Ilia Malinin takes fourth straight national title
2026 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships: Men
Quad God Ilia Malinin secured his fourth national championship title in St. Louis, Mo. on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center. Andrew Torgashev repeated a silver medal finish while Maxim Naumov finally broke through to the podium after three seasons in fourth place.
Ilia Malinin
Restrained as he breaks in new skate boots to be ready for the Olympic Games, Malinin started the four-peat with a solid short program performance set to “Dies Irae” by Náttúra featuring Vila and “The Lost Crown” by 2WEI, Josnez and Kataem. He flawlessly cranked out a quadruple flip, triple Axel and quadruple Lutz-triple toe combination. Combined with level four spins and footwork, the outing achieved a score of 115.10.
“It’s part of my own creative process,” he explained of his innovation. “I think, and a lot of it comes from my love of gymnastics, my love of, like, acrobatics. So, I think that’s where I get all these moves from. It really pushes me to push the envelope in skating, not only just in a performance aspect, but also give it even more athleticism, other than all the jumps, all the spins and all the hard things in the program already. So, it gives me a lot of fun but, at the same time, I feel like it’s very useful for the sport to bring in something new, so everyone has something unique to watch.”
“Now I know how I can take things a step further in the long program and really just take my time,” he added. “Take everything one step at a time. I’m not really looking forward to the nerves or, you know, even just having small, funny mistakes here and there.”
In his self-narrated free skate on Saturday, Malinin attempted a fraction of the quadruples he completed at the Grand Prix Final in December where he set the world record free skate score. Nonetheless, the quadruple flip, Lutz and Salchow (the last two in jump sequences) were enough to earn a free skate score of 209.78. The only error came when he put a hand and foot down on the back end of the quad Salchow-triple Axel sequence. The two time and current World champion received level fours on his spins but only a level three for his footwork sequence. He won the competition with 324.88 points.
“Usually around nationals time is where I typically break in new skates and new boots,” the 21-year-old explained. “So, it’s not completely out of the ordinary, but seeing as these nationals were closer because of the Olympics, I didn’t have a lot of time to get comfortable with them. So, it was still kind of in the process where sometimes they can be good, other days they can be really whack out of ordinary, you know, uncontrollable. So, I decided to play it safe here, and also to kind of save my energy, save my condition, preparing for those Olympic Games.”
Andrew Torgashev
Torgashev started in St. Lous poorly on Thursday, stumbling on his quadruple toe loop in his Scorpions short program. However, the 2024 Grand Prix de France bronze medalist rebounded for the triple Axel and triple flip-triple toe loop combination to accumulate 84.99 points. He achieved level fours on all of his non-jumping elements.
“It was all right,” said the current U.S. silver medalist. “Shame on the quad. Thought everything else was tight. Axel was nice. Flip-toe was a fight. Thought the footwork was really nice. Hopefully got my spin levels, but yeah, just the toe, just feeling a little tight.”
Regarding his mental fortitude to persevere after the quadruple mistake: “I’ve let my fair share of skates fall apart after an opening mistake, so it’s something I’ve been trying to adjust this season. So, just, if that’s how I’m gonna start, that’s how I’m gonna start and then move on and make the most of the rest. Go for it. Not gonna say there was no doubt in my mind, but just going for it, going for the Axel. That I know I can do.”
On Saturday, Torgashev roared across the ice during his expressive free skate set to “Oratores” and “Good News” by Apashe and “This Place was a Shelter” by Ólafur Arnalds. The 2015 US Junior National champion reeled off two quadruple toe loops (one got a q), two triple Axels and a triple Lutz-triple Salchow. His step sequence and two spins were graded as level four. He earned 182.63 points for his effort in the free skate and 267.62 overall which secured the silver medal.
“Today was great,” said the 24-year-old. “Today’s run through was great. It’s everything I was training. So, I’m glad I came together today. Throughout the Grand Prix I wasn’t showing my best, so this was a good run through for myself, and we’ll continue to work at it. I accepted a little while ago that regardless if I can call myself an Olympian or not one day, I think the Olympic spirit is in all of us. It’s this resilience, this drive, this tenacity, that brings us all coming back to the rink every single day.”
“Just put my heart out there tonight,” Torgashev said of his desire to be named to the Olympic team. “If it’s enough, it’s enough, if not, no worries. But yeah, this is gonna be the best night of sleep that I’m gonna have in St Louis. Every night I’ve been just shaking, going to bed just like, ready to get on with it. But yeah, I’m happy that it’s done with everything I could have done and now look to see what’s next.”
Maxim Naumov
Naumov methodically worked through his tender short program set to Nocturne No. 20 by Frédéric Chopin. He stepped out of the quadruple Salchow despite landing one flawlessly on the six-minute warmup. He stuck the landing of a shaky triple Axel but solidly landed his triple Lutz- triple toe loop combination. He earned 85.72 points and held the first position when the final group took the ice.
“To get out there and just do my best,” Naumov said of his goals on Thursday. “You know, really happy that the first half is done and I’m just focusing on the second half right away. It’s an emotional one for me, but I’m fighting through it.”
“I mean, it’s the ultimate goal,” he said of his Olympic aspirations. “I told my parents and one of our last conversations was exactly about that, and it would mean the actual world for me to do it. So, that’s exactly what we’re fighting for. So, from when we wake up to when we go to bed every single day, that is what I think about first thing in the morning and when I shut my eyes.”
In Saturday’s pressure-cooked men’s final, Naumov performed his soulful free skate “In This Shirt” by The Irrepressibles with rousing support from the St. Louis audience. The program was a deeply personal reflection on his past year, grieving the tragic death of his parents. The three-time US National pewter medalist landed a quadruple Salchow but put a hand down on a triple Axel and stepped out of two triple Salchows (one in combination). But the triple Axel-double Axel sequence was clean, and combined with level four spins and footwork, he garnered 163.44 points. Naumov finished the competition with a total score of 249.16. Only .09 points separated Naumov from fourth-place finisher, Jacob Sanchez.
“It’s been an emotional roller coaster for me personally,” said the 24-year-old. “You know, I’m really happy that is all over right now. And I’m relieved but incredibly grateful to be sitting in this position right now.”
“You know, I always had a joke with some of my close friends, and I said, ‘You know, they say consistency is key,'” Naumov joked about his perennial fourth-place finishes. “So, you know, I was back-to-back-to-back. But, all jokes aside, it was difficult. Just being within a few points every single season. But, this year was totally different for me. I took a whole other approach and I am so happy that the curse is finally broken.”
“My intention was to not leave anything behind,” Naumov said in his hopes of being sent to Milan. “I went into it given giving every single bit of energy that I possibly could to it. You know, there were mistakes, obviously, but…I would fight tooth and nail to get to the end of this program no matter what and not leave any of the points that I could behind.”
Jacob Sanchez
Jacob Sanchez left the St. Louis audience spellbound after his expressive short program to Les parapluies de Cherbourg by Mario Pelchat and Michel Legrand, earning a score of 81.27. Despite a turn out on the landing of his opening triple Axel and a determined landing on the triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, the 2024-25 Junior Grand Prix Final champion achieved level four marks on his spins and footwork sequence.
“You know, all week I’ve been kind of feeling the pressure, feeling the nerves,” he said. “I mean, it’s an intense year, intense season, especially right now. You know, all these great skaters are here to compete for that Olympic spot and also, like, being a name for the next Olympic cycle. It’s a great honor. I mean, I came here, not really with my full focus on making that team but just getting myself out there performing and setting myself up for the next four years and I feel like I started a good train of momentum.”
“Like, I was so nervous this whole like, since the day after practice,” he said of his nerves. “I went home, back to my Airbnb, and I was just thinking and thinking and thinking. I’ve never been so stressed since, probably the Final last year. So, it was really something that doesn’t happen often, so it was pretty shocking.”
Sanchez performed exceptionally in front of a rousing audience at the Enterprise Center in his free skate set to “Mercy Duet,” “Mercy Voiceless,” “Refuge” by Max Richter and Ros Stephen, opening with a triple Axel-triple toe loop combination and going on to land six more triple jumps. He earned 167.80 points for the effort and finished third in the free skate, fourth overall (249.07 total).
“I had so much emotion after I landed that last jump!” said the 18-year-old. “It was just like I had so many emotions. Just tension all day, all week, like it’s been so stressful. I haven’t been this nervous since last year’s Grand Prix Final, and I’m really glad that when the time came, I really was able to pull myself together and really get myself to perform under the pressure, especially today. All year, I haven’t had a perfect program, and I feel like today I put as close to a perfect program as I could, and I’m really glad that was able to pull it together and do it today.”
“I think this really sets me up for the next quad,” Sanchez summed up. “I feel this is a really, really important year to perform because everybody will remember a memorable performance. And being such a young face in this group of skaters is a really good opportunity this year. And I feel like in the next four years, if I keep this momentum going, I can definitely be a challenger for an Olympic spot in 2030.”
Tomoki Hiwatashi
Tomoki Hiwatashi grabbed the attention of all the Enterprise Center’s spectators by rocking his short program set to “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. We won 89.26 points and finished second on the night, behind Malinin. The 2019 World Junior champion was happy he stood up on his quadruple jump but disappointed that it got a q.
“The toe was obviously ‘q’ but I felt it,” he admitted. “I felt it when I was doing it so, but, you know, it feels good to land it, whether it be q, whether it be under, being on the ice. Landing it on one foot just feels amazing. And you know, after that, I feel like I was able to get the momentum going into Axel. And Lutz- toe. And I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed being on the ice out here in St. Louis.”
The unfamiliar place of second heading into the free skate may have cursed Hiwatashi as he dropped to fifth in the free skate and fifth overall. He gave a valiant effort in his enchanting routine set to “Creep” by Vincent Cannady but quarter landings and step outs marred his performance, resulting in a score of 157.98 to finish the competition with 247.24 points.
“In general, I feel like I really fought well,” he said afterwards. “Obviously, the details weren’t there as you can probably see. And I mean, I think that was the main loss for what happened today, I guess, like, I really fought for it but I think it just wasn’t there. What I needed was not there.”
“I really enjoyed myself on the ice,” Hiwatashi reflected. “I really felt like I put everything in there. I fought for it. I fought for that spot. I fought for everything I had. And I think I’ve done well doing it. And I think this was the last, I think decision factor for a lot of the competitions that are coming afterwards. And I think what I’ve done today was the best I could have done today. I don’t think I could have done any better because I felt ready, I felt prepared and that was what I put out today. So, I need more practice, obviously. I think that’s all I need and I’ll hopefully get something out of this competition. But if not, I’ll just think about what’s gonna happen onwards from here.”
Jason Brown
Fan favorite Jason Brown dropped from third in the short program to twelfth in the free skate and eighth overall. The 2015 US National Champion was still assessing what went wrong in his Riverdance short program on Thursday night. A wonky landing on his triple Lutz resulted in a step out of the landing of the triple toe loop and he also put his hand on the ice for balance. He scored 88.49 points and scored level four on all spins and his footwork sequence.
“I’m still processing it, but great to just get out there and compete, especially with the short program,” he said of the cause of the error. “It’s like, okay, the first one’s out of the way. I just had a blast performing, but definitely some errors. That said, I’m really, really proud of the attack and the performance and I look forward to kind of talking through what happened with my coach and kind of regrouping for Saturday. It’s too fresh right now to kind of know, but I’m really proud of the attack. So, like, even though, like, the Lutz was a little bit off, for whatever reason, a shaky landing, I didn’t pop the toe. I went after it. And, yeah, frustrating, of course; not what I wanted, but I haven’t had the enough time to process yet what exactly happened.”
Brown’s 2026 charge went from frustrating to hurtful in the free skate.
Brown’s jumps abandoned him in his soulful free skate set to “Say Something” by Jacob Banks. The eight-time national medalist fell on his opening triple Axel and then abandoned the next planned triple Axel and doubled the subsequent loop and Salchow. He also fell on his triple flip jump towards the end of the program, but he still managed to execute level four spins and footwork.
“That’s a brutal one,” said the 31-year-old afterwards. “That hurts. It hurts my soul. You know, at the same time, though, I’m just so unbelievably proud of the career that I’ve had, and every time I get to step on the ice, I learn something new about myself. I learn about courage. I learn about how to fight harder. I learn about determination, getting back up every time I make those mistakes. This program, gosh, I had to fight so hard out there. Frustrating, really frustrating. But, you know, I’m gonna learn so much from it, and I’m gonna talk to my coaches and my psychologist and just really talk it through. But with that being said, I’m just so unbelievably proud of the work that I put in this year and this season, and I’m so unbelievably proud of my tenacity throughout my career.”
“I felt pretty good,” he said of his frame of mind pre-competition. “I mean, I was ready. I was as trained as I’ve been all season for this. I feel like I’m constantly getting stronger and stronger and stronger. So yeah, it was definitely frustrating to have, I don’t know, wobbly legs or that it was like they weren’t there for me.”
“If I hang up those skates tomorrow for my competitive career, or get another chance to compete again, I’m still just as proud and so unbelievably satisfied with the career that I’ve had,” he said of his competitive future. “Over beyond satisfied!”
Liam Kapeikis (235.13) finished sixth overall, followed by Daniel Martynov (229.95).
On December 31, Camden Pulkinen announced his withdraw from the event due to a herniated disc in his lower back.
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