The ice at Nationwide Arena in Columbus felt different this year. Maybe it was the humidity, or maybe it was just the crushing weight of the pre-Olympic cycle settling onto everyone's shoulders. If you’ve followed the sport for more than a minute, you know the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025 wasn't just another domestic competition. It was a battlefield. Columbus turned into the center of the skating universe for a week in late January, and honestly, the vibes were chaotic.
Skating is brutal.
People see the sparkles and the controlled breathing, but behind the scenes, it’s a mess of smelling salts, shredded laces, and athletes trying to figure out if their quadruple jumps will actually show up when the music starts. The 2025 nationals proved that the old guard isn't ready to leave, but the juniors are absolutely coming for their throats. It’s that weird, transitional year where the "next big thing" starts looking like the "current big thing."
Why the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025 Shifted the Power Balance
I’ve been watching these events for years. Usually, there’s a clear hierarchy. But this time? The script got flipped. We came into Columbus expecting a specific set of outcomes in the Men’s and Women’s events, but the technical floor has risen so fast it’s making everyone dizzy.
Ilia Malinin is the obvious talking point. He’s basically a glitch in the Matrix. While everyone else is fighting for their lives on a triple Axel, he’s treating the Quad God moniker like a standard Tuesday at the office. But even he felt the pressure this year. You could see it in the practice sessions—those little moments where a landing was just a hair off-axis. It reminds you that even the people we think are invincible are still human.
The depth in the U.S. field right now is actually kind of terrifying. We aren't just looking at one or two standouts anymore. The middle of the pack has started landing technical elements that would have won gold a decade ago. It’s a literal arms race. If you don't have a quad or a high-level triple-triple combination, you’re basically just there to participate. Harsh? Maybe. But that's the reality of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025.
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The Women’s Event and the Consistency Problem
Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito. That was the matchup everyone wanted. It’s the classic power versus grace narrative that NBC loves to push, but it’s actually more nuanced than that. Amber has that raw, explosive energy that makes your heart rate spike. When she hits, she hits hard. Isabeau, on the other hand, plays the long game with PCS (Program Components Score).
The problem with U.S. women’s skating lately has been the "splat-fest" factor. We’ve seen too many seasons where the top skaters crumble under the pressure of the free skate.
In Columbus, the narrative shifted slightly toward technical resilience. We saw younger skaters like Sarah Everhardt and Elyce Lin-Gracey proving that they aren't just "prospects" anymore. They are legitimate threats. The scores reflected a shift in how judges are looking at transitions. You can’t just jump-telegraph-jump anymore. You need to actually skate.
The Technical Reality of the 2025 Scores
Let’s talk about the math for a second, because that’s where the real story of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025 lives. The ISU (International Skating Union) has been tweaking how they look at under-rotations, and it’s been a headache for the American camp.
- The Quad Factor: In the Men’s field, if you aren't attempting at least three quads in a free program, you are effectively out of the conversation for the top three.
- The Component Gap: There is a widening chasm between the top five skaters and the rest of the field in terms of "skating skills." You can see the speed difference from the nosebleed seats.
- Ice Dance Dominance: Madison Chock and Evan Bates are still the benchmarks. Their level of detail in the rhythm dance is honestly kind of insulting to everyone else. It looks effortless, but if you watch their feet, the edge work is psychotic.
People think skating is subjective. It’s not—at least not as much as it used to be. The data doesn't lie. When you look at the protocols from Columbus, you see a trend of punishing "empty" programs. The judges are bored of people skating in circles to set up a jump. They want choreography. They want the stuff that makes a program feel like a piece of art rather than a gymnastics floor routine on blades.
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The Columbus Atmosphere and Venue Impact
Nationwide Arena is a hockey rink at heart. The ice is hard. The air is cold. For skaters, that matters. Hard ice is great for speed but punishing for landings. If you’re slightly off, the ice doesn't "give," and you end up on your hip.
I heard from a few coaches on the ground that the practice ice was a bit of a nightmare. Timing was tight. Skaters were sharing ice with rivals they haven't spoken to in months. That kind of psychological warfare is part of the "Nationals" experience. You’re warming up and you see your main competitor nail a quad Lutz right in front of you. It gets in your head. It’s supposed to.
Misconceptions About the Path to the Olympics
Everyone looks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025 as the "preview" for the 2026 Winter Olympics. That’s sort of true, but it’s also a trap. Winning Nationals doesn’t guarantee you a spot on the plane to Milan-Cortina. The selection committee looks at the "Body of Work."
If you won Nationals but bombed every Grand Prix event earlier in the season, your seat isn't safe. This creates a weird dynamic where skaters are trying to peak for January but also trying to prove they can be consistent over a six-month span. It leads to burnout. We saw a bit of that in Columbus—some skaters looked absolutely fried by the time the long program rolled around.
The "comeback" narratives are also mostly fluff. Skating is a young person's game. When a skater in their mid-20s tries to "return to form," the physics are usually against them. We saw a few veterans try to reclaim their glory in 2025, and while the crowd loved the nostalgia, the technical scores told a different, much bleaker story.
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What Actually Happened in Pairs and Ice Dance
Pairs skating in the U.S. has been in a weird spot since Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier stepped away. We’re in a rebuilding phase. The 2025 championships showed some promise, but the "unison" just isn't there yet. It looks like two singles skaters doing the same thing near each other, rather than a cohesive unit.
Ice Dance, however, remains the crown jewel of the U.S. program. Chock and Bates are the standard, but the battle for the silver and bronze was the real highlight. It’s a game of inches—or rather, a game of "levels." Getting a Level 4 on a set of twizzles is the difference between a podium and a fourth-place finish.
The technical panel in 2025 was notoriously strict. I saw calls on edges that would have been ignored three years ago. It’s a sign that the U.S. is trying to align its domestic judging with international standards so our skaters don't get a "home-court" score bump that disappears when they go to Worlds.
Actionable Steps for Following the Rest of the Season
If you’re wondering what to do now that the U.S. Figure Skating Championships 2025 are in the rearview, you need to look at the international calendar. Nationals is the internal filter; the real test is how these scores translate against the Japanese and the Europeans.
- Check the ISU World Standings: Don't just look at the medals. Look at the "Season Best" scores. That’s the real indicator of who is a threat for the podium at Worlds.
- Watch the Junior World Championships: If you want to see who will win the 2025 Nationals, you should have been watching the Juniors in 2023. The pipeline is everything.
- Analyze the Protocols: If you’re a real nerd for this, go to the U.S. Figure Skating website and download the PDF protocols. Look at the GOE (Grade of Execution). A skater who wins with high GOE is more "sustainable" than a skater who wins by barely landing a high-value jump.
- Follow the Choreographers: Keep an eye on who is working with Shae-Lynn Bourne or Lori Nichol. The "look" of a program is often decided in a studio months before the first competition.
The road to the next Olympics is getting shorter. Columbus was just a checkpoint, but it was an incredibly revealing one. The 2025 season showed us that the U.S. has the talent, but the technical consistency is still a work in progress for everyone not named Malinin. If you're heading into the World Championships, keep your eyes on the component scores—that’s where the real medals are won and lost when the technical scores are this close.