Five weeks after their bronze medal at the Olympics, the German figure skating pair Minerva-Fabienna Hase and Nikita Volodin have fulfilled their dream of World Championship gold.
Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin did it: On Thursday evening they enchanted the audience in Prague with a world-class freestyle and crowned themselves with the first World Championship gold medal of their careers. After World Cup bronze in 2024, World Cup silver last year and Olympic bronze most recently at the Olympic Games in Milan, the Berliners may have also celebrated their graduation, as they had previously left their sporting future open.
As at the Olympic Games, Hase/Volodin were in the lead at halftime. In February they made a mistake in the final free skate, but on Thursday evening (almost) everything fell into place: an outstanding – if not entirely flawless – performance in the free skate on Thursday evening followed what Hase described as “Best short program of the whole season”. They decided the medal fight with almost ten points ahead of the Olympic silver medalists Anastassia Metelkina/Luka Berulawa from Georgia. The Japanese Olympic champions and world champions Miura Riku/Kihara Ryichi had canceled their start in advance.
Hase/Volodin were already ahead after the short program
The German figure skating figureheads laid the foundation for this success with a world-class short program. Before the free skate, they were just ahead of Metelkina/Luka Berulawa (79.45 points) with 79.78 points. “We enjoyed everything from the first second to the last. All elements felt very good”said Hase on Wednesday.
Hocke/Kunkel make up places
The second Berlin duo Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel came in seventh, but Hocke’s fall during the triple Salchow on Wednesday prevented a better result for the former European Championship third-place finishers. “A very annoying mistake. We are now missing four points and you can see what could have been possible for us”said Hocke. “As soon as I jumped off, I felt that it couldn’t go well.” However, in the free skate on Thursday, Hocke and Kunkel were able to impress and move up three places.
In ice dancing, Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan want to forget the Olympic disappointment from Friday and move into the freestyle final this time. In the men’s competition, which took place in Milan without Germans, the German champion Genrikh Gartung represents the DEU team.
| Date | Competition |
|---|---|
Thursday, March 26, 11:30 a.m | Individual men, short program |
Thursday, March 26, 6:45 p.m | Pair skating, freestyle |
Fri., March 27, 11:30 a.m | Ice dance, rhythm dance |
Fri., March 27, 6:00 p.m | Individual women, freestyle |
Sat., March 28, 12:30 p.m | Ice dance, freestyle |
Sat., March 28, 6:30 p.m | Individual men, freestyle |
Sun., March 30, 2:30 p.m | Showwalking |
