U.S. Figure Skating Championships will determine who’s going to the Olympics

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the sport’s annual national title event and the final qualifier for next month’s 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortino, are underway this week in St. Louis, Mo.

Midway through the final qualifier competition, the U.S.’s deep field is on display. The championship has already seen record-setting performances in the women’s event and multiple competitors looking to punch their third Olympic ticket.

While the team will be officially announced on Sunday, there’s one spot that’s almost certain: 22-year-old reigning world champion Ilia “Quad God” Malinin.

Malinin has been undefeated in every major competition since 2023. He’s the only skater to complete a quadruple axel — a jump once thought to be 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 decisive 25-point lead over Tomoki Hiwatashi, who sits in second place with 89.26.Hiwatashi landed a slightly under-rotated quadruple toe loop in a crowd-favorite performance to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.” He said the crowd’s energy kept him motivated.

“I hear them cheering me on, and being out there is very fun for me,” he said. “I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.”

Sitting just 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’s revisiting his breakout 2014 “Riverdance” short program, which earned him a spot on the 2014 Sochi Olympic team at just 19 years old.

Brown’s re-imagined Riverdance program was a hit with the crowd at the Enterprise Center on Thursday night, with a standing ovation before he finished his program with a cartwheel out of his combination spin.

“Every time I perform this program, it’s truly like a love note to the audience,” said Brown.

In fourth place with 85.72 points is Maxim Naumov, who skated an emotional short program to 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 championships, where he earned the pewter medal.

Naumov held a photo of his parents in the kiss-and-cry area after his skate. The photograph showed him skating at 2 years old, held up by his parents.

He thought of what his parents would say as he prepared for this Olympic season.

“It’s all about being resilient. That’s the feeling and the mentality that I’ve come into this entire season,” he said. “What if, despite everything that happened to me, I can still go out there and do it?” Naumov said.

The second and third spots for the men’s Olympic team are less certain than Malinin’s. Brown is likely a lock unless his usual consistency falters in the long program on Saturday. Naumov and Himatashi are possibilities for that third and final berth, with competition from Andrew Torgashev, in fifth place with 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-setting short program to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” — the highest women’s short program score ever recorded in the U.S. championships with a score of 83.05. After her jumps were completed cleanly, including her high-scoring triple Axel, the audience cheered and danced along with her choreographic sequence, on their feet before her final pose.

“I feel ecstatic,” Glenn said after her program.

Just behind her is Alysa Liu, whose program to “Promise” by Laufney earned 81.11. The reigning world champion returned to competitive skating last season with a bang after retiring following the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Twenty-year-old Liu’s stripey hair, smiley piercing and trademark athleticism were on show — landing a clean triple lutz-triple loop combination, and a Biellmann spin that she called “really good” — but what stood out most was her performance.

“I would say that’s my favorite short program I’ve done and performed for an audience,” Liu said.

In third place is 2023 U.S. champion and 2024 world silver medalist Isabeau Levito, 18, who earned a personal best of 75.75 for her short program. Levito said her playful performance to “Zou Bisou Bisou” was “easy” to portray because, “I almost get to be myself, just extreme.”

If all three women repeat their clean performances in the free skate they’ll certainly fill the three spots on the Olympic team.

In ice dance, 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 Lenny Kravitz songs. The reigning world champions and six-time U.S. champions are aiming for a record-breaking seventh national title this weekend. But the real prize will be another trip to the Olympics, where they have a shot to earn gold and improve on their 2022 Beijing fourth-place finish.

“We had a ton of fun performing today,” Chock said. “I felt like we were present and grounded and able to enjoy the energy of the arena and connection between the two of us. We felt like this was a great skate and a stepping stone toward Milan.”

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik’s upbeat rhythm dance to songs from Bell Biv DeVoe earned them a score of 85.98 and makes them a favorite for a spot on the Olympic team. Ukrainian-born Kolesnik only became a U.S. citizen this summer after nine years of training in the United States.

“We were excited to perform today,” said Zingas. “It’s been a crazy year for us already and we are just trying to enjoy every moment.”

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko sit in third with a score of 83.29, after reworking their programs after a disappointing finish at Skate America this fall.

“Someone told us [to] skate for your 10-year-old self,” Ponomarenko said, “So, the last seven weeks and this nationals, I’m skating for that little boy who had a dream.” Canadian-born Christina Carreira recently became a U.S. citizen after a seven-year wait, making the team eligible for an Olympic spot.

Reigning pairs champions and top finishers in the pairs short program, Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov haven’t had the same luck. They’re in a race against the clock for Finnish-born Efimova to be approved for U.S. citizenship before Sunday’s Olympic team selection. Mitrofanov said they are “hoping for a last-minute miracle” this week as they await news on their expedited application, but are unlikely to be one of the two U.S. pairs teams sent to Milan.

Those spots might be taken 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 broadcast live on NBC on Friday night. The championships will conclude on Saturday with the Ice Dancing and Men’s events. The Olympic team will be announced on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. A full schedule is available here.