A total of 177 skaters from 44 ISU members have been entered for the Championships, which are scheduled to take place from Wednesday (March 16) to Sunday (March 20).

No preliminary rounds will be skated, following a decision of the ISU Congress in summer 2012, but participants need to have achieved a total element minimum score for both the short and free programmes.

All skaters will compete in the short programme and short dance with the top 24 single skaters, top 16 pairs and top 20 ice dance teams proceeding to the free skating and free dance.

Hungary has twice previously staged the Championships in Budapest, in 1991 and 1995.

Competition in the men’s event will feature medallists from the Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games, and the ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Barcelona.

Russia’s Dmitri Aliev is making his debut at the World Junior Championships, but the 16-year-old appears ready for the podium after taking silver in the Junior Grand Prix Final and bronze at Lillehammer 2016.

Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Deniss Vassiljevs of Latvia and Junior Grand Prix finalist Daniel Samohin of Israel will provide stiff competition for Aliev though.

Canada’s Nicolas Nadeau, Russia’s Alexander Samarin and the United States’ Vincent Zhou are podium contenders as well.

Youth Olympic Games champion Sota Yamamoto of Japan had to withdraw as he suffered an injury.

Russia’s Polina Tsurskaya has dominated the junior ladies this season, winning each international event she has entered so far including the Junior Grand Prix Final and the Youth Olympic Games.

Competition should come from Junior Grand Prix Final and Youth Olympic Games silver medallist Maria Sotskova, also of Russia, and Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist Elizaveta Tursynbaeva of Kazakhstan.

Other podium contenders include 2015 world junior bronze medallist Wakaba Higuchi of Japan and ISU Junior Grand Prix finalists Alisa Fedichkina of Russia, and Japan’s Yuna Shiraiwa and Marin Honda.

In the pairs, ISU Junior Grand Prix Final and Youth Olympic Games champions Ekaterina Borisova and Dmitri Sopot of Russia are aiming for their third major title this season.

Youth Olympic Games silver medallists Anna Duskova and Petr Bidar of the Czech Republic and Junior Grand Prix finalists Anastasia Gubanova and Alexei Sintsov of Russia will be pushing to challenge the leaders.

Last year’s world junior silver medallists Lorraine McNamara and Quinn Carpenter of the US are the team to beat in the ice dance competition.

The ISU Junior Grand Prix Final champions will have to watch out for corresponding silver medallists, Anna Loboda and Pavel Drozd of Russia, and bronze medallists, Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons of the US.

The ISU awards a prize fund of $138,500 (£96,700/€124,700) at the World Junior Championships to skaters and couples placed first to fifth.

The men’s and lady’s winners each receive $10,000 (£7,000/€9,000), while the pairs and dance champions take home $15,000 (£10,500/€13,500) per couple. 

Action in Debrecen is due to start on Wednesday with the junior men and junior pairs short programme.