The U.S. Figure Skating Championships are happening this week in St. Louis, and they're doing what they do best: determining who represents America at next month's Winter Olympics in Milano Cortino. What's unfolding is less about drama and more about depth — a field so strong that even placing second or third doesn't guarantee you miss the cut.
22-year-old Ilia Malinin is the closest thing to a sure thing. He's the reigning world champion, undefeated in every major competition since 2023, and the only skater on Earth to land a quadruple axel — a jump that was considered physically impossible until he did it. On Thursday, he posted 115.10 points with a quadruple flip and quadruple lutz-triple toe loop combination in his short program, giving him a 25-point lead. That margin tells you everything about the gap between the very top and everyone else.
But the story below him is where things get interesting. Tomoki Hiwatashi, sitting in second with 89.26 points, skated to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and felt the crowd's energy lift him through the program. "I hear them cheering me on, and being out there is very fun for me," he said. Just behind him is 31-year-old Jason Brown, chasing his third Olympic ticket by reviving the "Riverdance" program that earned him his first spot at age 19 in Sochi.
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Start Your News DetoxThen there's Maxim Naumov in fourth place. A year ago, he lost both 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. He skated an emotional short program to Chopin this week and held a photo of his parents in the kiss-and-cry area afterward: a picture of him at age 2, held up by them. "It's all about being resilient," he said. "What if, despite everything that happened to me, I can still go out there and do it?"
Women and ice dance setting the pace
On the women's side, Amber Glenn just set a U.S. championship record for the women's short program — 83.05 points — with a clean performance to Madonna's "Like a Prayer." The crowd was on their feet before she finished. Alysa Liu, the reigning world champion, posted 81.11, and 18-year-old Isabeau Levito earned a personal best of 75.75. If all three repeat their performances in the free skate, they'll fill the three Olympic spots.
In ice dance, Madison Chock and Evan Bates — the reigning world champions and six-time U.S. champions — are leading with a season's best 91.70 and aiming for a record-breaking seventh national title.
The championships conclude Saturday, with the Olympic team officially announced Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. What's clear already is that the U.S. isn't just sending a team to Milano Cortino — it's sending a generation that knows how to perform under pressure.
