Without Russia and China, other athletes ready to challenge for titles at figure skating worlds

Canadian skaters are in Montpellier, France this week for the world figure skating championship for what is sure to be one for the history books.

With Russian and Belarusian skaters barred from competing due to the invasion of Ukraine, and China not sending its athletes, this is one of the most paired down events figure skating has seen in years.

The competition, which begins with CBC Sports' live streaming coverage of the women's short program at 6:05 a.m. ET, will be without three of the four reigning Olympic champions. 

However, there are still plenty of talented skaters who will challenge for titles and podium results.

Here's a breakdown of the four disciplines:

The pairs event is arguably the most affected since Chinese and Russian skaters make up the top-five finishers from last month's Olympics in Beijing. Most notably, reigning Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong will not be competing, nor will reigning world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of Russia.

As a result, competition for the podium is wide open and the U.S could take its first world championship pairs title in more than 40 years.

The duos of Alexa Knierim and Brendon Frazier, along with Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc, who finished sixth and eighth, respectively in China, will be battling for top spot. But Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara saw success on the Grand Prix circuit this season, and having finished seventh at the Olympic Games, will challenge the Americans.

There's also potential for Canadians Vanessa James and Eric Radford to win a medal. This is Radford's eighth world championship and James' 10th, but their first together. The duo made a late Olympic push, officially announcing their partnership in the