At the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, Kavaguti/Smirnov were in second place after the short program. In the free skate Kavaguti fell hard on her cheek after a throw quad salchow but got up seconds later and the pair continued to skate. They earned their first world bronze medal losing the silver to Dan Zhang / Hao Zhang by 0.13. They were selected to compete on behalf of Russia in the ISU's first ever World Team Trophy in Japan. The pair was 2nd in the short program and free skate and finished 2nd overall. The Russian team finished in 5th place.