By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator
Photos by Robin Ritoss
It was expected that world champion Ilia Malinin would claim his third U.S. title at the U.S. Championships in Wichita, Kansas Jan. 26. And given how he continues to defy of the sport, it came to no surprise that he did it with the second-highest free skate and total score in U.S. Championships history.
In his “I’m Not a Vampire (Revamped)” by Falling in Reverse free skate, Malinin attempted to land seven quadruple jumps, something that he sought to do at the Grand Prix Final in December. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in his attempt in Wichita as he fell on his quadruple loop attempt and had a slightly under-rotated quadruple Salchow. He still landed five clean quadruple jumps, including the quadruple Axel and added a one-foot backflip to his choreographic sequence. He earned a free skate score of 219.23 and a total score of 333.31, which was the second-highest free skate and total score in U.S. Championships history. The highest free skate score is 228.80 and the highest total score is 342.22, which were set by six-time U.S. Champion and Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen at the 2019 U.S. Championships in Detroit, Michigan.
“Looking back after that performance, I felt that it was a pretty good performance and I definitely have improved a lot since Grand Prix Final and I’m definitely very happy with all the progress that I made at this competition, but now I can use the time to take everything that I’ve learned from my performances and really try to develop them and get them as perfect as I can before Worlds,” said Malinin.
As the national champion, Malinin will head to the World Championships in Boston, Mass. in March. He has selected not to compete at the Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea in February.
2023 U.S. bronze medalist Andrew Torgashev, who took home the bronze at Grand Prix de France this fall, continued the trajectory he has made this season by taking home the silver in Wichita. In his “Scheherazade” free skate, Torgashev cleanly landed two quadruple toe loop jumps, including one in combination with a double toe loop. He also landed two triple Axels, including one in sequence with a double Axel. He received all positive GOEs on his elements and earned level fours on his spins and step sequence, except for his flying sit spin, which earned a level three. He earned a free skate score of 191.55 and a total score of 286.49 to stay in second place and earn the silver medal.
“It’s for sure validating whenever you’re on the podium and it makes it seem like your hard work has been worth it. It can inspire confidence and definitely gives motivation to keep training and pushing on,” Torgashev said.
2024 U.S. bronze medalist Camden Pulkinen took home his second consecutive bronze medal at the U.S. Championships. In fourth after the short program, Pulkinen started his “Outro/Solitude” by M83 free skate with a triple toe loop jump, which was supposed to be his quadruple toe loop attempt. He did not let the mistake hinder the rest of the program and went on to complete seven other triple jumps including triple Axel-Euler-triple Salchow combination and a triple Lutz-double Axel sequence. He also earned all level fours for his step sequence and spins, with the exception of his flying camel spin, which earned a level three. He earned a free skate score of 164.16, which was fourth in the free skate. His total score of 252.92 was enough for him to claim the bronze.
“Standing on the podium for the second time is super validating,” Pulkinen said. “I had a pretty rough Fall, so I was happy to be here. Wichita was a great city to host us, so it was a great time being here and it was nice being on the podium here.”
Two-time U.S. pewter medalist Maxim Naumov, who was in seventh after the short program, moved up to fourth overall and claimed his third pewter medal. Naumov had the third best free skate of the men’s event. He’s only mistake in the free skate was doubling his planned quadruple Salchow. He earned a free skate score of 165.75 and a total score of 248.16 to move up three spots to finish fourth overall.
“I’m definitely bummed about the [Salchow] since I did a good one in the six-minute, so I felt really confident on it,” Naumov said.”I’m overall happy with how I did everything. Just being able to push through everything and not paying no mind to the early mistake. I just tried to hold my spins, hold everything that I can to just squeeze out all the points that I could possibly get. It’s the most important competition of the season, so I have to get it done.”
Jimmy Ma, who was in third after the short program, dropped to fifth overall. Tomoki Hiwatashi, who was in 10th after the short program, finished fifth in the free skate to move up to sixth overall. Reigning Junior Grand Prix Final Champion Jacob Sanchez was seventh in his senior debut.
The U.S. men have three spots for the World Championships in Boston. As stated above, Malinin receives an automatic spot as the national champion. Torgashev was given one of the spots, along with 2015 U.S. Champion Jason Brown, who withdrew from this event due to equipment issue. His spot is pending return to play protocol. Pulkinen has been named first alternate with Naumov and Ma as the second and third alternates.
Naumov, Torgashev and Pulkinen have been named to the Four Continents Championships, with Ma, Hiwatashi and Daniel Martynov as alternates.
Sanchez, along with Patrick Blackwell, who won the bronze medal in the junior event, have been named to the World Junior Championship team.
For more results, click here.
