Figure skating has been a key part of the Olympics, even before the first Winter Games in 1924. The sport now includes men's and women's singles, pairs, ice dance, and a team event.

The 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships got underway with the pairs short program in St. Louis. Mo. Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov finished the first night of the event on top. The pairs free skate takes place on Friday Jan.

The 21-year-old American has shattered records and reset what's possible in the sport. Now he's ready to become a household name.

U.S. Figure Skating chief executive Matt Farrell said he expects the American team to arrive at next month's Milano Cortina Olympics in "incredible shape," pointing to recent results and a broader revival of interest in the Games in the United States.

The 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships begin on Wednesday in St. Louis, Missouri, airing live on NBC and USA Network as well as streaming on Peacock. While national titles are on the line, the larger stakes come on Sunday, January 11, when U.S. Figure Skating will name its Olympic roster.

World champions Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin headline the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. As the final gateway to the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, the competition will culminate in the naming of the U.

Though he never competed himself, he grew up loving everything about skating. As a teenager, he spent his babysitting money on hard-to-get tapes of skating events until little towers of video boxes filled the house. He devoured every book about skating he could find at the library where his mother worked.