A GLOBAL CELEBRATION
“Honestly, I don’t know what to say. It is a huge honor for me to win here.”
—Anna Shcherbakova
AFTER A SEASON OF ENDLESS COMPETITION cancelations caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 World Championships went ahead as scheduled in Stockholm, Sweden, in late March. Tight protocols were in place for those who attended, with skaters and their entourages, judges and officials secured in a bubble environment.
Despite the restrictions, those who attended the competition said it was a huge success, and that all the skaters were excited to be able to finally contest a major international event.
With the results of the 2021 World Championships determining Olympic berths for 2022, the competition was fierce in all disciplines. Only those nations whose skaters qualified for the long program or free dance claimed any of the berths outright. Any remaining berths will have to be earned at Nebelhorn Trophy in September, the final qualifying competition for the Games.
The 2021 World Figure Skating Championships opened with the much-anticipated ladies event. Thirty-nine skaters were originally scheduled to compete, but Christy Leung of Hong Kong withdrew after suffering an injury in a practice session. Maé-Bérénice Méité of France was forced to withdraw a minute into her short program when she ruptured her Achilles tendon as she entered a triple toe jump.
From the outset, it was expected that the three Russian entries would sweep the podium, with Japan’s Rika Kihira being the only skater who had the potential to be the spoiler.
Russia’s Anna Shcherbakova entered the Championships as the favorite to claim the World title, having won every event she had contested throughout the season: two stages of the Russian Cup series in the fall; Rostelecom Cup in November; and a third consecutive national crown in December.
Skating third in the final group in the short program, Shcherbakova claimed the lead with a solid performance that earned a personal best score of 81.00. But Kihira was hot on her heels, finishing a close second with 79.05 points.
“First of all, I’m happy that Worlds was not canceled,” said Shcherbakova. “Of course, I am sad there is no audience here. I miss full stands of people supporting you before the start and during the performance. Because of this, I was more nervous than usual but I think the most important thing is that we are here and we can compete.”
In normal times, the top 24 skaters that qualify for the free skate in singles attend a draw following the short program, but as a safety measure at this competition the format of the Grand Prix Series was used, with skaters competing in the free in the reverse order of the results of the short program.
Shcherbakova, the last skater of the evening in the free skate, opened her “The Home of the Dark Butterflies” and “Beethoven’s Five Secrets” routine with a fall on a downgraded quad flip, but that would be her only mistake. She went on to execute a trio of clean triple combinations — flip-triple toe, flip-Euler-triple Salchow and the difficult Lutz-triple loop — as well as a triple Lutz and two double Axels. The 2020 European silver medalist had a slight wobble on one of her spins but earned Level 4s for the other two and Level 3 for the footwork sequence.
With a score of 152.17 points, she finished second in the free skate but remained in first place overall with a 233.17 combined total to capture her first World title, just two days before her 17th birthday. “Honestly, I don’t know what to say. It is a huge honor for me to win here,” she said.
“For me it’s important
