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Fox Sports
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Strong finish at skating worlds gives US hope for 3rd Olympic pair. That hasn't happened since 1994.
Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov of the U.S. celebrated once in the center of the ice after their free skate at the world figure skating championships on Thursday night and again about a half hour later. Moments after the pair said they hoped for a strong finish that would help their nation qualify a third team for the 2026 Olympics, the scores for their teammates, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, were announced and word filtered over: 'You did it.' The skaters hugged again, and bounced with glee. By finishing in the top six – one spot ahead of Kam and O'Shea – Efimova and Mitrofanov helped the U.S. provisionally qualify three pairs for 2026 Winter Games. Two of the spots are guaranteed, and a third can be secured at a qualifying event in Beijing later this year. 'It's bigger than us,' Mitrofanov said. 'We set a little goal in our heads that we knew that there was a possibility, and that is something that we really want to strive for. Whether or not we'll make it to the Olympics, we will always know that we did everything for Team USA.' An international power in the other three figure skating disciplines, the Americans have never won gold in pairs; they have not medaled since Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard took bronze in Calgary in 1988. It has been more than 30 years – the 1994 Games in Lillehammer – since the United States has sent three pairs to the Olympics. Efimova and Mitrofanov were shaky with the double axels in their combination sequence, and she put her foot down on their triple toe loops. But otherwise, their program set to 'Je Suis Malade' earned high marks for execution. When the reigning U.S. champions finished, they pumped their fists and screamed in ecstasy. Efimova pounded on his chest in celebration. They hugged, with Mitrofanov squeezing her head hard into his chest. The scores – 135.59 in the free skate, and 199.29 overall – were career bests and good enough to place them first at the time. That didn't last – they finished fourth in the free skate, and sixth overall, with Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan returning to the top step of the pairs podium a year after losing their title. The crowd responded with a standing ovation for the Efimova and Mitrofanov, hometown favorites who train at the Skating Club of Boston. The club lost six people in a January plane crash that killed more than two dozen members of the skating community coming back from a development camp following the U.S. championships in Wichita, Kansas. 'It feels like a family,' Mitrofanov said. 'We have all come together, and it's a very tight community, and we're very blessed to represent the Skating Club of Boston and train there and have so many people support us. 'It means everything,' he said. 'To be honest, that's a dream come true. Since we knew that worlds would be in Boston, that's when we were like, 'Oh my goodness, this would be our dream to be able to put out two great performances.'' A day after their emotional skate in the short program, which followed shortly after a tribute to the crash victims, Efimova said she focused on her performance this time. She didn't realize what they'd accomplished until Mitrofanov spun her around. 'I forgot about the crowd, totally,' she said. 'This happened also at nationals, and afterwards I told Misha that I didn't really see it. I did not understand what was going on. And this time he turned me around and said, 'Watch!' And I was like 'Oh, right, there's a crowd.'' And when she saw him celebrating, she knew it must be pretty special. 'I always try to stay calm, but in these kind of moments, I can't. I can't,' he said. 'It's everything that I gave. I gave my heart out to that skate and it really felt great.' ___ AP sports: in this topic
New York Times
28-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
American figure skating duo honors crash victims after breakthrough performance
BOSTON — Misha Mitrofanov broke his embrace of Alisa Efimova and spun her around. Let her see the crowd's reaction to the moment she was feeling. She covered her mouth with both hands beneath widened, welling eyes as the crowd at TD Garden showered them with an ovation. Their performance Thursday at the figure skating world championships was stunning, literally, to the performer. It was the kind of execution they'd envisioned, fostering a moment they could only imagine — in front of their home fans. Advertisement Efimova and Mitrofanov, pride of the Skating Club of Boston, earned a 135.59 in Thursday's free skate at the 2025 world championships. It was, at the time, the best of the day. More importantly, it was their best and a clutch bounce back from their ninth-place showing in Wednesday's short program. And when they finished, as they awaited their results, Efimova and Mitrofanov shared their spotlight with their skate club and its grieving community. They held up photos of people from the Skating Club of Boston who died in the American Airlines plane crash in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29. 'It feels like a family,' Mitrofanov said. 'We've all come together.' Their score was topped three times over the remaining eight pairs, and Efimova and Mitrofanov finished with the fourth best score of the day. The duo, ranked No. 9 entering the event, finished sixth overall with 199.29 points in the pairs competition, the highest of any American tandem. The winners, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan, pulled out the gold in the final performance of the night. Initially, Kihara looked stunned when the video board revealed the result. It declared their free skate ranked No. 2. But they were not second place anymore. Their coach, Bruno Marcotte, implored them in the moment, as disappointment began to settle in, that they'd won. 'You got it. You got it,' he implored as they watched the screen. He'd done the math. And when the total results came up, their free skate score combined with their best-in-show short program on Wednesday was 219.79 points — enough to take their gold medal back. After winning gold in 2023, and then silver in 2024, Miura and Kihara were back on top. What a showdown! 🔥 Miura/Kihara reclaim their 2023 title after a nerve-wracking performance full of passion, precision, and pure determination! 👑⛸️ What. A. Moment. #FigureSkating #WorldFigure — ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) March 28, 2025 Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin of Germany took silver (219.08) with the other stellar performance of the evening, drawing a raucous ovation from TD Garden. Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macci took bronze (210.47). Americans Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, fifth-ranked in the competition, finished seventh (195.38). Advertisement But it was Efimova and Mitrofanov who won the affection of the American crowd. They both screamed and pumped their fists in jubilee after nailing their routine. Then the emotions hit Efimova. The pair's sixth-place finish helped the Americans provisionally qualify three pairs — of the 16 available through the world championships — for the Winter Olympics in Milan. The U.S. hasn't sent three pairs teams to the Olympics since the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (Photo of Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov: Geoff Robins / AFP via Getty Images)
Associated Press
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Strong finish at skating worlds gives US hope for 3rd Olympic pair. That hasn't happened since 1994.
BOSTON (AP) — Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov of the U.S. celebrated once in the center of the ice after their free skate at the world figure skating championships on Thursday night and again about a half hour later. Moments after the pair said they hoped for a strong finish that would help their nation qualify a third team for the 2026 Olympics, the scores for their teammates, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, were announced and word filtered over: 'You did it.' The skaters hugged again, and bounced with glee. By finishing in the top six – one spot ahead of Kam and O'Shea – Efimova and Mitrofanov helped the U.S. provisionally qualify three pairs for 2026 Winter Games. Two of the spots are guaranteed, and a third can be secured at a qualifying event in Beijing later this year. 'It's bigger than us,' Mitrofanov said. 'We set a little goal in our heads that we knew that there was a possibility, and that is something that we really want to strive for. Whether or not we'll make it to the Olympics, we will always know that we did everything for Team USA.' An international power in the other three figure skating disciplines, the Americans have never won gold in pairs; they have not medaled since Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard took bronze in Calgary in 1988. It has been more than 30 years – the 1994 Games in Lillehammer – since the United States has sent three pairs to the Olympics. Efimova and Mitrofanov were shaky with the double axels in their combination sequence, and she put her foot down on their triple toe loops. But otherwise, their program set to 'Je Suis Malade' earned high marks for execution. When the reigning U.S. champions finished, they pumped their fists and screamed in ecstasy. Efimova pounded on his chest in celebration. They hugged, with Mitrofanov squeezing her head hard into his chest. The scores – 135.59 in the free skate, and 199.29 overall – were career bests and good enough to place them first at the time. That didn't last – they finished fourth in the free skate, and sixth overall, with Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan returning to the top step of the pairs podium a year after losing their title. The crowd responded with a standing ovation for the Efimova and Mitrofanov, hometown favorites who train at the Skating Club of Boston. The club lost six people in a January plane crash that killed more than two dozen members of the skating community coming back from a development camp following the U.S. championships in Wichita, Kansas. 'It feels like a family,' Mitrofanov said. 'We have all come together, and it's a very tight community, and we're very blessed to represent the Skating Club of Boston and train there and have so many people support us. 'It means everything,' he said. 'To be honest, that's a dream come true. Since we knew that worlds would be in Boston, that's when we were like, 'Oh my goodness, this would be our dream to be able to put out two great performances.'' A day after their emotional skate in the short program, which followed shortly after a tribute to the crash victims, Efimova said she focused on her performance this time. She didn't realize what they'd accomplished until Mitrofanov spun her around. 'I forgot about the crowd, totally,' she said. 'This happened also at nationals, and afterwards I told Misha that I didn't really see it. I did not understand what was going on. And this time he turned me around and said, 'Watch!' And I was like 'Oh, right, there's a crowd.'' And when she saw him celebrating, she knew it must be pretty special. 'I always try to stay calm, but in these kind of moments, I can't. I can't,' he said. 'It's everything that I gave. I gave my heart out to that skate and it really felt great.' ___
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Figure skating mourns plane crash victims at somber World Championships
USA's Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov hold photos victims of the American Airlines flight 5342 disaster as they wai for their scores at the World Championships in Boston (Geoff Robins) Figure skating united on Wednesday as the World Championships in Boston mourned the victims of a January plane crash that claimed the lives of several skaters and coaches. Twenty-eight of the 67 people who perished when an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter in Washington DC on January 30 were members of the figure skating community. The victims included several young US skaters returning from a training camp in Kansas accompanied by their parents and coaches. Advertisement For US duo Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, the tragedy struck close to home on Wednesday as the victims were remembered in a ceremony at Boston's TD Garden in between the women's short program and the pairs short program. Efimova and Mitrofanov both train at the Skating Club of Boston, which lost six members in the disaster -- skaters Spencer Lane, 16, and Jinna Han, 13, their mothers Christine Lane and Jin Hee Han, and coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the 1994 world champions. Efimova and Mitrofanov held framed portraits of the six victims as they waited for the judges' scores after their performance. "I feel the impact they have had in this actually quite short time we have known them is just huge," Efimova said, her eyes welling up. "I think they have played a big part of us being here today with all their support and love every day." Advertisement The TD Garden arena was plunged into darkness during a memorial service as the names and faces of the victims of the disaster were displayed on a screen above the ice. The images were interspersed with speeches from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Governor of Massachusetts Maura Healey and figure skating officials. - 'Avoidable accident' - Doug Lane, who lost son Spencer and wife Christine in the disaster, said the crash had been an "avoidable" tragedy. "My first hope is that even as we remember the amazing people from the figure skating community we lost, we take extra care to lift up the young skaters still here," Lane said in remarks to a hushed arena. Advertisement "They are hurting. I hope we can support them in their skating journeys. "My final hope today is that we can prevent something like this from ever happening again. Some accidents are unavoidable, this one was not. "But rather than looking for places to blame, I hope we can work with our elected officials to make air travel safer for everyone and for all of our families." Lane later revealed that son Spencer had been due to participate at this week's World Championships as an awards presenter. "These types of events are really special to my family and I know a lot of the other families as well, because I think for us, seeing some of the people they trained with go on and perform at this level is kind of a reminder of what they were aspiring to," Lane told reporters. Advertisement "Spencer had actually been selected to be an awards presenter at this event, so it was personally meaningful to me as well. "Obviously, my preference would have been to be sitting in the stands with my wife cheering for him, but given that he wasn't able to fulfill that duty, it was meaningful to me to be able to be kind of a poor stand-in at his place." Doug Zeghibe, chief executive of the Skating Club of Boston, said that the staging of the World Championships in the city had helped the grieving process. "I think emotionally the club is holding it together," Zeghibe said. Advertisement "The love of producing the world championships really was a focus for us and it's something that our membership all came together for. So having a focus like that really sort of carries you through and gives you a distraction. "It'll be interesting to see what it'll be like when these championships conclude and things quiet down and we're back to a typical routine, but I have to say ... there's a hole left by these guys." dif/rcw/pst
Fox News
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
Skaters killed in plane crash were Olympic hopefuls, peers say: 'Absolutely remarkable'
Emotions were running high at The Skating Club of Boston Thursday after six people with ties to the organization died in a plane crash near Reagan International Airport Wednesday night. Among those who spoke were Olympic silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan, who couldn't hold back tears while talking about the crash. President Donald Trump said there were no survivors after an American Airlines jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The plane was carrying 64 people, among them teenage skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers Jin Han and Christine Lane and their coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. Three members of The Skating Club of Boston — Misha Mitrofanov, Jimmy Ma and Alisa Efimova — also spoke of their peers, who they say were the next generation of hopeful U.S. Olympians. "The potential that they showed on the ice and the capabilities they had at such a young age showed that they had promise for the future of this sport," Mitrofanov, whose partner is Efimova, told reporters Thursday. Mitrofanov and Efimova had just won the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, in the pairs discipline. That's where the American Airlines flight was coming from. Han and Lane were returning from a developmental camp over the weekend. "The camp basically brings them in for the championships so that they can watch, for example, Jimmy, or at least an ice skate at a championship level," Mitrofanov said. "Afterwards, they are part of a fairly strict routine. ... Lot of training, lots of drills and exercises that the U.S. Figure Skating wants to see." Han, 13, and Lane, 16, were chosen for the developmental camp because of the promise they showed, and Ma was blunt about just how promising these two skaters were. "Absolutely phenomenal," Ma said. "If I was their age back when I was their age, they would blow me out of the water. Even Jinna, at 13 years old, I couldn't do anything. She was already 10 times better than me at such a young age. "They showed championship-level skating. It would take time for them to develop to maximize their full potential. But the amount they were able to achieve in such a short amount of time was absolutely remarkable." Efimova said the campers were spotted in the crowd in the red jackets they would wear, and as she worked along with Mitrofanov to win in pairs, she used their cheering as motivation. "They all have these red jackets, so you can really, really identify this community during the competition, which helps me personally a lot to bring a lot of joy into skating," Efimova said. Ma also pointed out how great Shishkova and Naumov, winners at the 1994 world championships in pairs while competing in two Olympic Games, were as coaches. "Their meticulousness in developing young skaters is almost unparalleled," Ma explained. "You could tell by their son, Max, who I consider not just a friend, but a fierce competitor. I look at him every day, I'm like, 'Damn, I got to do better.' That was all them." The Skating Club of Boston wasn't the only figure skating community that was hit by this. The Philadelphia Skating Club & Humane Society posted on social media that "beloved members" of its team were on the flight. Skating coach Alexandr Kirsanov and two of his youth skaters were also aboard the fight, according to Kirsanov's wife, per ABC News. "U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C.," U.S. Figure Skating said in a statement. "We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts." As the figure skating world and others affected by the crash mourn the losses of loved ones, Mitrofanov said skaters will continue to train and compete with their "family" in mind. "Watching these kids skate and watching their fire and love for the sport, that's what helped us to, honestly, continue training," Mitrofanov said. "Watching these kids develop helps us want to push ourselves as well. It's a two-way street that they look up to us, but we also look up to them." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
