| 2008 World Figure Skating Championships | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type: | ISU Championship |
| Date: | March 16 – 23 |
| Season: | 2007–08 |
| Location: | Gothenburg,Sweden |
| Venue: | Scandinavium |
| Champions | |
Men's singles: Jeffrey Buttle | |
Ladies' singles: Mao Asada | |
Pairs: Aliona Savchenko /Robin Szolkowy | |
Ice dance: Isabelle Delobel /Olivier Schoenfelder | |
Navigation | |
| Previous: 2007 World Championships | |
| Next: 2009 World Championships | |
The2008World Figure Skating Championships was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2007–08figure skating season. Medals were awarded in the disciplines ofmen's singles, ladies' singles,pair skating, andice dancing. The event was held at theScandinavium arena inGothenburg,Sweden from March 16 to 23.
The competition was open to skaters fromISU member nations who had reached the age of 15 by July 1, 2007. The corresponding competition for younger skaters was the2008 World Junior Championships.
Based on the results of the2007 World Championships, each country was allowed between one and three entries per discipline. National associations selected their entries based on their own criteria.
Due to the large number of entries at the World Championships, only the top 24 single skaters and top 20 pairs advanced to the free skating after the short program. In ice dancing, the top 30 couples in thecompulsory dance advanced to theoriginal dance, and the top 24 couples after the original dance advanced to thefree dance.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Jeffrey Buttle | Brian Joubert |  Johnny Weir |
| Ladies | Mao Asada |  Carolina Kostner |  Kim Yuna |
| Pairs | Aliona Savchenko /Robin Szolkowy |  Zhang Dan /Zhang Hao | Jessica Dubé /Bryce Davison |
| Ice dancing | Isabelle Delobel /Olivier Schoenfelder | Tessa Virtue /Scott Moir |  Jana Khokhlova /Sergei Novitski |
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada (CAN) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | France (FRA) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 3 | Germany (GER) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Japan (JPN) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 5 | China (CHN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Italy (ITA) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 | Russia (RUS) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| South Korea (KOR) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
 United States (USA) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (9 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |
Thecompulsory dance was the Argentine Tango.
Dan Zhang /Hao Zhang fromChina set a new world record of 74.36 points under theISU Judging System for pairs' short program.
European champion ice dancersOksana Domnina /Maxim Shabalin (RUS) withdrew before the event due to an injury to his knee. They were replaced byEkaterina Bobrova /Dmitri Soloviev. Four Continents and Grand Prix Final bronze medalistEvan Lysacek withdrew before the event due to injury.[1] He was replaced by US pewter medalistJeremy Abbott.
Jeffrey Buttle was the sixth Canadian man to win the world title. His win set off a controversy because he did not attempt a quadruple jump. Brian Joubert the silver medalist criticized the system for producing a winner who did not complete or attempt a quadruple jump. This set off the first of many debates on the value of the quads and what men's figure skating should be about that would culminate in the 2010 OlympicQuadruple jump controversy.[2]
Carolina Kostner led the short program with 64.28 points, just 0.18 points higher thanMao Asada who was in second.Kim Yuna fell on her triple Lutz, leaving her in fifth place after the short program. Despite popping a triple lutz at the end of her program and saving multiple jump landings, Kim earned the top free skate score of 123.38 points. Kostner received negativegrade of execution on five of her seven jumping passes but still managed the third highest free score. Asada, one of two women attempting the triple Axel in the competition, fell during the takeoff of the axel, but still managed to do two triple-triples and score 1.46 points higher than Kostner, securing the gold medal. Silver went to Kostner and Kim received the bronze medal.
The following countries have earned more than one entry to the2009 World Championships based on performance at the 2008 World Championships.[3]
