By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator
Photos by Cynthia Slawter Photography/U.S. Figure Skating
WEST VALLEY CITY, UTAH –The 2026 U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships took place March 4-7 in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah. Champions were crowned in senior, collegiate, junior, novice, intermediate, juvenile, adult and masters categories.
Senior
The Haydenettes won their 16th straight and 33rd total U.S. title, further cementing its dominance as the most decorated synchronized skating team in U.S. figure skating history.
In first place after the short program, the team’s “Somewhere Only We Know” free skate did include a fall on their no hold element – step sequence, but did earn 11.46 points for their group lift. The reigning World bronze medalists from the Skating Club of Boston earned a free skate score of 147.76. While it was a season’s best score, it was a tight competition as the Haydenettes won the free skate by 0.52 points. Still, they won the event with a total score of 231.38, which was also a season’s best score and the third-highest score in the history of the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships.
“It’s amazing. To continue that legacy, it means a lot to us. It means a lot to the team. It means that we’re continuing to build a strong culture and foster community and really just show how strong and amazing skating and synchro is,” said Caroline Store, from the Haydenettes.
The Haydenettes will now head to the World Synchronized Skating Championships in Salzburg, Austria in April. The Haydenettes have competed at every World Championships since the event’s inception in 2000 and have won seven medals, but have never won gold.
“It means so much. We have much greater goals, this team,” said Autumn Coulthard from the Haydenettes. “We’ve been on the podium. We know we can do it. [Two years ago], it was getting there. Last year was about staying there, in a way. It’s still that game this year, again pushing ourselves to be that first U.S. team that wins and deserves that gold medal. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we are going to give everything we can over these next couple of weeks.”
The Skyliners, of the Skating Club of New York, took the silver medal, their fifth silver medal at the U.S. Synchronized Skating Championships.
In their “Winner Takes It All” free skate, the team had the highest element score of 75.15, but finished second in the free skate with a score of 147.24. Their free score was a season’s best. Their total score of 226.51, which was also a season’s best score, was enough for them to stay in second place. With the silver medal, the Skyliners have placed in the top three at every U.S. Championships since 2015.
“It means a lot,” said Eli Lichstein from the Skyliners. “Last year at nationals, we didn’t have our best skate, and so I think it feels really good to be able to put out our best, or at least close to our best. I think there’s still room for improvement, so I think we feel really good about it.”
The Skyliners were selected to the World team for the third year in a row and sixth time overall. Last year, they finished in eighth place. Their highest placement at Worlds was sixth in 2024.
“Throughout this whole season and definitely this weekend, we feel like we’ve really earned it and we’re really excited for the opportunity,” Lichstein said of their Worlds assignment.
Miami University of Ohio’s Senior Varsity took the bronze medal. In their “Le Freak (Dimitri From Paris Remix)” by CHIC free skate, the team had a fall on their twizzles element, but earned 10.06 for their group lift. They earned a free skate score of 133.55, which was a season’s best score. They moved up from fourth place after the short program with a total score of 203.93, which was also a season’s best score. This is Miami University Senior Varsity’s ninth bronze medal at the U.S. Championships. They have stood on the senior podium at the National Championships every year since 1994.
Teams Elite, which competed as a Senior Elite 12 team and finished fifth last year, competed as a standard team with 16 skaters and earned the pewter medal. This is their second pewter medal at the U.S. Championships as they won pewter medal in 2023. In third after the short program, their “Eye of the Storm” theme free skate had two falls in the group lift element. The team from Northbrook, Illinois earned a free skate score of 131.03, which was a season’s best score. They earned a season’s best total score of 203.26, which was 0.67 points out of third place.
“Last season we did not finish on the podium, so that was a really big goal of ours throughout the season, and we really just wanted to have a lights-out skate,” said Abigail Nelson from Teams Elite. “Obviously, mistakes happened, but other than that, we’re really proud of our performance and we’re really grateful that it led to the end result that it did.”
Hayden Select, out of the Skating Club of Boston, finished fifth with Trine University’s Senior Elite 12 team finishing in sixth place.
Junior
Teams Elite Junior, who are individual members based out of Northbrook, Illinois and the reigning World Junior champions, won their third consecutive U.S. title.
In first after the short program by a little more than a point, they made history as they set the record for the highest-ever total score in the history of the junior event at the U.S. Championships. That score was 222.75. They crushed the previous best by more than 17 points.
“[It feels] pretty unreal. I think we have no words,” said Addison Keith from Teams Elite. ” We did really well with our preparation, and we thought about being here for ourselves and feeling proud about how we’re going to skate and not focus on the outcome. Being here for ourselves and our team and how much we love skating with our team.”
Next week, they will look to defend their title at the World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships. The team was announced for Junior Worlds ahead of the National Championships due to the closeness of the two events.
At the World Junior Championships, Teams Elite will be joined by the Skyliners Junior, out of the Skating Club of New York, who won their third straight silver medal at the National Championships. In second after the short program, they had their best-ever score (216.88) at the U.S. Championships and have continued their streak of medaling at every U.S. Championships since 2015.
They will look to medal at the Junior World Championships for the five-straight year. They won silver in 2022 and then won bronze in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
“It felt, honestly, really rewarding because we worked so hard this whole season,” said Diana Balkovski from the Skyliners. “I think we all felt on the ice that we were skating together. It just felt great on the ice, and when we got our score, it felt even better because it showed that our hard work paid off.”
Interesting to note, though not the same program, both Teams Elite Junior and the Skyliners Junior skate to Carmen for the free skate.
The bronze medalists saw their first-ever podium finish – the Northernettes, who represent the True North Figure Skating Club out of Minneapolis, Minnesota took home the bronze medal. In fifth after the short program, the team earned a season’s best free skate (124.95) and total score (195.48), which was their best-ever score at the U.S. Championships.
“We’ve been working for this for nine years, so [its] an accomplishment for this organization,” said Lauren Boss Krohn from the Northernettes.
For the second straight year, the pewter medal went to Team Image, an individual member out of Hackensack, New Jersey. The Skating Club of Boston’s Lexettes, who were in third after the short program, dropped to fifth overall after two falls in their free skate.
Collegiate
Miami University of Ohio Collegiate Varsity won their 24th collegiate gold medal, continuing to build their legacy in the collegiate division.
Skating to a Michael Jackson “Thriller” theme for their free skate, the team earned all positive GOEs for their elements. Their Level 4 intersection with a Level 4 point of intersection earned the most points (9.11 points). The team’s free skate score of 122.81 was highest-ever point total in the history of the collegiate event at the U.S. Championships. They won the event by 15 points.
“We talk about the champion standard a lot, which is a Miami thing, and we take the ice to represent our school and our team. … It means showing up to every practice with 100% and giving everything to yourself and your teammates so we can have moments like this,” said Gillian Maten from Miami University on winning their 24th U.S. collegiate title.
The University of Michigan took the silver medal after not medaling at the U.S. Championships the last two seasons. Their “halftime” theme program earned 8.46 for their Level 4 intersection with a Level 4 point of intersection and 8.10 for their twizzles element. They earned a free skate score of 107.42, which was their highest-ever score at the U.S. Championships.
“I think our skate was really rewarding on an emotional level,” said Emma Niszczak from the University of Michigan on their skate. “This season has been a little rough for us, but we all really worked together these last couple of months to find our why and remember why we do synchronized skating and remember why we love synchronized skating. I think that skate was us leaving it on the ice and remembering why we love skating.”
Western Michigan University took the bronze medal, marking their fifth consecutive podium finish. Their “femme fatale” free skate program did have one fall, however, their intersections earned them the most points in their program. They earned a score of 105.46.
“We felt a lot of really good energy from our teammates. It’s almost like we can feel the support out there from both our fans and [from each other]. As we’re skating, we always encourage each other, so it’s definitely a really fun experience,” said Colleen Paisley from Western Michigan University.
The Northernettes Collegiate team won pewter medal, which marked their third consecutive podium finish at the U.S. Championships. Their “Chandelier” by Sia free skate did have a fall on a intersection, but their Level 4 twizzle element earned 8.30 points. They received a total score of 104.38.
“It felt really good. Going into it, we felt really confident,” said Adeline Meyer from the Northernettes. “We felt really calm going out there today and just getting really hype in the locker room felt really great. We’re seniors and this is our last skate with the team, so it felt really good to get out there, get done and do a clean last skate.”
Five teams scored more than 100 points, tying the record for most teams with more than 100 points (five in 2024).
Teams Elite swept the juvenile, intermediate, novice and junior events. They are the only team to win gold at these four levels at a single U.S. Championships more than once. DC Edge, of the Washington Figure Skating Club won the adult event with Ice Denettes Tenacity of the Desert Ice SC Of Arizona winning the masters event.
