U.S. Figure Skating Championships: Amber Glenn, Ilia Malinin shine ahead of worlds, en route to 2026 Olympics

Yahoo

27-01-2025

With the world figure skating championships in Boston at the end of March, the Americans are hoping to use their home ice advantage to find some spots on the podium. The U.S. worlds team was chosen during the U.S. national championships in Wichita over the weekend, but skaters weren't just competing for a spot on the world team for Boston — they were also starting to put together their resume for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics next February, making this an incredibly important year for the national championships.
Here are the biggest takeaways from a dazzling competition.
Earlier this season, Amber Glenn won every Grand Prix competition she entered, including the Grand Prix Final. With a winning streak like that, defending her national title would be easy, right? Well, this is figure skating, and nothing is easy or guaranteed.
After her short program landed her in third, Glenn fought through her free program, beautifully landing her triple Axel and recovering well from a fall late in the skate. It was not her best, but it was enough to win her second consecutive national championship, and a spot on the world team headed to Boston.
'Coming into these nationals, I wasn't feeling my absolute best," Glenn told reporters after her win. "Today being able to not fully lock in but for the most part get into the zone I needed to, and I'm very proud of my mental fortitude and the progress I've made."
After the 2022 season, where Liu took sixth at the Olympics and third at the world championships, she retired. Three seasons later, at the ripe old age of 19, Liu decided to return to the ice. Liu has always excelled as a jumper, and that hasn't changed. What has changed is the joy she's found on the ice this time around. Liu skated a memorable, emotional short program, and finished second overall. Three years later, she's back on the world team.
'It feels really crazy to me," she said. "I really didn't have any expectations for myself placement wise, just program wise. It felt really good throughout this entire experience.'
Seventeen-year-old Isabeau Levito, who won silver at the 2024 Worlds, was the third member named to the team, pending return-to-play protocol. She missed the U.S. Championships with a foot injury.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered on the big stage yet again to win their sixth ice dance national title. 👏 pic.twitter.com/8zrhDr5pSX
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) January 25, 2025
Even those who aren't the biggest fans of figure skating know about Madison Chock and Evan Bates. The ice dancing pair, who began skating together in 2011 and were married last summer, have been on every U.S. championships podium since 2013. Chock and Bates have been to three Olympics together, securing a gold medal in the team event in 2022. They won the last two world championships, too, and have shown no sign of slowing down. Their jazz-themed free skate brought down the house in Wichita. Expectations for the pair are high as they head into Boston.
They will be joined by ice dancers Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons.
Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov haven't been skating together long. Efimova, who previously skated for Russia, was looking for a new partner in 2023 when Mitrofanov sent her a message on Instagram. The tryout worked well, and they started training in Massachusetts. Just two years later, the two won the U.S. title and will lead the pairs delegation. Even better, they get to compete a short drive from their rink in Norwood, Massachussets.
'While growing up, I watched pairs and when I was skating singles, I never thought I would do pairs," Mitrofanov said. "But when I switched, I would watch all the big names, and it was always a dream of mine to stand on the podium. It's very surreal."
Ilia Malinin lands the quad axel on his way to securing his third consecutive U.S. championship. 🤯 #PrevagenUSChamps pic.twitter.com/5ypkfKrAON
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) January 26, 2025
Defending world champion Ilia Malinin again treated fans to a skate packed with quadruple jumps. During Sunday's free skate, Malinin threw seven quad jumps, with a fall on one. The jumps included a quadruple Axel, a jump few will even attempt, much less land.
While his jumps are fantastic and rack up points, Malinin, 20, has shown consistent growth in how he's managed the skating between his jumps. His artistry has started to catch up with his technical ability, making Malinin a terrifying opponent for his competitors in Boston.
'Looking back after that performance, I felt that it was a pretty good performance and I definitely have improved a lot since Grand Prix Final," Malinin said. "I'm definitely very happy with all the progress that I made at this competition, but now I can use the time to take everything that I've learned from my performances and really try to develop them and get them as perfect as I can before Worlds."
He will be joined in Boston by Andrew Torgashev, who took second on Sunday, and two-time Olympian Jason Brown, who won bronze in the team event in the 2014 Sochi Games. Like Levito, Brown missed nationals and will need to follow return to play protocol. Brown, 30, said he had been dealing with a series of challenges heading into nationals. If he cannot compete, Camden Pulkinen will take the spot as the first alternate. Pulkinen finished third in Wichita.