Five skaters compete for Hungary at the World Figure Skating Championships, all born in Russia and Ukraine

This year's World Figure Skating Championships began in Montreal on Wednesday, with Hungary fielding five competitors.

Here is the team:

Aleksandr Vlasenko (men's singles)
Maria Pavlova, Alexei Sviatchenko (pairs)
Mariia Ignateva, Danijil Leonidovich Szemko (ice dance)

Last year in Saitama there was at least one competitor who was born in Hungary, Júlia Láng. As she is not on the team this year, only athletes born in Russia or Ukraine will have the opportunity to compete under the Hungarian flag.

Born in Odessa, 23-year-old Szemko has lived in Hungary for a long time and has learned the language. He was naturalised to compete alongside Villő Marton, who then quit. Szemko was joined by Ignateva, who was born in Yekaterinburg, Russia. They finished tenth at the European Championship in 2023 but only ranked 25th this year.

The Pavlova-Sviatchenko duo is garnering the most interest, as they finished fourth at this year's European Championship and may even qualify for the top eight at the World Championship. Moscow-born Pavlova, 19, originally joined Balázs Nagy (a dual Hungarian-American citizen), but they later split up. Pavlova then teamed up with Sviatchenko, 24, from St Petersburg.

"They worked hard to be at their best at the World Championships at the end of the season and to turn that into a result we can be proud of. They are working under the supervision of Dmitry Savin," said Csaba Bálint, the head of the national federation's section said, as per the federation's website.

Vlasenko barely made it to the final 24 at the Junior World Championships, and is not expected to be a finalist in the adult competition. Besides Vlasenko, Polina Dzhumanyizayova, who lives in Moscow, competed in the individual event at the Junior World Championships.

The best result at the event was achieved by József Mózes Berei in the pairs, who finished 12th with Swiss-born Nora Rothenbühler.