Uno Shoma, Sakamoto Kaori go for figure skating three-peats at 2024 World Championships: Preview, schedule, how to watch live action (2024)

It’s been 56 years since two singles skaters shared back-to-back-to-back titles at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Japan’s Uno Shoma and Sakamoto Kaori will look to match the streak of Emmerich Danzer and Peggy Fleming from 1966-68 when the pair of two-time reigning world champs arrive at the Bell Center in Montreal (20-24 March).

Sakamoto is the odds-on favourite in the women’s event, while Uno faces challenges from the likes of Ilia Malinin, Kagiyama Yuma, and Adam Siao Him Fa, all of whom scored Grand Prix golds in the first half of the 2023/24 season.

It was the American Malinin, who is the lone skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, who captured the ISU Grand Prix Final in December, beating out Uno (silver) and Kagiyama (bronze) for the top of the podium.

Home favourites Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps could compete for gold in pairs with reigning world champions Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi still making their way back from a back injury to Kihara that forced them out for three months.

2023 ice dance winners Madison Chock and Evan Bates eye back-to-back titles after winning last year in Tokyo. The American duo's training base is located in Montreal.

Montreal will host the Worlds for the first time since 1932. The city was set to host the championships in 2020 before they were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Men's trivalry: Uno, Malinin, Kagiyama go head-to-head-to-head at Worlds
• How does an elite figure skating program come to life? Olympians explain

Brown, Cha, Hendrickx and more chase top stars

While the skating veteran Uno, 26, is two-time and reigning champion, he was beaten by the big-jumping Malinin at the GP Final for the first time at a major international event, which – in Shoma’s words – could spell the beginning of the end.

“Even if it becomes only Malinin being at the top in the future, I want to make sure that we can be rivals who can compete with each other properly,” he told Olympics.com in December. “[But] I'm going to do my best this year at least.”

Nothing is a given, however, with Malinin chasing the biggest title of his career. Like Uno, Kagiyama has Olympic hardware to his name, and Siao Him Fa is the two-time and reigning European champion.

It’s hard to see anyone interrupting that top four, though Miura Kao, Jason Brown, and Cha Jun-hwan are leading contenders to do so.

The 23-year-old Sakamoto’s chief challenger should be two-time world medallist Loena Hendrickx, the Belgian, while Republic of Korea’s Kim Chae-yeon has come on strong this season, as have Japanese youngsters Chiba Mone and Yoshida Hana.

Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito are both U.S. champions and could push for podium positions, too.

Sakamoto’s 226.13 from Skate Canada remains the season’s highest score, and she’s still the only top female to deliver on a consistent basis at each competition this year.

ISU World Figure Skating Championships Montreal 2024: Schedule

All times are local Montreal time, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, GMT -4). See a full schedule here.

Wednesday, 20 March

• 12:00-15:45 Pairs short program
• 16:00 Opening ceremony
• 17:00-21:52 Women’s short program

Thursday, 21 March

• 11:10-16:55 Men’s short program
• 18:10-21:53 Pairs free skate

Friday, 22 March

• 11:20-16:53 Ice dance rhythm dance
• 18:00-21:52 Women’s free skate

Saturday, 23 March

• 13:30-16:50 Ice dance free dance
• 18:00-21:52 Men’s free skate

Sunday, 24 March 14, 2024

• 14:00-16:30 Exhibition gala

World Figure Skating Championships 2024: How to watch

In host nation Canada, CBC is set to broadcast the action. See their full schedule here.

American fans can watch all the action streaming on Peaco*ck, while TV coverage includes USA and – only for the men’s free skate – NBC.

For other territories, the ISU provides a where-to-watch guide on its website here.

In many regions, action can be livestreamed on the Skating ISU YouTube page.