The 2011 World Championships were originally scheduled to be held in Tokyo in March but due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the competition was moved to Moscow in late April. Kavaguti/Smirnov skated last out of 22 teams in the short program; but a fall by Smirnov on a step sequence left them in 5th place going into the free skate. During the free skate they received a score of 124.82 with a fall on a throw being the only mistake. They finished in 4th place.