U.S. Figure Skating Championships

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition organized by U.S. Figure Skating to crown the national champions of the United States. The first U.S. Championships were held in 1914 in New Haven, Connecticut, and featured the men's, women's, and pairs events. Skaters may qualify for the national championships by competing at either the Pacific Coast Sectional Finals, Eastern Sectional Finals, Midwestern Sectional Finals, U.S. Ice Dance Finals, or U.S. Pairs Finals. The results of the competition are among the criteria used to determine the American teams to the World Championships, World Junior Championships, Four Continents Championships, and Winter Olympics. They have been held without interruption since 1920.

U.S. Figure Skating Championships
Status	Active
Genre	National championships
Date	January
Frequency	Annual
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1914
Previous event	2026 U.S. Championships
Next event	2027 U.S. Championships
Organized by	U.S. Figure Skating

Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance at the senior and junior levels. Dick Button and Roger Turner are tied for winning the most U.S. Championship titles in men's singles (with seven each), while Maribel Vinson and Michelle Kwan are tied for winning the titles in women's singles (with nine each). Theresa Weld-Blanchard and Nathaniel Niles hold the record in pair skating (with nine), while Madison Chock and Evan Bates hold the record in ice dance (with seven).

History

The inaugural U.S. Championships took place in 1914 in New Haven, Connecticut, and was contested by skaters from both the United States and Canada. Norman Scott of Canada won the men's event, as well as the pairs event with his partner, Jeanne Chevalier. Theresa Weld of the United States won the women's event. No competitions were held from 1915 to 1917 due to World War I and again in 1919. The championships returned in 1920 and have been held without interruption since.

Men's singles, women's singles, and pair skating have been contested since the championships began. Ice dance was added in 1936, incorporating the waltz, fourteenstep, tango, and foxtrot. A live orchestra provided the music. There were no full cancellations of the championships due to World War II as there had been during World War I; only the senior men's events were cancelled in 1944 and 1945, because all but one of the skaters who would have competed had enlisted in the military. Arthur Preusch II, the only remaining senior men's competitor, instead performed in exhibition.

Roughly two weeks after the 1961 U.S. Championships, the airplane carrying most of the U.S. national team to the World Championships in Prague crashed while on approach to Brussels Airport in Belgium. All passengers on board Sabena Flight 548 were killed, including all of the recently crowned U.S. champions: men's champion Bradley Lord, women's champion Laurence Owen, pairs champions Maribel Owen and Dudley Richards, and ice dance champions Diane Sherbloom and Larry Pierce. Nine-time U.S. champion and coach Maribel Vinson-Owen, mother of both Laurence and Maribel, was on the flight as well. Also killed were men's silver medalist Gregory Kelley, women's silver medalist Stephanie Westerfeld, women's bronze medalist Rhode Lee Michelson, pairs silver medalists Ila Ray Hadley and Ray Hadley Jr., pairs bronze medalists Laurie Hickox and William Hickox, ice dance silver medalists Dona Lee Carrier and Roger Campbell, and ice dance bronze medalists Patricia Dineen and Robert Dineen, in addition to fourteen family members, coaches, and skating officials who were accompanying the team. Out of respect, the 1961 World Championships were cancelled the next day.

Beginning with the 1988 U.S. Championships, pewter medals have been awarded to the fourth-place finishers in each event. Compulsory figures, which had been a required element of men's and women's single skating since the championships began, were retired after the 1990 U.S. Championships, although they continued as a separate event for men and women from 1991 to 1999, when they were retired altogether.

On January 6, 1994, one day before she was scheduled to compete at the 1994 U.S. Championships, Nancy Kerrigan was struck above the knee by an assailant wielding a baton, and was forced to withdraw from the competition. Subsequent investigations determined that the assailant had been hired by the ex-husband of fellow skater Tonya Harding, with the intention of preventing Kerrigan from competing at the U.S. Championships and the upcoming Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Although Harding had originally won the women's event at the 1994 U.S. Championships, U.S. Figure Skating later stripped her of that title.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 U.S. Championships were still held, albeit in a sealed arena with no live audience present. The sound of an audience was piped into the arena, seats were filled with fan cutouts, and the athletes' friends and families could be seen cheering them on via strategically-placed monitors.

Three days after the 2025 U.S. Championships, a group of twenty-eight skaters, coaches, and family members flying to Washington, D.C., were killed when their airplane collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River. Coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the parents of U.S. skater Maxim Naumov, who had just won the pewter medal in the senior men's event, were among those killed.

The 2026 U.S. Championships are scheduled to be held from January 5 to 11 in St. Louis, Missouri, where the team selections for the 2026 Winter Olympics will be announced.

Qualification

Beginning with the 2022–23 season, skaters qualify for the U.S. Championships by competing in the National Qualifying Series (NQS), a series of regional competitions running from mid-July to early October. Skaters compete in one of three sections (Pacific Coast, Midwestern, or Eastern) based on geographic location. The highest earned score across all competitions advance to the NQS finals (Pacific Coast Sectional Finals, Eastern Sectional Finals, Midwestern Sectional Finals, U.S. Ice Dance Finals, or U.S. Pairs Finals). The top juvenile, intermediate, and novice skaters are invited to the National High Performance Development Camp, while junior and senior skaters advance to the U.S. Championships. Athletes may also receive a bye to the NQS finals by being assigned to and competing at one international assignment from an approved list.

Advancement to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships:

• Senior singles: 18 spots available
  • Athletes receiving a bye
  • Top two from each section, plus the next best scores nationwide until the maximum number of entrants is met
• Senior pairs: 12 spots available
  • Athletes receiving a bye
  • Next best scores from the NQS Finals until the maximum number of entrants is met
• Senior ice dance: 15 spots available
  • Athletes receiving a bye
  • Next best scores from the NQS Finals until the maximum number of entrants is met

Skaters can earn the right at the U.S. Championships without qualifying through a sectional championship by accomplishing any of the following:

1. Placing in the top five in each discipline at the previous U.S. Championships at the senior level
2. Selection to the previous year's World Championship team
3. Winning a medal at any Winter Olympic Games (excluding the team event)
4. Qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final or Grand Prix Final
5. Competing at three international competitions from an approved list

Regions and sections

Prior to 2020, qualification for the U.S. Championships began at one of nine regional competitions. The regions were New England, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Upper Great Lakes, Eastern Great Lakes, Southwestern, Northwest Pacific, Central Pacific, and Southwest Pacific. The top four finishers in each regional advanced to one of three sectional competitions (Eastern, Midwestern, or Pacific Coast). Skaters who placed in the top four at each sectional competition advanced to the U.S. Championships.

• Eastern Section
  • New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont
  • North Atlantic: New Jersey; New York; Erie, Pennsylvania
  • South Atlantic: Delaware; District of Columbia; Florida; Georgia; Maryland; North Carolina; Pennsylvania (excluding Erie); South Carolina; Virginia; West Virginia; Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Midwestern Section
  • Eastern Great Lakes: Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan (Lower Peninsula), Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee (excluding Chattanooga)
  • Southwestern: Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas (including Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri), Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas City
  • Upper Great Lakes: Illinois, Iowa, Michigan (Upper Peninsula), Minnesota, Missouri (excluding Kansas City and St. Joseph), North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin
• Pacific Coast Section
  • Central Pacific: Northern California, Hawaii, Nevada, Utah
  • Northwest Pacific: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
  • Southwest Pacific: Arizona, Southern California

The Championship Series

During the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, the traditional qualification system was replaced with the Championship Series due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 U.S. Championship Series took place in a virtual format from November 10 through December 6. The top scorers from the series in junior and senior men's singles, women's singles, and pair skating, as well as junior ice dance, advanced to the 2021 U.S. Championships. All senior ice dance teams who registered for the in-person qualifying season also advanced to the championships. The 2022 U.S. Championship Series featured a series of eight competitions held from October 4 through November 20.

Senior medalists