Kazakhstan’s Shaidorov takes small bronze at World Figure Skating Championships
The men’s short program has concluded at the World Figure Skating Championships in Boston, with Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov delivering a standout performance. Shaidorov, who has made a sensational breakthrough into the world’s elite this season, scored 94.77 points, placing third out of 39 competitors. He lost points due to a hand touch on the ice during his triple Axel, which prevented him from achieving a higher score.
Reigning world champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. took the lead with 110.41 points, followed by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama with 107.09. Shaidorov rounded out the top three.
The 20-year-old Kazakhstani athlete has been making waves in the 2024/2025 pre-Olympic season, winning the Four Continents Championships in Seoul and earning bronze at the Asian Winter Games in Harbin. According to the International Skating Union (ISU), Shaidorov is the first skater to land a triple Axel-quadruple toeloop combination and the first to perform a triple Axel-Euler-quadruple Salchow in competition. His coach is Alexei Urmanov, the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic champion.
The men’s free skating event on March 29 will determine the new world champion. Kazakhstan’s Sofia Samodelkina will compete in the women’s final the day before. The 18-year-old Moscow native changed her sporting nationality and has competed for Kazakhstan since 2024. In the short program, Samodelkina scored 63.58 points, finishing a respectable 13th out of 33 participants. Her performance also secured Kazakhstan a quota spot for the upcoming Winter Olympics.
Kazakhstani figure skaters have won medals at the world championships three times. Denis Ten reached the podium twice, claiming silver in 2013 in London and bronze in 2015 in Shanghai. He also earned an Olympic bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. In 2019, Elizabet Tursynbaeva won silver at the World Championships in Japan.
The ISU 2025 World Figure Skating Championships are taking place in Boston from March 26 to March 30. Kazakhstan is not competing in pairs skating or ice dance at this year’s tournament.
