The 114th figure skating world championships in Bosten (USA) begin on Wednesday (26.03.25) – with German opportunities, favorites and superstars. All competitions will be shown live or as a long summary at Sportschau.de, in the ARD media library and/or at One.
A good 11 months before the start of the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, the nervousness among the world’s best skid artists can be felt clearly. In all disciplines, the best traveled to the US state of Massachusetts to run the important quota places for the Winter Olympics.
For women and men, 24 starting places are awarded for pair runners 16 and 19 tickets in the Eisanz. The remaining places are then available in a qualification competition in Beijing/China at the end of September. To this “last chance” in Beijing, one participant and a couple from Russia can then run in each discipline.
The stars of the German team: Hase / Volodin
Germany is represented in three out of four disciplines. The stars of the German team are the couple runners Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin, who have won almost everything there is to win this season – the Grand Prix final of the six world’s best couples at the beginning of December, but above all the Berliner and their Russian partner became European champions for the first time at the end of January.
After a few ice shows, television appearances, illnesses and ailments, Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin recently concentrated and professionally prepared for this important season and started a training camp in the USA in mid -March.
“Feel like a racehorse”
A good one and a half hours of car from Boston, the two of them got the jet leg behind them and were able to train focused without major distractions. The disadvantage of the lack of everyday life: “I’m struggling with myself because I notice that the stress is much higher. I feel the pressure to expect”said Minerva Hase opposite the sports show.
She misses her life partner and guide, the basketball professional of Alba Berlin, Jonas Mattisseck: “I can always talk a lot with him, also about mental things, because we are knitted similarly. I feel like a racehorse in the stable. You just want to get out and hope that it will finally start”.
Annika Hocke / Robert Kunkel and the lost suitcase
With the Berliners Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, the German Association still has a second top couple in the race for the Olympic tickets. If the counted placements of the two German couples do not result in more than 13, even three German couples should start at the Olympic Games.
Last year, Hocke/Kunkel had been fifth with a fantastic performance. However, the journey to Bosten proved to be a little drama, because Annika Hocke’s suitcase was lost – with a valuable ice skating and the costume. Since the assassination attempt of 9/11, figure skaters have no longer been allowed to take their ice luggage on flights to America. “That was really a bit of stress now, but luckily everything worked out. We are now looking forward to the competition.”
German ice dancers are ongoing Olympic qualifications
The World Cup is held in the “TD Garden” on the ice of the Boston Bruins. As everywhere in the USA, the ice rink is significantly narrower and slightly longer than the standardized Olympic size of 60 meters long and 30 meters wide. This requires some changes for all athletes, but especially for couple runners and ice dancers.
The German champions in the ice dancing Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan have also had to improvise in many ways since the European Championship. On the one hand, they had to leave their home Oberstdorf because the ice rink was being renovated, and on the other hand, the ice rink had to be reduced in the training camp in Benjamin Steffan’s birthplace in Choreography.
Last year, Janse van Rensburg and Steffan missed the World Cup custody final, this time the final of the best 20 is the minimum goal, according to the 31-year-old Allgäuin. “We already want to achieve the Olympic qualification, so at least 19 place.”
Superstar Ilja Malinin from the USA
The top star at the World Cup will be the only 20-year-old American and defending champion Ilja Malinin. The king of the quadruple jumps will surely set a new point record again. Malinin was the first figure skaters to show all six possible jumps with four times rotation. In addition, the first athlete the Axel, because this is jumped off from forwards and has an incredible four and a half revolutions in less than a second. In addition, Malinin knows how to make art work in his programs.
The German champion Nikita Starostin has never shown a clean fourfold in competition, and the Russian native has even had problems with triple Axel in all competitions. The 22-year-old recently looked under pressure that even his otherwise elegant, light way of art was completely lost. If Starostin reached the final and gets an Olympic garden place, it would be a great success.
Katarina Witt as a guest of honor at the World Cup
Women’s competition will be an exciting struggle between the top athletes from Japan, America and South Korea. The Europeans have to give everything to keep up with them. A German was not nominated for the first time in 22 years. No one achieved the minimum requirements.
A sad chapter for Germany’s figure skating legend Katarina Witt, which was invited by the US association as a “guest of honor”. It will be one of 15,000 spectators, the Kürfinals are all sold out.