amber Glenn and Ami Nakai head to Prague to battle for gold. Meet the top contenders for the world title in women's figure skating.
Amber Glenn during Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Women's Free Skating at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on February 19, 2026 (Photo by Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto via Getty Images In the early hours of Wednesday, March 25, the top female figure skaters will face off for gold on international ice. Sound familiar? It is.
Held just one month after the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, held in Prague from March 25 to March 29, will conclude the 2025-26 competitive season for figure skating. Despite the event’s proximity to the 2026 Olympics, the competitive field will look markedly different from Milan-Cortina. 2026 Olympic Champion and defending women’s world champion Alysa Liu opted to skip this year’s world championship, focusing instead on professional opportunities and her newfound fame.
Liu’s star power skyrocketed following her historic gold medal win. The athlete is now the most popular winter Olympian on social media, with over 10 million combined followers across Instagram and TikTok. Sixth-place Olympic finisher Adeliia Petrosian of Russia will also be absent from this week’s competition.
Though Petrosian was permitted to compete at the 2026 Olympics under approved neutral status, the International Skating Union (ISU) maintains its ban of Russian athletes from sanctioned competitions. The women’s singles competition begins Wednesday, March 25, at 6 a. m.
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