Boston to Host World Figure Skating Championships in Preparation for 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics
Boston is preparing to host the World Figure Skating Championships from March 26 to 30 at TD Garden. This year will mark the first time the United States has held the event in the year before the Olympics since 2009.
As they take to the ice, American figure skaters are in the running to win three of the four world titles, something the American team has not done at one championships edition.
Headlining the championships are 2024 World champion Ilia Malinin and two-time defending world ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates. This season, Amber Glenn, the world’s top women’s singles skater, will be joined by 2024 World silver medalist Isabeau Levito.
All competitors are vying for spots in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics for their countries, and the best are trying to position themselves as medal contenders for the games.
According to an NBC Sports report, 20-year-old Malinin enters the championships fresh off his world title in 2024. Olympic and world silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan bested Malinin in the last head-to-head program — the free skate at December’s Grand Prix Final.
At 25, Glenn scored the biggest win for a U.S. women’s singles skater in 14 years at December’s Grand Prix Final. In 2024, Glenn entered worlds seeded 14th in the field by best total score that season and improved by placing 10th overall.
As last year’s silver medalist, Levito returns to the ice after recovering from a foot injury that lasted three months during the fall and winter.
The Americans — Glenn, Levito, and 2022 World bronze medalist Alysa Liu — will face Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. Sakamoto hopes to become the first woman to receive four consecutive world titles since American Carol Heiss earned five of them consecutively from 1956 to 1960.
Chock and Bates are competing to become the first ice dance couple to receive three world titles in a row in 28 years.
The 2025 World Figure Skating Championships will air live on NBC Sports and Peacock from TD Garden. View the schedule online.