sentences:  On 4 January 2012, Smirnov had emergency surgery to remove his appendix and an intestinal hernia.Since he was unable to recover in time for the pair to compete at the European Championships in Sheffield, Great Britain from 23–29 January they were replaced by Ksenia Stolbova / Fedor Klimov.At the 2012 World Championships in Nice France, Kavaguti/Smirnov were skating well during their short program until a bad fall at the end of a lift put them in 11th place with a score of 59.59.