Ilia Malinin earns 4th straight U.S. figure skating title for Olympic berth

Streaks remained intact as men's national champion Ilia Malinin and the ice dancing duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates dominated at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday in St. Louis.

Each locked in spots on the 16-person U.S. Olympic figure skating team, which will be officially announced on Sunday. The 2026 Winter Games is Feb. 6-22 in Milano and Cortina, Italy.

Malinin, a 21-year-old from Fairfax, Va., won his fourth consecutive title and will be making his Olympic debut.

He collected 209.78 points in Saturday's free skate, bringing his total for the competition to 324.88. Andrew Torgashev was 57.26 points back in second place at 267.62, and Maxim Naumov was 75.72 behind the leader at 249.16.

Known as the "Quad God" for his spectacular quad jumps, Malinin had been adjusting to new skates and was conservative in three jumps.

"I was coming into this one, I was a little unsure what I was gonna do, so I decided not to go for any risks and I wanted to play it safe because I know that, hopefully, in a few weeks I'll have to go again," he said.

The married couple of Chock, 33, and Bates, 36, have won five straight national titles and seven overall, a record. They've competed in three previous Olympics together, not having medaled as a duo but earning gold in the team event in 2022 at Beijing.

"The feeling that we got from the audience today was unlike anything I've ever felt before," Chock said after their competition on Saturday. "It felt so special, I felt so much love and joy and I'm so grateful for this moment to share with everyone here and to share with Evan. It's been the most incredible, incredible career. Couldn't have asked for anything more."

Chock and Bates finished first in the overall standings with 228.87 points, ahead of second-place Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (213.65). Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third (206.95).

Bates will become the first U.S. skater to compete in five Olympic Games. As a couple, Chock and Bates have 14 total medals at nationals as well as three golds, one silver and one bronze at the world championships.

The women's figure skating championships concluded Friday with Amber Glenn clinching her third straight national title. Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito placed second and third.

--Field Level Media