The U.S. Figure Skating championships will be held in Wichita, Kansas. The event should provide a preview of the American team that will contest the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina,
Ilia Malinin established such a big lead after his peerless short program at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that the phenom's free skate Sunday was less a competition and more a coronation. After starting his program with a textbook quad axel — a jump only Malinin has landed in competition — he doubled a planned quad loop, fell on a quad lutz and doubled another planned quad. Malinin finished with 294.35 points, well below the world-leading score of 314.66 points he had at the Grand Prix Final in December.