Figure skating world championships preview: Piper and Paul's last dance and the Quad God's revenge

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As winter (slowly) winds down, it's an exciting week for figure skating fans with the world championships beginning Wednesday in Prague. A few stars pulled out after the Olympics, but several juicy storylines remain, and I'll outline those below. Plus, a scathing report on the Canadian sports system, and an exciting season finale in alpine skiing.

The figure skating world championships in an Olympic year are always a tricky thing. Physically and emotionally exhausted from the intense effort of performing on their sport's biggest stage, not to mention the months (even years) of preparation for that moment, many of the top skaters choose to call it a season rather than gear back up for another major competition.

This year is no exception, with the gold medallists from three of the four main events in Milan last month skipping this week's world championships in the Czech capital of Prague. Unfortunately, that list includes effervescent Olympic women's champion Alysa Liu of the United States, along with surprise men's champ Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan and pairs winners Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan. French ice dance gold medallists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron are competing, but American silver medallists Madison Chock and Evan Bates decided to forego a shot at their fourth consecutive world title.

To be honest, for me, the long list of absences tends to cheapen the Olympic-year world championships a bit and can lead to some less-than-fully-deserving medallists. I think a sensible move would be to copy what swimming, track and field and skiing do