Figure Skating

The first day of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships are in the books.

The top figure skaters from around the world gather in Boston this week for one of the biggest events in the sport. Action began Wednesday with the women's short program and pairs' short program.

With Day 1 complete, here's a look at the results for the women's short program and pairs' short program.

Women's Short Program

1. Alysa Liu (USA) - 74.58
2. Mone Chiba (Japan) - 73.44
3. Isabeau Levito (USA) - 73.33
4. Wakaba Higuchi (JPN) - 72.10
5. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) - 71.03
6. Madeline Schizas (CAN) - 69.18
7. Lee Hae-In (KOR) - 67.79
8. Nina Pinzarrone (BEL) - 67.74
9. Amber Glenn (USA) - 67.65
10. Kimmy Repond (SUI) - 67.42

Pairs' Short Program

1. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) - 76.57
2. Sara Conti/Niccolo Macii (ITA) - 74.61
3. Minerva Hase/Nikita Volodin (GER) - 73.59
4. Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) - 71.68
5. Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea (USA) - 68.61
6. Maria Pavlova/Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN) - 67.45
7. Deanna Stellato-Dudek/Maxime Deschamps (CAN) - 67.32
8. Anastasia Golubeva/Hektor Giotopoulos Moore (AUS) - 65.73
9. Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov (USA) - 63.70
10. Lia Pereira/Trennt Michaud (CAN) - 63.28

Full results can be found here

The story of the day was Alysa Liu, who came out of retirement this year after two years away from the sport. Liu recorded a personal-best score of 74.58 to top Japan's Mone Chiba in the women's short program.

Season’s Best 🔥 Back with a bang this season — Alysa Liu takes the lead at #WorldFigure in Boston, right in front of the home crowd 🇺🇸✨ What. A. Moment. 💥👏#FigureSkating pic.twitter.com/SBVhfKOykc

— ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) March 26, 2025

Liu, 19, became the first American women's singles skater to claim a world title in 19 years.

"This program is so emotional, but it made it so much more meaningful for it to be Worlds again, because this was my last competition before I left," Liu said. "So it's really surreal being back here at Worlds."

Cartwheel onto the ice. ✅
Lead after the short program: ✅

Alysa Liu is feeling good in her return to #WorldFigure. pic.twitter.com/nm5tsygPlV

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) March 26, 2025

Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won silver at the ISU World Championships a year ago and came back strong this year to win the event. The win for Miura and Kihara is their second in the pairs' short program at the World Championships, the other coming in 2023.

Miura/Kihara deliver a stellar performance and soar into the lead after the Short Program — with plenty of room to spare! 🔥 What a thrilling start to the pairs event!#FigureSkating #WorldFigure pic.twitter.com/Ams2RprCP7

— ISU Figure Skating (@ISU_Figure) March 27, 2025

After an exciting first day of the event, action will continue on Thursday with the men's short program and pairs' free skate.

The best figure skaters in the world will descend upon Boston for the 2025 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, with the intent to showcase their talents and take home the coveted gold medal in their signature events.

When and how can fans watch the sport's best compete for one of the top prizes available to them?

Find out with this preview.

TV Schedule

Wednesday, March 26: Women's Short Program (3:00 p.m., USA Network)

Thursday, March 27: Men's Short Program (3:00 p.m., USA Network); Pairs Free Skate (8:00 p.m., USA Network)

Friday, March 28: Rhythm Dance (3:00 p.m., USA Network); Women's Free Skate (8:00 p.m., NBC)

Saturday, March 29: Free Dance (3:00 p.m., USA Network); Men's Free Skate (8:00 p.m., NBC)

Sunday, March 30: Recap Show (3:00 p.m., NBC)

United States Preview

Men's world champion Ilia Malinin returns to the stage on which he captured gold in 2024, looking to once again prove why he is tops in his sport.

A standing ovation for Ilia Malinin to cap off a remarkable free skate. 👏 #PrevagenUSChamps pic.twitter.com/vYwP5pQ6cJ

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) January 26, 2025

He does so on the heels of a third, consecutive United States title, which he captured in Wichita, Kansas via the second-highest free skate (219.23) and overall (331.31) scores in US Championships history.

Riding a wave of momentum into this year's world championships, he will look to retain his unbeaten streak that dates back to the 2023 Grand Prix Final.

Amber Glenn of Plano, Texas captured gold at the US Championships, rallying from six points down to regain the title and become the first woman since Alysia Liu in 2019 and 2020 to go back-to-back.

BACK-TO-BACK! 🙌🇺🇸🥇

Amber Glenn defends her U.S. Championship title in Wichita as her undefeated season continues!#PrevagenUSChamps pic.twitter.com/eQiO39eosL

— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) January 25, 2025

She headlines a field of women's skaters that also includes Liu and 2024 world silver medalist, Isabeau Levito.

A group of figure skaters from the United States and Russia were among the passengers onboard an airplane that was involved in a midair collision near Washington, D.C. on Wednesday night.

U.S. Figure Skating, the American governing body for the sport, issued a statement about the situation (h/t Jin Yu Young and Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times).

"We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims' families closely in our hearts," the statement said.

U.S. Figure Skating can confirm that several members of our skating community were sadly aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, which collided with a helicopter yesterday evening in Washington, D.C. These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National…

— U.S. Figure Skating (@USFigureSkating) January 30, 2025

Dmitri S. Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, confirmed that Russian skaters and other citizens from the country were onboard.

A total of 14 members of the skating community were among those who died in the crash. International Skating Union president Jae Youl Kim announced Friday that all of the victims will be honored at the World Figure Skating Championships taking place at TD Garden in Boston from March 25-30.

Per CNN.com, a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration said a passenger aircraft collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport outside Washington, D.C. around 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

DC Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said during a press conference they "don't believe there are any survivors" and the operation has switched from a rescue operation to a recovery operation (h/t CNN).

The U.S. Figure Skating statement said the skaters were returning from a training camp for juvenile, intermediate and novice skaters following the national figure skating championships that were held last weekend in Wichita, Kansas.

The 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships started to wind down on Saturday at Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

Action continued with the Men's Short Program and Pairs Free Skate as well as the Ice Dance Final.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates secured their sixth U.S. ice dance title heading into March's world championships, while world champion Ilia Malinin took a large lead in the Men's Short Program before the Free Skate on Sunday.

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov also finished with a gold medal following an exceptional pairs free skate performance.

Here are the full results from Friday's competition as well as the remaining schedule for the U.S. Championships.

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Men's Short Program

1. Ilia Malinin: 114.08
2. Andrew Torgashev: 94.94
3. Jimmy Ma: 91.91
4. Camden Pulkinen: 88.76
5. Liam Kapeikis: 84.01
6. Jacob Sanchez: 82.64
7. Maxim Naumov: 82.41
8. Daniel Martynov: 81.89
9. Samuel Mindra: 75.57
10. Tomoki Hiwatashi: 75.21
11. Michael Xie: 74.19
12. Beck Strommer: 72.26
13. Lucius Kazanecki: 70.60
14. Emmanuel Savary: 70.48
15. Taira Shinohara: 61.49
16. Joseph Klein: 60.05
17. Kai Kovar: 59.15
18. Goku Endo: 58.99

Ice Dance Final

1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates: 223.52
2. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko: 210.79
3. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons: 205.37
4. Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik: 204.17
5. Oona Brown/Gage Brown: 193.37
6. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville: 193.28
7. Katarina Wolfkostin/Dimitry Tsarevski: 186.83
8. Eva Pate/Logan Bye: 183.24
9. Leah Neset/Artem Markelov: 183.12
10. Annabelle Morozov/Jeffrey Chen: 173.54
11. Raffaella Koncius/Alexey Shchepetov: 169.90
12. Vanessa Pham/Anton Spiridonov: 166.39
13. Amy Cui/Jonathan Rogers: 154.95
14. Grace Yi/Danila Savelev: 142.03
15. Michela Melillo/Karl Schapfel: 123.23

Pairs Final

1. Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov: 211.90
2. Katie McBeath/Daniil Parkman: 190.57
3. Ellie Kam/Danny O'Shea: 189.57
4. Emily Chan/Spencer Howe: 183.95
5. Audrey Shin/Balazs Nagy: 182.67
6. Naomi Williams/Lachlan Lewer: 166.08
7. Ellie Korytek/Timmy Chapman: 165.85
8. Nica Digerness/Mark Sadusky: 159.31
9. Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard: 158.27
10. Sydney Cooke/Matthew Kennedy: 147.31
11. Linzy Fitzpatrick/Keyton Bearinger: 139.78
12. Grace Hanns/Danny Neudecker: 120.72

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Remaining Schedule

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Sunday, Jan. 26

Championship Men's Free Skate, 2:47 p.m. ET

Prevagen Skating Spectacular, 7 p.m. ET

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Ilia Malinin's quest towards a third consecutive U.S. title got off to a strong start on Saturday, jumping out to a 19.14-point lead over Andrew Torgashev at No. 2. Malinin broke his own record for the largest first-place margin following the short program, which he first set in 2024 (h/t NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi).

Malinin didn't show off his signature quad Axel, but he still pulled off a quadruple flip and a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination to go along with a triple Axel.

After the performance, the 20-year-old explained that he didn't want to display his entire arsenal with the 2026 Winter Olympics approaching.

"I think that now that I have done the quad Axel, they want to see something more, bigger and better," Malinin said, per NBC Sports' Philip Hersh. "For me, since the (2026) Olympics are around the corner, I just want to play it safe for myself."

As he prepares for the free skate on Saturday, he's in position to capture his third straight U.S. championship.

After Madison Chock and Evan Bates sat atop the leaderboard following Friday's rhythm dance, they closed out their free dance to finish with a 223.52 score and clinch their fourth U.S. title in a row as well as their record-tying sixth U.S. ice dance championship.

They tied Olympic gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

The pair put together an impressive performance throughout the week, especially with Chock dealing with an illness during competition.

"Maddie has had a tough couple of days," Bates said, via The Guardian. "Wasn't really able to fuel much. She's so tough. She's never not going to go out there and not give it her best. It took all the little energy that she had. I just tried to give the love and support to her."

Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov surged to capture their first pairs national title after sitting at No. 3 on the leaderboard following Thursday's short program. They beat out defending champions Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea in the free skate, who owned the best score through the short program.

Efimova and Mitrofanov also finished with a 12.73-point lead over Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman, who finished at No. 2.

The U.S. Championships will conclude on Sunday with the men's free skate.

The 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships continued on Friday, as the Rhythm Dance and Women's Free Skate events took place in Wichita, Kansas.

Athletes competed for national titles while also attempting to showcase themselves for a spot on the United States' team in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates built a large lead following the rhythm dance heading into Saturday's free dance, while Amber Glenn took home a gold medal after the Women's Free Skate.

Here are the full results from Friday's action as well as the remaining schedule for the competition.

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Rhythm Dance

1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates: 92.16
2. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko: 82.86
3. Emilea Zingas/Vadym Kolesnik: 82.13
4. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons: 82.13
5. Oona Brown/Gage Brown: 77.38
6. Katarina Wolfkostin/Dimitry Tsarevski: 76.27
7. Emily Bratti/Ian Somerville: 75.25
8. Eva Pate/Logan Bye: 73.64
9. Leah Neset/Artem Markelov: 72.17
10. Annabelle Morozov/Jeffrey Chen: 70.64
11. Amy Cui/Jonathan Rogers: 68.78
12. Vanessa Pham/Anton Spiridonov: 64.00
13. Raffaella Koncius/Alexey Shchepetov: 63.48
14. Grace Yi/Danila Savelev: 53.21
15. Michela Melillo/Karl Schapfel: 47.02

Women's Final

1. Amber Glenn: 216.79
2. Alysa Liu: 215.33
3. Sarah Everhardt: 207.36
4. Bradie Tennell: 199.94
5. Sherry Zhang: 188.48
6. Starr Andrews: 185.97
7. Josephine Lee: 182.69
8. Elyce Lin-Gracey: 179.22
9. Sonja Hilmer: 178.54
10. Logan Higase-Chen: 175.82
11. Mia Kalin: 168.43
12. Lindsay Thorngren: 159.88
13. Alexa Gasparotto: 151.46
14. Brooke Gewalt: 147.69
15. Alina Bonillo: 144.28
16. Michelle Lee: 139.60
17. Ting Cui: 126.63
18. Alex Evans: 121.71

Remaining Schedule

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Saturday, Jan. 25

Championship Men's Short Program Groups 1 and 2, 10:58 a.m. ET

Championship Free Dance Groups 1 and 2, 12:50 p.m. ET

Championship Men's Short Program Group 3, 2:36 p.m. ET

Championship Free Dance Group 3, 3:38 p.m. ET

Championship Pairs Free Skate, 7:35 p.m. ET

Sunday, Jan. 26

Championship Men's Free Skate, 2:47 p.m. ET

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Two-time defending world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates took a 9.3-point lead over Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko after Friday's competition, an impressive feat considering the second and seventh-place finishers were separated by 7.61 points.

They were able to stand atop the leaderboard despite Chock feeling under the weather during the event.

"Experiences like today really help us a lot," Bates said afterwards, via NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi. "I mean, it's not fun to skate when you're not feeling your best, but knowing we can still go out and perform well under any circumstances is such a confidence boost."

Amber Glenn sat at No. 3 on the leaderboard following Thursday's short program, trailing 2022 Olympian Alysa Liu and 2018 Olympic team bronze medallist Bradie Tennell.

Glenn made up ground in Friday's free skate performance that was highlighted by a triple axel, ultimately defending her U.S. crown.

Liu finished second, while Sarah Everhardt sat at No. 3. Tennell just missed the podium, finishing fourth.

The U.S. Championships will continue on Saturday, starting with the men's short program.

The 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships continued with the Women's Short Program as well as the Pairs' Short Program in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday.

Athletes obviously looked to win their events, but also attempted to show that they deserve a spot on the United States' team in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Defending national champions Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea stood atop the leaderboard at the end of the day in the Pairs' Short Program, while Alysa Liu held the top spot in the Women's Short Program heading into Friday's free skate.

Here are the full results from Thursday's action as well as the remaining schedule for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

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Women's Short Program

1. Alysa Liu: 76.36
2. Bradie Tennell: 71.23
3. Amber Glenn: 70.91
4. Sarah Everhardt: 70.72
5. Sherry Zhang: 67.42
6. Logan Higase-Chen: 63.23
7. Mia Kalin: 62.07
8. Elyce Lin-Gracey: 61.47
9. Lindsay Thorngren: 60.99
10. Josephine Lee: 60.10
11. Sonja Hilmer: 59.57
12. Starr Andrews: 59.45
13. Alina Bonillo: 56.42
14. Brooke Gewalt: 52.84
15. Alexa Gasparotto: 52.61
16. Michelle Lee: 48.71
17. Alex Evans: 45.43
18. Ting Cui: 43.94

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Pairs' Short Program

1. Ellie Kam/Danny O'Shea: 77.19
2. Emily Chan/Spencer Howe: 69.10
3. Alisa Efimova/Misha Mitrofanov: 69.03
4. Katie McBeath/Daniil Parkman: 62.92
5. Audrey Shin/Balazs Nagy: 62.06
6. Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard: 61.83
7. Naomi Williams/Lachlan Lewer: 58.90
8. Ellie Korytek/Timmy Chapman: 57.54
9. Nica Digerness/Mark Sadusky: 57.02
10. Sydney Cooke/Matthew Kennedy: 55.43
11. Grace Hanns/Danny Neudecker: 45.74
12. Linzy Fitzpatrick/Keyton Bearinger: 44.25

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Remaining Schedule

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Friday, Jan. 24

Championship Rhythm Dance, 5:19 p.m. ET

Championship Women's Free Skate, 7:53 p.m. ET

Saturday, Jan. 25

Championship Men's Short Program Groups 1 and 2, 10:58 a.m. ET

Championship Free Dance Groups 1 and 2, 12:50 p.m. ET

Championship Men's Short Program Group 3, 2:36 p.m. ET

Championship Free Dance Group 3, 3:38 p.m. ET

Championship Pairs Free Skate, 7:35 p.m. ET

Sunday, Jan. 26

Championship Men's Free Skate, 2:47 p.m. ET

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Kam and O'Shea are attempting to become the first pair to repeat as national champions in 11 years, and their title defense got off to a strong start on Thursday.

They scored 77.19 points for their skate, more than four points better than their best in international competition (via Dave Skretta of the Associated Press). Kam and O'Shea now hold an 8.09-point lead over Emily Chan and Spencer Howe heading into the free skate on Saturday.

"Very proud to go out there and put together a strong performance like we train at home," O'Shea said, per Skretta. "Lot of pressure coming back after we won last year and I was pretty happy with how we handled that as a team today."

As for Liu, she's searching for her third U.S. championship and her first since 2020. She retired in April 2022 at the age of 16, but she came out of retirement in Oct. 2024.

Liu didn't show many signs of rust on Thursday, landing a triple flip-triple toe loop combination and a double Axel as well as a triple Lutz.

She revealed that her return to nationals was an emotional moment for her.

"I almost cried before my name was even called," Liu said, via NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi.

Liu holds a 5.13-point lead over a stacked field that includes two-time U.S. champion Bradie Tennell at No. 2 and defending champion Amber Glenn at No. 3.

Dalilah Sappenfield, the U.S. Olympic pairs figure skating coach, received a lifetime ban from the U.S. Center for SafeSport on Wednesday for violations that include emotional and physical misconduct, per Christine Brennan of USA Today.

Breaking: U.S. Olympic pairs figure skating coach Dalilah Sappenfield was banned for life Wednesday afternoon by the U.S. Center for SafeSport for violations including emotional and physical misconduct. pic.twitter.com/yftcNKAjOk

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) May 29, 2024

In October 2021, Brennan published a detailed report on abuse allegations against Sappenfield from 2016 U.S. pairs champion Tarah Kayne.

As part of the allegations she reported to a SafeSport investigator, Kayne detailed an instance "in which the coach's constant verbal abuse, filled with sexual comments, led her to cut her left wrist with a razor blade in the summer of 2019 in her dorm room at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado."

"She was constantly talking about sex, about who I was dating, about my sex life," Kayne said at the time. "It was completely inappropriate, but that's what Dalilah does. She uses gossip from other skaters in the rink against you. She knew I was struggling with my mental health, but instead of helping me, she chose to make fun of me. She even went to other skaters and told them about it, calling me names and asking the guys why anyone would want to date me."

Kayne was one of several skaters to file complaints against Sappenfield with SafeSport nearly three years ago. Sappenfield was suspended pending further investigation and barred from "having any contact with a dozen figure skaters and from coaching other athletes without another adult present to supervise."

Sappenfield had worked as a coach since 1993 and was the recipient of the 2008 Professional Skaters Association/U.S. Figure Skating Coach of the Year award. She coached three-time national champions Alexa and Chris Knierim to a qualifying spot in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

It was a great day to be an American during Saturday's action at the ISU World Figure Skating World Championships.

The events of the day in Montreal were the Ice Dance and the Men's Free Skate. The U.S. had winners in each event.

The Ice Dance went to the team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who defended their title from a year ago and completed an undefeated season.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates are BACK-TO-BACK WORLD CHAMPIONS to complete an UNDEFEATED season. 🥇 #WorldFigure pic.twitter.com/sCaFP4VASl

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) March 23, 2024

Chock and Bates scored 222.2 points to take home the top prize. Chock reflected on finishing the season on a positive note and working through adversity within the routine.

"It was incredibly fun to perform today. We're so happy to finish the season with a strong skate. We're so happy to be in our adopted hometown of Montreal," Chock said, per the ISU website. "Even on that first misstep on the first lift we just got back into it. We put so much into the program and it's come so far this season. We're proud to deliver what we practiced. The improvements we made to the program after Nationals really elevated the program."

Bates credited the crowd with providing him and Chock with the push they needed, and was proud for how hard the duo worked to earn the accomplishment.

"You could hear the energy of the crowd right over the boards and they were really with us," Bates said, per the ISU. "We left it all there on the ice and did everything we could, so we're satisfied and fulfilled with the effort."

The Canadian team of Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier finished second with a score of 219.68, while the Italian duo of Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri finished third with a score of 216.52.

The U.S. success continued in the later event, with American Ilia Malinin taking first with a score of 333.76. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan finished second with a score of 309.65 and Adam Siao Him Fa of France took third with a score of 284.39.

The event has its finale Sunday, with the feature presentation being the exhibition gala.