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Maxim Naumov, a Massachusetts fig skater whose parents were killed astir 1 twelvemonth agone successful a plane clang adjacent Washington, D.C, is headed to the 2026 Olympics arsenic portion of Team USA.
World champions Ilia Malinin and the crystal creation duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates volition anchor 1 of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams successful past erstwhile they caput to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics successful little than a month.
Malinin, caller disconnected his 4th consecutive nationalist title, volition beryllium the prohibitive favourite to travel successful the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering different men's golden medal for the American squad erstwhile helium steps connected the crystal astatine the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. rubric Saturday night, besides volition beryllium among the Olympic favorites, arsenic volition satellite champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, caller disconnected her 3rd consecutive nationalist title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its afloat squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV solemnisation Sunday.
"I'm conscionable truthful excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. "Hopefully spell for that Olympic gold."
Maxim Naumov's triumph aft calamity
Malinin volition beryllium joined connected the men's broadside by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his precocious parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a endowment campy successful Kansas erstwhile their American Airlines formation collided with a subject chopper and crashed into the icy Potomac River successful January 2025.
One of the past conversations they had with their lad was astir what it would instrumentality for him to travel successful their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
"We perfectly did it," Naumov said. "Every day, twelvemonth aft year, we talked astir the Olympics. It means truthful overmuch successful our family. It's what I've been reasoning astir since I was 5 years old, earlier I adjacent cognize what to think. I can't enactment this into words."
U.S. Figure Skating Olympic team
Chock and Bates helped the Americans triumph squad golden astatine the Beijing Games 4 years ago, but they finished 4th — 1 spot retired of the medals — successful the crystal creation competition. They person hardly finished anyplace but archetypal successful the years since, winning 3 consecutive satellite championships and the golden medal astatine 3 consecutive Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. metallic medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Koklesnik besides made the creation team, arsenic did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who became eligible for the Olympics successful November erstwhile her American citizenship came through.
Liu was picked for her 2nd Olympic squad aft concisely retiring pursuing the Beijing Games. She had been burned retired by years of signifier and competing, but stepping distant seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to triumph the archetypal satellite rubric by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium 2 decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu volition beryllium trying to assistance the U.S. triumph its archetypal women's medal since Sasha Cohen successful Turin successful 2006, and possibly the archetypal golden medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed 4 years earlier astatine the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, too a almighty Japanese contingent, could travel from her ain teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been astir unbeatable the past 2 years, portion 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is simply a erstwhile satellite metallic medalist.
"This was my extremity and my imagination and it conscionable feels truthful peculiar that it came true," said Levito, whose parent is primitively from Milan.
The 2 pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. metallic medalists, and the squad of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The apical American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved successful clip to vie successful Italy. But contempt efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, wherever they train, and the assistance of their U.S. senators, she did not person her passport by the enactment deadline.
"The value and magnitude of selecting an Olympic squad is 1 of the astir important milestones successful an athlete's life," U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has specified an impact, and portion determination are sometimes rules, determination is besides a quality constituent to this that we truly person to instrumentality into relationship arsenic we marque decisions and what's champion going guardant from a enactment process.
"Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, "and this is not the amusive part."
The amusive is conscionable beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the almighty American team.
English (US) ·