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Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette (CAN)
withdrew from next week's Worlds.
Photo: AP/David J. Phillip
Olympic ladies' bronze medalists Joannie Rochette and Olympic dance bronze medalists Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin are the latest skaters to announce their withdrawals from the World Figure Skating Championships.
With Worlds only a few days away, the withdrawals have increased as skaters are making their final decisions now so that the substitute entries can have ample time to make their travel and competition arrangements.
Rochette and Domnina/Shabalin join Evan Lysacek as the Olympic medalists who have opted out of the competition since the Olympics ended last month. Pairs' champions Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao had commited solely to the Olympics and not the World Championships. Rochette cited a lack of preparation time after spending much of her post-Olympic time dealing with her mother's death, which happened just days before she took the ice to compete in Vancouver. She will be replaced by Canadian bronze medalists Myriane Samson.
Below is a list of skaters who have withdrawn from the World Championships:
MEN
- Evan Lysacek USA
- Johnny Weir USA
- Stephane Lambiel SUI
- Vaughn Chipeur CAN
LADIES
- Joannie Rochette CAN
- Natalia Popova UKR
- Joelle Forte AZE
- Katsiarina Pakhamovich BLR
PAIRS
- Tatiana Volosozhar and Stanislav Morozov UKR
DANCE
- Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin RUS
- Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto USA
- Katherine Copely and Deividas Stagnounas LTU
- Virginiya Hoptman and Pavel Filchenkov AZE
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