Jan 10, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, UNITED STATES; Madison Chock and Evan Bates perform in the ice dance free dance during the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Jan 10 (Reuters) - Ilia Malinin, a red-hot favourite for gold at next month's Milano-Cortina Olympics, cruised to a fourth consecutive national title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates captured a record seventh national ice dance crown.
Malinin, who separated himself from the field in St. Louis with a remarkable performance in Thursday's short programme, returned to score 209.78 points in the free skate for a 324.88 total in his final tune-up for the Olympics.
The 21-year-old Virginia native has now won every competition he has competed at since the 2023 Grand Prix Final.
Malinin said he was playing it a little safer while breaking in his new skates, noting that he usually did it around the nationals.
"But these nationals were closer, because of the Olympics. I did not have a lot of time to get comfortable in them. Some days they can be good, some days they can be uncontrollable," he said.
"So, I decided to play it safe here, to save my conditions, conserve my energy preparing for the Olympics. I do a lot of run-throughs at home, so it was really easy for me to not put in too much effort."
Malinin needed only 152.53 points from his free skate to secure the win, but refused to hold anything back, and in doing so brought the St. Louis crowd to their feet with a flawless performance en route to winning by a 57.26-point margin.
Andrew Torgashev, who was fifth after the short programme, finished second with 267.62 points, while Maxim Naumov was third at 249.16.
Malinin will now turn his focus to following up compatriot Nathan Chen's gold medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics with one of his own.
Earlier, Chock and Bates won a fifth consecutive and record seventh national ice dance title to cement their status as gold-medal favourites for the Milano-Cortina Olympics.
With the win, the husband-and-wife duosurpassed Meryl Davis and Charlie White for the most U.S. ice dance titles of any team in the event’s history.
"Our performance today was definitely the best that we have skated the free dance all year," said Bates.
"It's a great feeling going into a big event knowing that you've skated well at the previous competition, so we are going to roll with that momentum into Milan."
The three-times world champions, who led the way after Thursday's rhythm dance, returned to score 137.17 points in the free dance for a 228.87 total.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik finished second at 213.65 points, while Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko rounded out the podium with 206.95.
Chock and Bates held a commanding lead after the rhythm dance where they were awarded a season's-best 91.70 points. Zingas and Kolesnik (85.98) were second after the rhythm dance and followed closely by Carreira and Ponomarenko (83.29).
The U.S. figure skating team for Milano-Cortina will be revealed on Sunday.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Andrea Ricci, William Mallard and Michael Perry)
