As the crowd erupted at the end of their free skate for the World Championship title, Misha Mitrofanov stood behind his partner Alisa Efimova, grabbed her shoulders, and spun her around so she could take it all in. Rows of spectators in Boston’s TD Garden, from the ice to the rafters, got to their feet in a standing ovation as American flags were unfurled throughout the crowd.
“Misha turned me around at the end to be like, ‘Watch!’” said Ms. Efimova.
Their performance was impressive, of course. Earning a score of 135.59, a personal best for the duo, they shot to the top of the leader board. But it was also personal for this crowd. Mr. Mitrofanov and Ms. Efimova, an American pair, train at the Skating Club of Boston 20 miles away. Six of the victims of the January plane crash between an American Airlines flight and Army helicopter in Washington were from the Boston skating community: two young skaters, their mothers, and two coaches. When their score was announced, Mr. Mitrofanov and Ms. Efimova held photos of the victims.
Why We Wrote This
The figure skating world championships in Boston offer lots to cheer about – moments of triumph after tragedy, impressive athleticism, international good will, and the possibility of an American comeback in a sport the U.S. used to dominate.
“It feels like a family. We’ve all come together,” said Mr. Mitrofanov. “Probably half the crowd was from [the] Skating Club of Boston.”
In the end, the pair finished sixth overall. But there was still reason for the home crowd to cheer: By finishing in the top six, Mr. Mitrofanov and Ms. Efimova provisionally earned Team USA a third spot in pairs figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The last time that happened was over 30 years ago. While success at this week’s world championships doesn’t guarantee skaters an Olympic ticket, their performances in Boston will help determine the amount of spots allocated to each country.
Olympic hope has reverberated through TD Garden this week, as the U.S. shows it – finally – could have what it takes to medal in figure skating after a decades-long dry spell. The U.S. has more gold medals in women’s figure skating than any other country. But in the past four winter Olympics, no American woman has been on the podium.
The U.S. ice dancing pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the rhythm dance Friday evening with a score several points above the second place finishers. During the women’s free skate in front of a sold-out Garden, Alysa Liu dressed for victory, winning a medal to match her gold sequined dress. Ms. Liu was named the female world champion shortly after she left the ice Friday night, besting silver medalist Japanese skater Kaori Sakamoto with a personal best score of 222.97. The other two American women competing, Isabeau Levito, and Amber Glenn, came in fourth and fifth respectively.
And then there is Ilia Malinin. Known as the “Quadg0d” on Instagram because of his ability to land quadruple axels in competition (the first and so far only skater to do so), Mr. Malinin finished the men’s short program in first place Thursday evening after drawing gasps from the crowd for his gravity-defying flips. Spectators went wild for Mr. Malinin, a Fairfax, Virginia, native seen as a generational talent in the sport, even when he wasn’t hurtling himself through the air with only a blade of metal to catch him.
Brian Fluharty/Imagn Images/NPSTrans
“I was not expecting them to cheer me on halfway through my step sequence,” says Mr. Malinin, with a smile, in an interview with reporters after his performance.
“It’s still very unexpected,” he says of his fame. “But I’m really happy for that, and for this sport in general. I really want to push the sport to be one of the bigger sports again.”
Because of his own success, as well as the deep bench of female stars, Mr. Malinin may be getting his wish. After decades of decline, the world championships in Boston this week have sent a message: U.S. figure skating is making a comeback.
Geopolitical tensions have leaked into competitive sports as of late, with brawls and anti-Donald Trump chants coloring U.S.-Canadian hockey games. But not here in Boston. The applause is loudest when Americans take the ice, but the crowd has been generous and nondiscriminating. When a Finnish ice dancer fell during his rhythm dance Friday, the audience cheered him back to his feet.
The draw of the sport “never fell off” for Sheila Narayan of Massachusetts, but she thinks it’s “definitely coming back.” She came to TD Garden this week with her college friends, who watched figure skating together in their dorm rooms over 30 years ago.
“We’ve got some really good winners,” says Ms. Narayan. The women are particularly excited about Mr. Malinin, of course, pointing to a photo of him midair in their programs.
Before the medal drought, Americans won half of the 16 medals between 1992 and 2006. The Olympians of that era – Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Tara Lipinski, and Michelle Kwan – became household names. Contributing to their fame, of course, was the infamous 1994 incident when Ms. Kerrigan was hit in the knee by an assailant hired by the then-husband of skater Tonya Harding. The women’s short program in the 1994 Olympics, just weeks after the attack, was one of the most viewed TV events in history, with 64% of all U.S. households tuning in.
Although figure skating remains one of the most popular winter Olympic sports, viewership of the 2022 Beijing Olympics fell to an all-time low.
To combat that, there have been some changes in recent years: Backflips are allowed for the first time in almost 50 years, and song lyrics were blasting across the Garden as the athletes came on to the ice.
Critics had blamed the new scoring system, which is intentionally more complicated than the longtime 6.0 point system to deter cheating by judges. But figure skating’s seeming decline in popularity could also be a lack of standout American skaters. Until now.
Spectators in Boston’s North End wrapped around the Steriti Memorial Rink a few blocks away from TD Garden Friday, peering through the windows to get a peek at the competition’s top male performers as they practiced for their final event Saturday. When Mr. Malinin took the ice to block out his routine for Saturday, viewers inside the rink sat up a bit straighter and passersby on the sidewalk outside inched closer to the windows.
The crowd at TD Garden erupted into applause before Ms. Chock and Mr. Bates even struck their final pose, as stuffed animals from fans rained down on the ice.
“Doing the last lift and hearing the audience response was incredible,” says Mr. Bates. “It was a wonderful moment.”
“I think it’s really fun to see the development of our sport. The way the arena looks, the way you’re hearing from skaters as soon as they step off the rink. It’s really cool,” says Mr. Bates.
