ELLENTON - It's been an amazing year for the Suncoast figure skating pairs.

They took gold and silver in the national championship, competed in the Winter Olympics, and Friday they are heading to Torino, Italy to compete in the World Figure Skating Championship.

This is their last major competition for the season, and they say it will be even more intense than the Olympics.

Amanda Evora and Mark Ladwing are practicing early to prepare for the time zone change in Europe.  In the figure skating world, a world champion title is arguably more prestigious than an Olympic title.  Only 20 teams get to compete in the short program and the free skate.

Competing in the both the Olympics and World Championship is a dream realized for Evora and Ladwig, but they remain humble competitors.  "This is our first world championship, so we don't expect much.  We'll definitely see a lot of some teams at the Olympics…so we were 10th at Olympics and we're hoping to shoot higher than that," says Evora.

"Best year.  I think this is my bucket list all-time 10-year - you can check, check, check, check so I got to come up with a new list.  I think living to 100 is still on there," says Ladwig.

Ladwig also became a father during this skating season, so he adds that to the top of his list.

Ladwig, Evora and the pairs team of Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett leave Friday afternoon for Torino, Italy.  The World Figure Skating Championship is March 22nd through March 29th.