Tag: Defending

Photo credit Danielle Earl/U.S. Figure Skating
By Troy Schwindt

Alysa Liu made a triumphant return to the ice by securing the short program lead.

All three of the top women’s skaters – Liu, Bradie Tennell and Amber Glenn – are U.S. champions, marking the first time since 2011 that three U.S. champions have claimed the top three spots in the women’s event after the short program. 

Defending pairs champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea hit on all cylinders and hold a big lead after the short program.

In the junior women’s event, Sophie Joline von Felten rallied to claim gold in the junior women’s event and made history along the way, becoming the first U.S. woman ever to successfully land a quadruple Salchow.

Liu Makes Triumphant Return to U.S. Championships
When Alysa Liu received a standing ovation following her short program in Wichita, the message from the crowd was clear: welcome back.

The California native retired at 16 years old from skating following the 2022 World Championships, where she won the bronze medal, and went off to college at UCLA.

Last year, she announced her return to competitive skating.

In Wichita, Liu took the boisterous crowd down memory lane with a superb performance to one of her favorite songs, “Promise” by Laufey. She tied her previous-best short program score of 76.36 with a clean performance that featured grades of execution +1.08 and above on every element.

“I love this program so much,” Liu said. “It’s such an emotional program. I love performing it. I can’t imagine when I won’t have this program. That’s going to be so sad, I will probably still run it in practice.”

When asked if she remembered how it felt competing at the U.S. Championships (for the first time at the senior level) in 2019, she was at a loss.

“I don’t remember the feeling of it,” Liu said. “It feels like a different lifetime. When I see old videos of me, it’s like that’s not me, but it is. It’s just been so long ago that I don’t’ remember.”

Bradie Tennell, another Olympian and two-time U.S. champion, showed that she’s all the way back with her performance to music from Lord of the Dance. 

The Illinois native performed a nearly clean routine, which featured Level 4s on all of her elements. She missed the 2024 U.S. Championships because of an ankle injury. Her performance in Wichita made her return that much sweeter.

“I had my second ankle surgery on Jan. 26 of last year, so it hasn’t been full year since the surgery and I’m back at nationals,” Tennell said. “I did a clean short. Just a lot of things mentally, physically and emotionally that I’ve had to work through in the past year, and they all have helped me grow and evolve into the athlete and person I am today. I wouldn’t change it. All those struggles are something that makes me unique in this field. This sport is about the journey and the destination is the reward for all of the hard work.”

Defending champion Amber Glenn lost points on her opening triple Axel but settled in to finish third in the segment with a score of 70.91.

Glenn, undefeated this season, showed her veteran presence by moving past the triple Axel with each subsequent element receiving a Level 4.

“As you could tell by my reaction, I was quite disappointed,” Glenn said. “I did not feel the attack or adrenaline going out today. I came out to this event trained and ready but definitely more fatigued and not quite as exhilarated as I liked to be, especially compared to the Grand Prixs and the Final. I do feel like I will be able to give that attack tomorrow in the free skate and not hold back as much as I did today. I definitely played it safe and tomorrow I’d like to go full out.” 

Defending pewter medalist Sarah Everhardt is fourth with 70.72 points.

Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea Put on a Show, Lead Pairs Short
Defending champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea continued to show the growth of their partnership with a sterling short program.

The Colorado Springs-based team notched Level 4s on every element en route to a personal best score of 77.19. They lead by eight points heading into Saturday’s free skate.

Performing to “Rain, in Your Black Eyes” by Ezio Bosso, Kam and O’Shea demonstrated their unison and technical prowess, earning positive GOEs on each element. From their opening triple twist to their ending lift, Kam and O’Shea ruled the ice.

“We’re pretty happy with the skate overall,” O’Shea said. “It was a great crowd, good energy and a good experience out there today. It’s another program we’re proud to put out. We’ve still got things to grow with. I’ll try and do a better camel [spin] next time, but proud to go out there and put out a strong performance like we train at home.

“It’s a lot of pressure coming back in after winning last year and I think I was pretty happy with how we handled that as a team today.” 

Kam and O’Shea arrived in Wichita riding a wave of momentum, having earned medals at both of their Grand Prix Series events and qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. Kam credited their coaching and choreography team, including Marie-France Dubreuil of the famous Ice Academy of Montreal, for helping them move forward.

“I think from the beginning of the season we’ve emphasized growing our skating and growing our components on the ice,” Kam said. “We went to train with Marie-France [Dubreuil] in Montreal and get a really unique and special (free skate). I think that was the steppingstone for us to start skating together more as a team.”

Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, who last year won the short program at the U.S. Championship before withdrawing due to injury, put themselves in solid medal contention with their performance to “Give Me Love” by Ed Sheeran. They generated a score of 69.10, a new U.S. personal best.

“It was much better than our last competition.,” Howe said. “We had some struggles early in the season, which I think is not unusual for this caliber of skating, and that goes for all the teams. We were happy that these last few weeks, we were able to come back from the previous competition, just buckle down, and thankfully we stayed healthy, and now here we are, and we feel like we’re the best trained we’ve been this season and ready to continue into the free skate.” 

The Boston-based skaters achieved two Level 4 lifts and a Level 4 step sequence. Their Level 4 triple twist earned them a program-high 7.54 points.

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, the defending U.S. silver medalists and rinkmates of Chan and Howe, came through with score of 69.03, a personal best and just 0.07 points behind Chan and Howe. They performed to “Ameksa” and “Uccen” by Taalbi Brothers.

“We were honestly kind of nervous leading up to the short program today, but we were confident with our training,” Mitrofanov said. “We’re going to trust our training and just be able to get the job done. I felt like we were able to do that. Also, we were emotional in our program, so it helped us bring out that emotion toward the program as well.” 

Efimova and Mitrofanov said their performances have received a boost this season working on their choreography with 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Famer Renée Roca.

“It’s been an absolute blast with her,” Mitrofanov said. “She’d fly from California and work with us. I believe it helped our skating. It helped us skate together better and helped us be able to present to the music as well. Even on day one, she was like, ‘What is the story here?’ and not necessarily let’s do the choreography, and I think that really helped us open our minds.”

Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman are fourth with 62.92 points.

Von Felten Storms Back to Win, Makes History
Seventh after the short program, Sophia Joline von Felten delivered a free skate to music from Romeo and Juliet that made history and left an indelible impression.

Von Felten, who trains in Boston, rallied with a highly technical package that included landing a quad Salchow early in the program. She is the first U.S. woman credited with landing the jump in competition.

“I love to make history. No one had ever landed a quad Salchow at nationals or ever,” said von Felten, the third-ever U.S. woman to land a quad jump. “It’s OK that it had a q [one-quarter turn short; the jump still received its full base value, 9.7 points], but next time hopefully it works out clean.” 

This wasn’t Von Felten’s first rodeo when it comes to making history. She became the first junior woman to land a triple Axel at the U.S. Championships in 2024. She also was he first junior woman to land a triple Axel and a triple Axel-triple toe loop in one program at an international event at 2024 Junior Grand Prix Slovenia.

In Wichita, Von Felten trailed short program leader Skylar Lautowa-Peguero by almost seven points. Her personal best free skate of 131.82 also included seven triple jumps, three in combination. Two of those seven triples were triple Axels, making von Felten the second U.S. woman to land two triple Axels in one program at the U.S. Championships.

She achieved two Level 4 spins and received solid marks for her choreo sequence to post a U.S. personal best overall score of 188.84.

“I feel amazing because I trained hard for it,” she said.  “I skated with Axel, Sal[chow], Axel many times at first and it didn’t work out; then it got better and better and then I started skating clean programs. I’m glad hard work paid off.”

In her U.S. Championships debut, Lautowa-Peguero left the ice at INTRUST Bank Arena excited and full of hope. Skating last, Lautowa-Peguero produced a free skate to “Inspiration” by Florian Christl that was both compelling and mistake-free. She posted a personal best free skate score of 124.06 and a personal-best overall total score of 188.00.

She landed seven triple jumps, three in combination; the New Jersey skater achieved Level 4 marks for her three spins and locked in high marks for her choreo sequence. Her program components score of 53.59 topped the field.

“I feel so good that I actually put two programs together and they were strong,” Lautowa-Peguero said. “I had a rocky season before this competition. I went through some things that I never went through before. (At one competition) I popped three times in my long and stepped out of my combo in the short. I was feeling down. The next competition I got back up, but (next time) I did the same thing; I popped three times in the long and stepped out of combo in short.

“I then worked really hard before this competition; I started doing a lot more run-throughs and I felt better about myself and that all of my hard work had paid off. I skated two clean programs at nationals, and I feel excited to keep going and have more opportunities in the future.”

Jessica Jurka, fifth after the short program, performed a nearly clean free skate to “Three Card Switch” from Good Omens album by David Arnold en route to the bronze medal.

The Colorado skater finished with a personal best total score of 176.23 and a personal best free skate score of 117.74.

She landed seven triple jumps, three in combination. The only blemish on her score sheet was an edge call on the triple flip. All three spins received Level 4, while her choreo sequence had the best GOE of her program.

“I’ve had a lot of ups and downs this season, and I’d definitely have to say that this is an up program for me,” Jurka said. “I gave all I could today.”

Jurka’s height on her jumps and ease between elements was noticeable.

“That’s one of the things I like most about my skating,” she said. “My jumps are flowy and soft. It’s not an athletic type of program, but more like beauty and grace in it. I worked very hard to get it like that.”

She placed 12th in the junior ranks last season.

Emilia Nemirovsky claimed the pewter medal for the second straight year with an overall score of 175.30. The Detroit skater was second after the short program.

Her free skate to selections by Eternal Eclipse and Nicholas Britell generated a U.S. personal best 112.41 points and included four triple jumps and two Level 4 spins.

“I think it was OK,” Nemirovsky said. “I kind of lost in the second half but I was determined so that’s all that matters.”

Like Jurka, Nemirovsky’s jumps appeared effortless.

“When I was younger, I did track and gymnastics, so I built a lot of muscle,” she said. “I think that definitely helped to get the power in the jumps I landed today.”

Competition continues Friday with the championship rhythm dance and the championship women’s free skate.

To follow the competition, including live results, how to watch information and more, visit the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships Competition Central.