U.S. Figure Skating Championships will determine who’s going to the Olympics : NPR
Ilia Malinin competes in the men’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in St. Louis.
Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
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Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the sport’s annual national title event and final qualifier for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortino next month, are taking place this week in St. Louis, Missouri.
Halfway through the final qualifying competition, the United States’ deep field is in the spotlight. The championship has already seen record performances in the women’s event and several competitors are looking to secure their third Olympic ticket.
Although the team will be officially announced on Sunday, there is one spot that is almost certain: Ilia “Quad God” Malinin, the 22-year-old reigning world champion.
Malinin is undefeated in all major competitions since 2023. He is the only skater to perform a quadruple axel – a jump once considered physically impossible, until Malinin did it.
Malinin landed a quadruple flip and a quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination in his short program Thursday night for a total of 115.10 points. That gave him a commanding 25-point lead over Tomoki Hiwatashi, who is in second place with 89.26. Hiwatashi nailed a slightly under-rotated quadruple toe loop in a crowd-favorite performance of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” He said the energy of the crowd motivated him.
“I hear them cheering for me and being out there is a lot of fun for me,” he said. “I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.”
Jason Brown competes in the men’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in St. Louis.
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Jeff Roberson/AP
Close behind, with a score of 88.49, is Jason Brown, who at 31 is the oldest competitor in the men’s event. Brown is looking for his third ticket to the Olympics next month. He revisits his 2014 “Riverdance” short program, which earned him a spot on the Sochi 2014 Olympic team at just 19 years old.
Brown’s reimagined Riverdance routine was a hit with the crowd at the Enterprise Center on Thursday night, with a standing ovation before ending her routine with a cartwheel out of her suit.
“Every time I present this program, it really feels like a love note to the audience,” Brown said.
In fourth place with 85.72 points is Maxim Naumov, who performed a moving short program for Chopin. Namov lost both of his parents – Olympic pair skaters and coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova – in the plane crash that killed 28 members of the U.S. figure skating community three days after last year’s championshipswhere he obtained the pewter medal.
Naumov held a photo of his parents in the kissing and crying zone after his skate. The photograph shows him skating at the age of 2, held back by his parents.
Maxim Naumov holds a photo of his parents as he waits for his scores after competing in the men’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in St. Louis. Naumov’s parents were killed in a plane crash in early 2025.
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He thought about what his parents would say as he prepared for this Olympic season.
“It’s all about being resilient. That’s the feeling and mentality I’ve gone into this whole season,” he said. “What if, despite everything that happened to me, I could still go out there and do it?” said Naumov.
The men’s Olympic team’s second and third places are less assured than Malinin’s. Brown is likely a lock unless his usual consistency falters in Saturday’s long program. Naumov and Himatashi are possibilities for that third and final spot, with competition from Andrew Torgashev, fifth at 84.99 after a fall on a quadruple toe loop in the short program.
In the women’s short program, Amber Glenn delivered a record-breaking short program to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” – the highest score ever in a women’s short program at the U.S. Championships with a score of 83.05. After his jumps were executed cleanly, including his triple Axel, the audience applauded and danced along with his choreographic sequence, standing before his final pose.
Amber Glenn competes in the women’s short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026, in St. Louis.
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“I feel elated,” Glenn said after her program.
Right behind her is Alysa Liu, whose routine to Laufney’s “Promise” scored 81.11. The reigning world champion returned to competitive skating last season with flying colors after retiring following the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The 20-year-old Liu’s striped hair, smiling piercing and trademark athleticism were on display — landing a clean triple lutz-triple loop combination and a Biellmann pirouette that she called “really good” — but what stood out most was her performance.
“I would say this is my favorite short program that I have performed and performed in front of an audience,” Liu said.
In third place is 2023 U.S. champion and 2024 world silver medalist Isabeau Levito, 18, who clocked a personal best of 75.75 for her short program. Levito said her playful performance in “Zou Bisou Bisou” was “easy” to portray because “I’m almost myself, just extreme.”
If all three women repeat their impeccable performances in the free skate, they will certainly occupy all three spots on the Olympic team.
In ice dancing, Madison Chock and Evan Bates continued their dominance, leading after the rhythm dance with a season’s best score of 91.70 to a medley of songs by Lenny Kravitz. The reigning world champions and six-time American champions are aiming for a record seventh national title this weekend. But the real prize will be another trip to the Olympics, where they will have a chance to win gold and improve on their fourth place in Beijing in 2022.
“We had a lot of fun playing today,” Chock said. “I felt like we were present and grounded and able to enjoy the energy of the arena and the connection between the two of us. We felt like it was a great skate and a stepping stone to Milan.”
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik’s upbeat rhythmic dancing to Bell Biv DeVoe’s songs earned them an 85.98 rating and made them one of the favorites for a spot on the Olympic team. Kolesnik, of Ukrainian descent, only became a U.S. citizen this summer after nine years of training in the United States.
“We were excited to play today,” Zingas said. “It’s already been a crazy year for us and we’re just trying to enjoy every moment.”
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko are in third place with a score of 83.29, having reworked their programs following a disappointing result at Skate America this fall.
“Someone told us [to] skate for yourself at 10 years old,” Ponomarenko said. “So over the last seven weeks and these national championships, I’m skating for this little boy who had a dream.” Canada-born Christina Carreira recently became a U.S. citizen after a seven-year wait, making the team eligible for an Olympic berth.
Reigning pairs champions and first in the pairs short program, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov did not have the same luck. They are in a race against time for Finland-born Efimova to obtain U.S. citizenship before Sunday’s Olympic team selection. Mitrofanov said he was “hoping for a last-minute miracle” this week as he awaits news of his fast-track bid, but he is unlikely to be part of the two U.S. duo teams sent to Milan.
These places could be occupied by the teams currently in second and third place respectively, Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy and Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea.
The pairs and women’s competitions are broadcast live on NBC Friday evening. The championships will conclude on Saturday with the ice dance and men’s events. The Olympic team will be announced Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. A full schedule is available here.
