The senior division at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in St. Louis, Missouri, from January 4 through this past Sunday, served as a preview for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games taking place in the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy. With 11 Olympic berths at stake, the competition was intense.
The women’s event was led by World Champion Alysa Liu and two-time U.S. champion Amber Glenn. Glenn defended her title; Liu was second and Isabeau Levito third. In her final U.S. Championships as a singles skater, Starr Andrews got a standing ovation for her short program to Beyoncé’s “Run the World,” and finished seventh overall.
“On the ice, the women were epic. They were powerful. Amber Glenn was so fierce … I also loved watching Starr — she’s a beautiful, fun performer,” said actress, singer, and dancer Monique Coleman (Taylor in “High School Musical”), who took up skating several years ago and hosted U.S. Figure Skating’s community events at Kiener Plaza. “It was fun to be able to participate in such a meaningful way and bring ice skating directly to the community.”
Ilia Malinin, the dominant men’s skater in the world, scaled back the number of quadruple jumps in his free skate but still won his fourth U.S. senior title by a 57-point margin. Andrew Torgashev was second and Maxim Naumov third. This past year, Naumov trained diligently despite dealing with the tragedy of losing his parents and coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, in the Flight 5342 plane crash outside Washington, D.C., last January. “I was weeping when Max came out being announced for the Olympic team,” said Coleman.
Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates won a historic seventh title. They head to Milano Cortina as the favorites for gold. They are joined by silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik and bronze medalists Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko. The second- and fourth-place pairs teams are Olympic-bound: Skaters on the first- and third-place teams are not U.S. citizens, which is an Olympic requirement.
Junior skaters competed before the senior events. Ice dancers Anaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo performed a stellar rhythm dance (the theme was the 1990s) to the music of Kriss Kross, placing third in that section. They finished fifth overall.
Caleb Farrington, who trains in Newburgh, New York, claimed silver in the junior men’s division. In the short program, he was determined to include the triple axel jump and convinced his coaches to allow him to do it. “[I said] ‘I believe in myself; I just need you to believe in me as well,’ and I did it. I fell, but you know what? That’s a good start,” said Farrington.
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