By Maura Sullivan Hill, Team FSO contributing writer
Photos by Robin Ritoss
St. Louis, Mo — Ilia Malinin was breaking in new skates and told reporters he “decided to play it safe here,” in the free skate at the 2026 U.S. Championships in St. Louis. For Malinin, taking it easy means landing three quadruple jumps – still more than any other skater in the competition – and winning by a 57-point margin to take his fourth U.S. title. His technical repertoire puts him far ahead of his competitors, and his victory here and eventual place on the Olympic Team was never a question.
But the other two spots on the U.S men’s Olympic team were a bit more of a wildcard this week in St. Louis, and the crowd watched as four contenders – Jason Brown, Tomoki Hiwatshi, Maxim Naumov, and Andrew Torgashev – duked it out on the ice at the Enterprise Center. When all was said and done, a new shining star had emerged, a beloved skater stumbled, and two skaters seized their Olympic dreams. 
That new shining star was Jacob Sanchez, who had the performance of the night and finished in fourth place with the pewter medal. Sanchez, a two-time medalist at the junior level at the U.S. Championships, finished seventh last year. Skating last in the second group, and without a quad, Sanchez made the eight triples in his program look effortless and the crowd erupted when he pumped his fist after landing the final jump.
Fan-favorite Brown had perhaps the most unusual and devastating performance of his long career, falling on one triple axel and popping another, before doubling two planned triples. Despite his struggles, the crowd gave him a big ovation at the end of the performance, as he tumbled to eighth place overall.
In the mixed zone after the program, Brown told reporters he felt trained and ready and that it was frustrating to have wobbly legs. He also spoke reflectively of the pride he feels in his career, but did not commit to either retiring or competing again. He has been assigned to compete at both Four Continents and the World Championships. (Editor’s Note: Brown withdrew from Four Continents Jan. 13)
In second after the short program, Hiwatashi was plagued by underrotations, getting q calls on two jumps, plus multiple negative grades of execution in his free skate to Vincent Cannady’s cover of the song “Creep.” He ended the night in fifth place.
Skating back-to-back in the third and final group, Torgashev and Naumov performed with two distinct styles, but both won over the crowd and the judges. They finished second and third, respectively, and earned their spots on the U.S. Olympic Team.
Torgashev entered the free skate in fifth place after falling on his quad toe loop in the short. But he told the media in the mixed zone after the short that he was glad he did not give up on the rest of the program after the fall.
“You know, I’ve let my fair share of skates fall apart after an opening mistake, so that’s something I’ve been trying to adjust this season,” Torgashev said. “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 of it.”
In the free skate, he took the ice with intensity, performing to “Oratores” and “Good News” by Apashe, an artist who performs electronic and classical music, along with “This Place Was a Shelter” by Olafur Arnalds. He covered the ice with great speed, and this time, hit his opening quad toe and followed it with another quad toe loop in combination with a double toe. Six triples later, he ended with a fast combination spin and the audience was on their feet. It was a redemptive moment after he faltered in the free skate at the 2025 World Championships in Boston.
Naumov took the ice next, performing an emotional free skate to “In This Shirt” by The Irrepressibles, a song that explores feelings of grief. Naumov lost his parents, who were also his coaches, in the mid-air collision over Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, including 28 members of the figure skating community, last January. As Naumov sat in the kiss and cry after both programs, he held a photo of himself with his parents up to the camera. The resilience and strength he displayed in both programs awed the St. Louis crowd, who gave him standing ovations in both segments of the competition.
Naumov was in fourth place after the short program, where he stepped out of his quad salchow in an otherwise elegant and passionate performance to “Nocturne No. 20” by Chopin.
In the free skate, he opened with a huge quad salchow, before putting a hand down on the triple axel and tripling his second planned quad salchow. But he showed true mental toughness from there, committing to the performance and the four triple jumps, three spins, step sequence, and choreo sequence that remained.
“My intention was to not leave anything behind. I went into it giving every single bit of energy that I possibly could to it. There were mistakes obviously, but I would fight tooth and nail to get to the end of this program and not leave the points that I could behind,” Naumov said. “That mentality I’ve had ever since I was a kid, and I will continue to have that throughout my entire life. That’s exactly what got me through, is the resilience and the grit, and I feel the strongest after these kinds of performances and that’s the most important to me.”
After finishing in fourth place for the past three years, Naumov’s bronze medal came at the perfect time.
In February, he and Torgashev will head to Milan with four-time U.S. Champion and two-time World Champion Malinin, who said the event in St. Louis was one of his favorite national championships in his career so far.
“The energy and the crowd were so amazing,” Malinin said in the post-event press conference. “Everyone from the staff to the people to the support, it was all there, and I felt it and it really helped me and it helps all the other athletes get through our performances.”
