Ilia Malinin headlines US figure skating team for Milano-Cortina Olympics, Maxim Naumov gets nod 

ST LOUIS – Ilia Malinin unsurprisingly headlined the US Olympic figure skating team who were announced on Jan 11 and included Maxim Naumov, whose parents died in January 2025 in a midair plane crash that devastated the figure skating community.

Malinin, who was left off the Olympic team in 2022 when compatriot Nathan Chen won gold, is a red-hot favourite for gold at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games in February, having won every competition he has entered since the 2023 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.

The 21-year-old Virginia native’s most recent triumph came on Jan 10 in St Louis, where he cruised to a fourth straight national title at the US Figure Skating Championships.

“It’s such an amazing feeling. I worked so hard, especially after those 2022 nationals,” said Malinin. “It has such a huge meaning for me, being able to go there and follow in my parents’ footsteps, being two-time Olympians. It’s such an honour and I’m so excited for that experience.”

Naumov finished third behind Malinin and Andrew Torgashev on Jan 10. Torgashev also made the team.

The 24-year-old Naumov was competing with a heavy heart in St Louis where, after the Jan 8 short programme, he held up and kissed a picture of himself as a child holding hands with his parents.

He was asked what he had thought about after being named to the team.

“My parents, what we talked about and how much we discussed this through my entire life, and how much it means to us, and how much the Olympics is part of our family,” said Naumov. “I thought of them immediately. I wish they could be here to experience it with me but I do feel their presence and they are with me.”

Former world figure skating pairs champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova died when a plane carrying some of the country’s most promising young figure skaters, as well as parents and coaches, crashed into a US Army helicopter in Washington.

Husband-and-wife duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who won a record seventh national ice dance crown on Jan 10, were also among the three ice dance teams that earned a ticket to Milano-Cortina.

Chock and Bates helped the Americans to win a team gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics but just missed the podium in the ice dance and settled for fourth. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were also selected for the ice dance, together with Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Amber Glenn, fresh off winning a third consecutive US title, was also added to the Olympic team, along with reigning world champion Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito.

The team also included pairs Ellie Kam and Daniel O’Shea, as well as Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe. REUTERS