Latest news with #Mitrofanov
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)
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Riku Miura, Ryuichi Kihara win pairs' world title; U.S. gets chance at 3 Olympic spots
BOSTON — Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara barely reclaimed the pairs' title at the World Figure Skating Championships, while the U.S. will get a chance to have three teams at the Olympics for the first time in 32 years. Miura and Kihara prevailed by 71 hundredths of a point over Germans Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin combining results from Wednesday's short program and Thursday's free skate at TD Garden. Italians Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii earned bronze. Advertisement Americans Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov and Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea finished sixth and seventh. Their results needed to add up to no more than 13 to give the U.S. a chance at earning a third 2026 Olympic pairs' spot, and they hit 13 on the number. FIGURE SKATING WORLDS: Results | Broadcast Schedule The U.S. last qualified the maximum three pairs' teams at the Olympics for the 1994 Lillehammer Games. To get a third spot for Milan Cortina, a U.S. pair other than Efimova and Mitrofanov and Kam and O'Shea must compete at a qualifier in Beijing in September. There, the last three Olympic pairs' spots are at stake. Competition is expected to be tough, given the likely presence of teams from traditional pairs' powers Russia and China, which could take two of the three available spots. Advertisement Efimova and Mitrofanov, the U.S. champions, were clutch Thursday. After placing ninth in the short program, they turned in the fourtth-best free skate to move up three crucial places. "That would mean a lot," to get the third Olympic spot, Mitrofanov said. "It's bigger than us. That's something, actually, we kind of set a little goal in our heads (before worlds). "Whether or not we make it to the Olympics, we at least know that we did everything for Team USA." Efimova and Mitrofanov train at the Skating Club of Boston. In the kiss and cry the last two days, they held pictures of club members who died in the Jan. 29 mid-air collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter. Advertisement "We wanted to dedicate our performance to everybody, and not just us," Mitrofanov said. Miura, 23, and Kihara, 32, have trained in Ontario since teaming in 2019, just about the time that Kihara was ready to retire after two Olympics with other partners and a recent concussion. They ranked outside the top 20 pairs in the world that first season, but since set milestones for pairs in Japan, which has a rich figure skating history in singles events. Miura and Kihara placed seventh in their first Olympics together in 2022. Japan's best previous Olympic pairs' finish was 14th. Since, they've finished second, first, second and first at the World Championships. None of the other top 13 teams from the 2022 Olympics are still competing together internationally. Advertisement After winning their first world title in March 2023, Miura and Kihara were sidelined that fall by Kihara's lumbar spondylosis. They returned last February and then took silver at last March's worlds, winning the free skate. This season, they regularly had errors in the free skate. At December's Grand Prix Final, they finished a distant 11.39 points behind Hase and Volodin. Now back on top, Miura and Kihara can become the third and fourth Japanese skaters to win Olympic gold after Shizuka Arakawa (2006) and Yuzuru Hanyu (2014 and 2018). Of Japan's 18 world titles in figure skating, 16 have come in singles, plus the two from Miura and Kihara. ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships - Seoul At figure skating worlds, a U.S.-Canada ice dance story adds a chapter Madison Chock and Evan Bates go for a third consecutive world title, but Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier have momentum.
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.' ___
Boston Globe
28-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov embrace fourth-place showing in World Figure Skating pairs
Efimova saw a roaring standing ovation and gifts being rained down on the ice. The Norwood-based pair performed the best free skate of their career at their first World Championships in front of a hometown crowd. It was a moment most athletes never have, and in just the second year of their partnership, they had done it. Scoring a 135.59, Efimova and Mitrofanov ended up fourth in the free skate, elevating them to sixth place overall, the top ranked US pair. Advertisement The US pair of Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov were fourth in the free skate program, elevating them to sixth overall and ranking them as the top US pair. Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images The event was won by Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who won their second-consecutive title by just .71 of a point over Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin, 219.79-219.08. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy earned bronze. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'This means everything,' said Mitrofanov. 'All the hard work that we've been putting in paid off. We were very happy to make everyone proud at the Garden today.' Skating 12th of 20 pairs, Efimova and Mitrofanov's free skate score led the night until the final three skaters of the event. Their finish, combined with the seventh-place result of fellow American pair Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, gives the US the opportunity to qualify a third pairs team for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan/Cortina. It would be the first time since 1994 the US would send three pairs to the Olympics. Qualifying a third Olympic team had been a goal of Efimova and Mitrofanov once they won the national title in January, even though they are currently not eligible to represent the US in Olympic competition due to Efimova's Finnish citizenship. (The pair is currently working on citizenship options.) 'It was something that we really wanted to strive for, whether or not it could be us,' said Mitrofanov. Moments later, while still talking to the media, Efimova and Mitrofanov learned that they had achieved that goal. Efimova gasped. Advertisement 'We did it,' Mitrofanov sighed while wrapping Efimova in a hug.
