U.S. Men 2025-26 Discussion - Quad God and the Mere Mortals

[Lara]

I just looked up Ken Mikawa because I didn't recognize the name. I thought perhaps that he skated out of country under a different name (causing a broken SkatingScores.com history). But I looked up his IG and he says that he returned to competitive skating last year after a 10 year hiatus. He had last competed as an Intermediate in 2013. And he landed a clean 3A. That's wild, way to go!

Very cool! I enjoyed his 90s RD short and he showed nice diversity in the free. But the unexpected fall near the end might really be a shame unfortunately seeing how close his score was to Xie.

Would have liked to see Sedliss closer but it’s his first year in seniors, fingers crossed the jumps come.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

In the short term, yes. But he's still young, let's give him a little time before writing him off. If he doesn't happen to get his quads, he could always take his refinement to the next level. I think it's a good idea for all skaters to try to get to Jason's level of refinement for a long career, because quads are pretty rough and hard to maintain.

Jason wasn`t someone who just practised hard. For whatever reason he can sence what looks good and prosesses uncanny flexibility for a man. Others can improve their artistry but Jason has been doing what others cannot for 10 years. A kind of prodigy.

 

[zigzig]

Jason wasn`t someone who just practised hard. For whatever reason he can sence what looks good and prosesses uncanny flexibility for a man. Others can improve their artistry but Jason has been doing what others cannot for 10 years. A kind of prodigy.

Yes, he has a sensitivity to music that is innate. It can be sort of learned but you always know the real thing when you see it. Satoko Miyahara and Nicole Bobek are others that came to mind. Michelle Kwan had to really cultivate it but I think the seedling was always was there.

 

[SkateFanBerlin]

Yes, he has a sensitivity to music that is innate. It can be sort of learned but you always know the real thing when you see it. Satoko Miyahara and Nicole Bobek are others that came to mind. Michelle Kwan had to really cultivate it but I think the seedling was always was there.

And Sasha - she had that ability to know exactly how a move would look on her. Hence, they were all beautiful.

 

[Jammers]

Put Oksana Baiul on that list too what she had was just something that can't be taught.

 

[bladesofgorey]

Yuna Aoki is another. (Shame about the jumps).

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting here from Jason's fan thread... CBC Sports’ Anastasia Bucsis' in depth chat with him at the Cricket Club in early September (17 mins.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo_My0mbiyQ

From Joe Klein in August:

"... Thank you to everyone for the support, and I hope to start my season this Fall!"​

It's the closing thought of his update on overcoming some injury issues.​

https://www.instagram.com/joeskates_/p/DND46RxxSBN/​

Joseph Klein is recovered enough to be competing with his Northwestern University figure skating team now while studying for an environmental policy & political science double major - very good article published on October 16:

Balancing act: Joseph Klein juggles figure skating, school and real estate Joseph Klein balances figure skating, school and real estate

Every day after class, Weinberg sophomore Joseph Klein rushes from Evanston to the Northbrook Sports Center, his hometown ice rink. He trades his textbooks for a pair of skates and trains with his childhood figure skating coach, Agata Czyzewski. It’s a tight schedule, but skating is an...

dailynorthwestern.com

Unfortunately he will not be competing at Mids this week (not listed in the Senior Men SP starting order).

 

[Sylvia]

Beck Strommer announced his withdrawal from Mids today due to injury (in 3 screenshots): https://www.instagram.com/p/DRK_W-ykyb8/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1990527863792242963

 

[BittyBug]

Joseph Klein is competing with his Northwestern University figure skating team now while studying for an environmental policy & polisci double major

 

[misskarne]

Jason wasn`t someone who just practised hard. For whatever reason he can sence what looks good and prosesses uncanny flexibility for a man. Others can improve their artistry but Jason has been doing what others cannot for 10 years. A kind of prodigy.

The flexibility wasn't something he was born with - he worked tremendously hard to get it and at 30 years old I can only imagine how hard he works to keep it.

 

[Rukia]

The flexibility wasn't something he was born with - he worked tremendously hard to get it and at 30 years old I can only imagine how hard he works to keep it.

I think it has to be a little of both though. I could work on my flexibility forever and never get the way he is because my body is naturally just very tight/stiff. I took ballet for years and no amount of stretching was going to change that lol. So he must have the right body to be able to do it but also put in the work to improve it and keep it up.

 

[YukiNieve]

Some US men news:

- Nathan teamed up with AirBnb and will host an Olympic watching experience in Milan.

Nathan Chen on Instagram: "One of the best parts of competition is meeting the community of skating fans. So I’m super excited to share that I’m partnering with @airbnb to host an Airbnb Experience at @milanocortina2026, where we’ve saved you some ri

16K likes, 70 comments - nathanwchen on November 18, 2025: "One of the best parts of competition is meeting the community of skating fans. So I’m super excited to share that I’m partnering with @airbnb to host an Airbnb Experience at @milanocortina2026, where we’ve saved you some rinkside...

www.instagram.com

- Camden has been back on ice (per his IGS) and started from single jumps. He looks happy to be back!

- You can still watch the IGS about the sweet message Jason sent to Daniel O'Shea after he won the US Novice Championship in 2008. I spoke with Danny back then and I remember how happy he and his father were. Seeing this message made me smile.

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

 

[bladesofgorey]

- Nathan teamed up with AirBnb and will host an Olympic watching experience in Milan.

Grosssss.

 

[Karen-W]

And we have our fields for Nationals set!

Lorenzo Elano (240.44) and Daniel Martynov (235.03) secured the 2 spots out of Midwesterns. The next two best scores from Sectionals were Kai Kovar (219.02 - Mids) and Michael Xie (186.65 - Pac Coasts). First alternate, should anyone withdraw is Ken Mikawa (184.30 - Eastern) followed by Taira Shinohara (183.49 - Mids) and Antonio Monaco (179.57 - Mids).

Senior Men -
Will Annis (E2)
Jason Brown (B)
Lorenzo Elano (M1)
Goku Endo (P1)
Tomoki Hiwatashi (B)
Liam Kapeikis (B)
Lucius Kazanecki (B)
Kai Kovar (At-Large 1)
Jimmy Ma (B)
Ilia Malinin (B)
Daniel Martynov (M2)
Samuel Mindra (P2)
Maxim Naumov (B)
Camden Pulkinen (B)
Jacob Sanchez (B)
Emmanuel Savary (E1)
Andrew Torgashev (B)
Michael Xie (At-Large 2)

Junior Men -
Ryan William Azadpour (P2)
Patrick Blackwell (E1)
Nicholas Brooks (P1)
Thomas Chen (M3)
Zenith Chen (Nov-M1)
Caleb Farrington (E2)
Aleksandr Fegan (E3)
Kirk Haugeto (P3)
Michael Jin (Nov-P1)
Michael Khavin (Nov-E2)
Zachary LoPinto (E4)
Louis Mallane (M1)
Ryden Rudedenman (P4)
Joshua Snyder (M4)
Alek Tankovic (M2)
Hitonari Tani (Nov-E1)
Mike Weng (Nov-M2)
Jesse Zhong (Nov-P2)

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Ken Mikawa, the kid young man who 2 years ago started a comeback from a 10 year hiatus from Intermediate-level competition, came up just 2.36 points shy of making it to senior nats as the second wildcard (the goal he publicly set for himself on IG). I was really rooting for him.

I was thinking that Ken might still make it if Camden doesn't bother coming back for nats before presumably retiring... but I saw that he just posted the other day that he's back on the ice. Oh well, those are the breaks. Better luck next year Ken (I draw the line at actively rooting for someone else to drop out).

 

[Sylvia]

Here's a longer version with more words & numbers :

Byes to 2026 U.S. Nationals (10): Malinin, Torgashev, Pulkinen, Naumov, Ma, Brown, Sanchez, Hiwatashi, Kazanecki, Kapeikis

8 more qualify via Sectionals:

M1 Lorenzo Elano, Skokie Valley SC 82.66 (2) 157.78 (1) 240.44 - landed three 3A for the first time in competition!
M2 Daniel Martynov, Great Lakes FSC 83.17 (1) 151.86 (2) 235.03
M3 Kai Kovar, Broadmoor SC 79.59 (3) 139.43 (3) 219.02 (gets the 1st of 2 available "next highest total scores" spots)
E1 Emmanuel Savary, University of Delaware FSC 74.89 (1) 140.88 (1) 215.77
PC1 Goku Endo, Los Angeles FSC 269.41 (2) 137.35 (1) 206.76
PC2 Samuel Mindra, Carousel FSC 68.81 (3) 134.66 (2) 203.47
E3 Will Annis, SC of Boston 64.06 (2) 128.51 (3) 192.57
PC3 Michael Xie, SC of San Francisco 72.96 (1) 113.69 (3) 186.65 (gets the 2nd of 2 available "next highest total scores" spots)

[E2 Lucius Kazanecki, Washington FSC 61.43 (3) 137.78 (2) 199.21 (already had a bye due to JGPF)]

E4 Ken Mikawa, Richmond FSC 61.28 (4) 123.02 (4) 184.30 (1st alternate) - I'm told he intends to keep training, just in case
M4 Taira Shinohara, Chicago FSC 61.87 (5) 121.62 (4) 183.49 (2nd alternate)
M5 Antonio Monaco, Skokie Valley SC 66.47 (4) 113.10 (5) 179.57 (3rd alternate)

JUNIOR MEN (top 4 from each Sectional):
E1 Patrick Blackwell, SC of Boston 80.90 (1) 141.70 (2) 222.60
E2 Caleb Farrington, IceWorks SC 73.06 (2) 142.78 (1) 215.84
P1 Nicholas Brooks, All Year FSC 68.56 (1) 126.90 (3) 195.46
P2 Ryan William Azadpour, Carousel FSC 65.92 (2) 128.13 (2) 194.05
E3 Aleksandr Fegan, SC of New York 66.45 (3) 126.56 (3) 193.01
M1 Louis Mallane, Broadmoor SC 66.33 (1) 123.73 (1) 190.06
P3 Kirk Haugeto, All Year FSC 54.36 (4) 130.12 (1) 184.48
P4 Ryedin Rudedenman, Glacier Falls FSC 59.16 (3) 119.99 (4) 179.15
E4 Zachary LoPinto, SC of Boston 63.27 (4) 115.61 (5) 178.88
M2 Alek Tankovic, Broadmoor SC 60.95 (4) 116.82 (3) 177.77
M3 Thomas Chen, St. Paul FSC 58.88 (5) 116.82 (2) 175.70
M4 Joshua Snyder, Onyx-Suburban Skating Academy 61.10 (3) 113.96 (4) 175.06

NOVICE MEN (top 2 in each Sectional qualify to compete in Junior at Nationals):
E1 Hitonari Tani, SC of Boston 51.30 (2) 98.07 (1) 149.37
P1 Jesse Zhong, Glacier Falls FSC 48.30 (1) 91.01 (1) 139.31
P2 Michael Jin, All Year FSC 41.76 (4) 89.64 (2) 131.40
M1 Mike Weng, SC of Houston 44.43 (1) 84.77 (1) 129.20
E2 Michael Khavin, Hudson Valley FSC 44.71 (4) 83.54 (3) 128.25
M2 Zenith Chen, DuPage FSC 43.85 (2) 81.72 (2) 125.57

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Can someone help me with understanding the time violation deduction? Daniel Martynov stopped skating well after his music. I thought the time violation was tied to skating and music, but is it just the going outside the +/10 seconds (or taking more than 30s from being announced)?

 

[AYS]

Can someone help me with understanding the time violation deduction? Daniel Martynov stopped skating well after his music. I thought the time violation was tied to skating and music, but is it just the going outside the +/10 seconds (or taking more than 30s from being announced)?

it's the time, clocks starts when they start moving and stops when they come to a complete stop at the end.

 

[gkelly]

Can someone help me with understanding the time violation deduction? Daniel Martynov stopped skating well after his music. I thought the time violation was tied to skating and music, but is it just the going outside the +/10 seconds (or taking more than 30s from being announced)?

it's the time, clocks starts when they start moving and stops when they come to a complete stop at the end.

Yes, this.
From first movement (after the music starts) to last movement.

If the music is cut several seconds shorter than the maximum time allowance, it's possible that the skater could still be moving after the music has ended but fully stop within the allowed time, in which case no deduction.

There is also a relatively new GOE reduction for judges to take: "Element executed fully or partly when music is not playing -1 to -4" which would really only be applied if the last element is completed (or begun) after the music has ended.
That would only apply to elements, not to choreography/movement after the last element is over.

The "Late start – for not taking starting position within 30 seconds after name is announced" deduction is separate from the timing deduction for the length of the program.

 

[YukiNieve]

A kind of late response...

Ken Mikawa, the kid young man who 2 years ago started a comeback from a 10 year hiatus from Intermediate-level competition, came up just 2.36 points shy of making it to senior nats as the second wildcard (the goal he publicly set for himself on IG).

I met Ken and his mom at the Potomac Open this summer and talked with them about how he rekindled his love for the sport and decided to pursue his personal goal, even though it is quite demanding, financially and time-wise, as it is for anyone in this sport. He has a really nice 3A, which is impressive considering his 10-year absence from the sport.

 

[Karen-W]

Not the greatest of competitions at Tallinn Trophy for either Max or Liam.

Max had a really rough SP, finishing in 7th, and pulled up to 4th in the FS and overall with a score of 223.04 while Liam had a good short with a 4th place finish, but dropped to 9th in the FS and with a 211.74 score finished 8th overall.

Liam did manage to improve his 2nd best Challenger/Int'l Competition score, replacing his Cranberry score, while Max's two best scores are from IceChallenge and Lombardia still.

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

I had previously counted out Jacob Sanchez from Olympics contention, but with his recent IceChallenge score he shows continued improvement for the season whereas almost everyone else is trending downward as of late, he seems to be making a late-season argument for himself. Have a look at this graph I made on SkatingScores (sorry, I didn't know how to the post just the image -- if someone else knows how I'd really appreciate them doing so so we can lock the image in at time of discussion).

In short, I think if he can get his Golden Spin score up over 240 and follow that up by being right there in the mix with everyone at nats, then I think he will have shown an overall steadiness of output and consistency of improvement through the season no one else has been able to demonstrate this year. Jacob has no quads of course, but when everyone else treats quads and clean programs as mutually exclusive aspects of their performances... well, then a clean quadless program sounds kinda nice and they do seem to put more points on the board.

The choices for another medal at the Olympics, in my eyes, both require a high degree of luck:

1. YOLO the quads and pray a clean program happens by sheer chance
2. Send Jacob and hope others mess up enough to elevate him to the podium

ETA: Tomoki's recent drop hasn't been as stark as others to be lumped in with the same recency criticism, but he did start his season with quite a low score. I think the best arguments come down to these two and Naumov at Nationals. Ma and Torgashev have dipped too low too late in the season to be trustworthy. Naumov's dip is recoverable.

 

[Allskate]

I had previously counted out Jacob Sanchez from Olympics contention, but with his recent IceChallenge score he shows continued improvement for the season whereas almost everyone else is trending downward as of late, he seems to be making a late-season argument for himself.

Max finished higher than Jacob at IceChallenge, so I'm not sure that this event is an argument for Jacob. TBH, though, as much as I would love to see Max on the Olympic team, I think the IceChallenge scores were quite inflated for everyone. These were not fabulous performances. Of course, as I recall, that same weekend Torgy skated poorly in his GP.

Send Jacob and hope others mess up enough to elevate him to the podium

I don't think there's any chance of that. At this point, others messing up would still beat a clean Jacob. Whoever the third guy is, I don't think he's going to medal if he skates clean and others screw up. But, if USFS is going for who is most likely to freakishly land on the podium with others screwing up, I think the choice is Torgy.

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

Max finished higher than Jacob at IceChallenge, so I'm not sure that this event is an argument for Jacob. TBH, though, as much as I would love to see Max on the Olympic team, I think the IceChallenge scores were quite inflated for everyone. These were not fabulous performances. Of course, as I recall, that same weekend Torgy skated poorly in his GP.

Their scores were in the same realm though. Max's score took a harsh dip at Tallinn, and if Jacob takes it equally in the opposite direction at Golden Spin then it all sort of evens out. Though, in Justin Dillon's brief interview on The Runthrough podcast, he did stress that podium-level ordinals carried more weight than points. To summarize... idk man, they're both good and I didn't think Jacob would be up with Max in the mix but he really seems to be there now in my opinion. I think a strong showing at Golden Spin will put him on even footing.

 

[Capt. DeSoto]

[...] Whoever the third guy is, I don't think he's going to medal if he skates clean and others screw up. But, if USFS is going for who is most likely to freakishly land on the podium with others screwing up, I think the choice [...]

The thought of the choice being made based on freakish odds doesn't sit right with me. But at the same time, I fear you might be right. Sigh. I guess that is the way the world works isn't it?

 

[Karen-W]

Their scores were in the same realm though. Max's score took a harsh dip at Tallinn, and if Jacob takes it equally in the opposite direction at Golden Spin then it all sort of evens out. Though, in Justin Dillon's brief interview on The Runthrough podcast, he did stress that podium-level ordinals carried more weight than points. To summarize... idk man, they're both good and I didn't think Jacob would be up with Max in the mix but he really seems to be there now in my opinion. I think a strong showing at Golden Spin will put him on even footing.

None of these guys are making an Olympic podium unless we have the most epic menning by the entire men's field. They're going along for a nice trip to Italy in February.

ETA - really, at this point, it's going to come down to who makes the podium at US Nats. Maybe you can make an argument against Ma or Kapeikis over Hiwatashi, Sanchez, Naumov, Torgashev and mayyyyyybe Brown, but I'm not even sure the USFS' Int'l Committee would go that far for that last spot.

 

[layman]

I think Malinin and Brown are a lock, but the 3rd spot is up for grabs and since the remainder of the men seem to be about even right now (they have all had ups and downs this season), I think whoever (of the remaining men) get's the highest placement at Nationals deserves to go.

 

[Jammers]

I think Malinin and Brown are a lock, but the 3rd spot is up for grabs and since the remainder of the men seem to be about even right now (they have all had ups and downs this season), I think whoever (of the remaining men) get's the highest placement at Nationals deserves to go.

As well it should be none of the top contenders for the 3rd spot have done anything for the last four years to merit any kind of advantage over the other skaters.

 

[Allskate]

Their scores were in the same realm though. Max's score took a harsh dip at Tallinn, and if Jacob takes it equally in the opposite direction at Golden Spin then it all sort of evens out. Though, in Justin Dillon's brief interview on The Runthrough podcast, he did stress that podium-level ordinals carried more weight than points. To summarize... idk man, they're both good and I didn't think Jacob would be up with Max in the mix but he really seems to be there now in my opinion. I think a strong showing at Golden Spin will put him on even footing.

Did you watch Jacob's long program from IceChallenge? Watch it, and then consider whether you think it really makes a case for putting him on the Olympic team over all the other guys in contention. If I were Tomoki, I'd be more than a little ticked off if USFS considered Jacob's skate at IceChallenge to be the reason for choosing Jacob over Tomoki, even assuming that IceChallenge is one of the competitions that counts as part of the body of work. And I say this as someone who has never been a fan of Tomoki's skating.

I heard Justin Dillon's interview on The Runthough, and it was very surprising, and a bit troubling. Either he doesn't know the rules or they intend to ignore the rules. Or maybe he just didn't discuss them very clearly and accurately in the moment, but actually knows what they are? Or they've now changed the rules and I wasn't aware of it? According to the rules posted on the USFS website, podium finishes are supposed to play a role in terms of determining whether someone even gets into the selection pool for consideration for the Olympic team. After that, though, when they are deciding who actually gets chosen for the team, they absolutely are supposed to look not just at medals, but at the scores, protocols, competitiveness, consistency, difficulty of the field at a competition, etc. You can see this in Section 7.2 of this document:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2026%20FSK%20Athlete%20Selection%20Procedures%20FINAL%20OLY.pdf

 

[Karen-W]

Jackie Wong's throwing Kazanecki's name into the Olympic mix after today's bronze at the JGPF.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1996853466992627801

Not sure I think there's much chance of that happening. Even if he did wind up on the podium at Nats, the USFS would have to send him out to get the Sr CTES mins in January and we know they passed right on over Ilia in 2022 for the Olympic team, which is what I would expect to happen to Lucius this year.