Who to Watch at the World Figure Skating Championships

In figure skating, the first year after the Olympics sets the tone for the next three years. Old favorites give in to injuries or retire and new faces skate into the limelight. The World Figure Skating Championships will be held in Tokyo, Japan from March 19-25. The championships will provide the first major look at some of the skaters who will be competing for Olympic gold in Vancouver. Here are some new- and familiar- faces to watch for:

Ladies- Reining World Champion Kimmie Meisner performed admirably at the recent U.S. National Championships, but the ladies of Japan will make her fight to keep her title. Mao Asada is probably the best skater you've never heard of. She has twice landed the triple axel in competition, a jump that no U.S. Skater has mastered. Others who may make an impact are Emily Hughes, sister if 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist Sarah Hughes, and Japan's Miki Ando.

Mens- Switzerland's Stephane Lambiel has won the men's title the last two years in a row, but if the performance by Evan Lysacek at the U.S. National Championships was any indication, the crown could be changing hands this year. Lysacek is a talented skater who has been criticized for failing to skate two clean programs back to back, but he put together a clean short program and an inspired long program that included a quadruple toe loop to win his first U.S. title. If he skates cleanly, he will be the skater to beat, but mistakes could allow European Champion Brian Joubert of France to sneak past him.

Pairs- China and the Russian Federation have dominated pairs competition for the last four years, and this year doesn't look to be any different. Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao won the Grand Prix Final in December with countrymen Dan Zhang and Hao Zhang taking the bronze. The United States champions Rena Inoue and John Baldwin are one of the world's top teams, but they are no match for the Chinese pairs.