It was held at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada on February 2–8.

Skaters who reached the age of 15 by July 1, 2008, were eligible to compete.

Unlike the other three ISU championships, each nation was allowed three entries in each discipline, regardless of its skaters' performance in the previous year's championships.

This event served as the Olympic test event for figure skating for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games although the rink was NHL-sized.

[1] (Local Time, UTC−8) Kim Yuna set a new world record for the short program.