The ISU has confirmed around 150 athletes will compete at the event, due to be held from tomorrow to Sunday (March 18) at the Maurice-Richard Arena.

Competitors will race over four individual men's and women's distances - 500 metres, 1,000m, 1,500m and the 3000m super final - for World Championship medals.

The skater with the combined best points will be crowned overall world champion.

Choi Min-jeong will be among those hoping to capitalise on the absence of Britain's Elise Christie, the defending women's champion, after she suffered an injury during another tumultuous Olympic appearance at Pyeongchang 2018.

The 19-year-old South Korean claimed gold medals over 1,500m and in the relay at the 2018 Games and will bid to regain the title she won back in 2015 and 2016.

Italian legend Arianna Fontana, the recently-crowned Olympic 500m champion, is expected to be Choi's main challenger, while Marianne St Gelais and Kim Boutin will lead the Canadian charge.

The battle for the men's crown is likely to be a much more wide-open affair, with seven different skaters finishing at the summit of the podium at the last seven World Championships.

South Korea will again be in the mix as defending champion Seo Yi-ra attempts to bounce back from a disappointing showing at the Olympics, where he claimed only a solitary bronze medal.

Seo's compatriot Lim Hyo-jun, winner of the 1,500m gold medal in Pyeongchang, could be a better bet from the South Korean team.

Wu Dajing of China, who broke the world record on his way to Olympic 500m glory in the South Korean resort, is also among the entrants.