Idman.biz
Today, March 26, Azerbaijani figure skater Vladimir Litvintsev will present his short program at the World Figure Skating Championships. This will be his first performance after his unsuccessful performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. As the Secretary General of the organization, Gunel Badalova, stated earlier, this performance will influence the decision of the Azerbaijan Winter Sports Federation regarding cooperation with the athlete.
Litvintsev will take to the ice as number 24, with a total of 36 figure skaters participating in the competition. To qualify for the final stage, he must be in the top 24 based on the results of the short program. The athlete's best result in the short program during his career is 85.83 points (2022 World Championships). In the current season (2024/2025), he demonstrated his highest score at the 2025 "ISU CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge" tournament - 78.52 points.
This World Championship will be the seventh for Vladimir Litvintsev.
His previous results at the World Championships were as follows:
2025 – 15th place
2024 – 25th place
2023 – 11th place
2022 – 16th place
2021 – 27th place
2020 – tournament canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic
2019 – 17th place
That is, Litvintsev failed to reach the final stage of the World Championships twice – in 2021 and 2024.
Throughout all these years, the figure skater has performed with the same technical content in the short program: quadruple toe loop, triple axel, and triple flip + triple toe loop combination. Today's performance will be no exception.
He also presented the same program at the 2026 Winter Olympics. In Milan, the figure skater scored 31.13 points for technical elements (total – 63.63 points and 29th place). As for the World Championships, he scored his highest points for technical components in 2019 (47.86), 2022 (46.82), and 2023 (46.03).
Litvintsev's main goal today is the same as at the Olympics - to perform cleanly and qualify for the final stage, which consists of the free program to be held on Saturday, March 28.
An interesting struggle is expected in the final stage. Although the 2026 Olympic champion, Kazakh figure skater Mikhail Shaidarov, is skipping the World Championships, other strong athletes remain in the fight for medals. In particular, two-time world champion Ilia Malinin will take to the ice. Although he was one of the favorites of the 2026 Olympics, he finished the main competition of the four-year period in 8th place.
We remind you that yesterday, Nargiz Suleymanova participated in the women's singles competition from Azerbaijan at the World Championships. She took 27th place among 33 participants and failed to qualify for the final stage. Also, on March 27, the duet Samantha Ritter and Daniel Brikalov will represent Azerbaijan in ice dancing.
