US Nationals 2025 Recap and Analysis
U.S. Nationals 2025 have come and gone, but so many fantastic memories will remain! Unlike last year’s National Championships, in which saw quite a lot of messiness, this year felt like a great step forward for many towards the 2026 Olympic Games.
Men’s Competition
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Ilia Malinin dominated the competition — winning by nearly 50 points (in Nationals points, at least). While he was near-flawless in his short program, he was obviously disappointed with his one fall in the free skate on the illusive quad loop, missing out on a clean Nationals free skate. That said, he genuinely was skating on a whole other level here than the rest of the competition — though there were some fantastic performances from other men!
Coming in for silver was a refined, patient, and compelling Andrew Torgashev. Both of his programs looked stellar, and his confidence and control are growing with each competition.
In third was a rejuvenated Camden Pulkinen, who while not perfect was absolutely stunning and seemed to relish every minute on the ice in Wichita. It will be interesting to see if the World team—which currently does not have Camden but instead Jason Brown—will stand. Jason will need to show he’s ready ahead of time, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on that!
Pairs Competition
This was the one place where we saw an upset at the top. Last year’s silver medalists, Alisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov, proved they were there to win by skating their best competitive performance to date — earning them a standing ovation from the crowd and their first national title.
After a disastrous free skate, reigning US Champs, Ellie Kam & Danny O’Shea, had to settle for bronze behind a strong performance by Katie McBeath & Daniil Parkman. In fourth, Emily Chan & Spencer Howe, who weren’t able to show up as cleanly as they have been in practice.
Rounding out the top five were Audrey Shin & Balazs Nagy, who already are showing great promise after only skating together for less than a year.
Women’s Competition
While we’re thrilled that this competition was as exciting and as close as it was, we almost wish there could have been two gold medals awarded. The ultimate victor here was reigning national champ and undefeated icon of the season, Amber Glenn, who came back after a tight short program to squeak just past Alyssa Liu.
Our silver medalist, though, had THE skate of the competition — a nearly flawlesss, emotionally nuanced short program that left Alyssa, us, and many others watching in tears.
Coming away with the bronze was star-on-the-rise, Sarah Everhart. Sarah has been the most consistent woman this season, and this competition continued to show that she’s here to play. While Bradie Tennell earned the fourth spot, its also worth mentioning the stunning showing from junior skater Sherry Zhang who came in fifth in her first senior nationals. She’s definitely one to watch.
Dance Competition
Similar to the Men’s Championship here, it was essentially a forgone conclusion that Madison Chock & Evan Bates would clinch their sixth national title (which ties them with Meryl Davis and Charlie White for the most national championship golds). If they can stay healthy and at the top next season, there’s no reason not to expect them to break that record in St. Louis next year.
More impressive than their win here was how much fight Madison had to even compete, as she was fighting a stomach bug through most of her time in Wichita.
In second was the ever-evolving Christina Carreira & Anthony Ponomarenko. While their rhythm dance left people thinking they could be a bit vulnerable, their brilliant and aggressive free dance solidified their silver with an exclamation point.
After being tied with the surging Emilia Zingas & Vadym Kolesnik after the rhythm dance, Caroline Green & Michael Parsons showed what makes them truly special with a mesmerizing, modern free dance that clinched them a bronze medal and a ticket to Boston for Worlds.
Chapters
0:00 — Intro
1:41 — Men’s Competition
16:05 — Pair’s Competition
31:10 — Women’s Competition
40:34 — Ice Dance Competition
45:52 — Gold in our Hearts
48:11 — Wrap Up
