The day before, the World Figure Skating Championship started in Montpellier, France, at the Sud de France Arena.
The audience supported the Ukrainian athletes' team at the opening ceremony with long applause (watch from 9:00).
Anastasia Shabotova was expelled from the Ukrainian national team for leaving a "like" at Plushenko's post about the "special operation in Ukraine."
Russian and Belarusian figure skaters were excluded from participation in the world championship due to the war in Ukraine.