2026 U.S. Nationals - St. Louis!

[livetoskate]

I arrived in St Louis around 5:30pm on Tuesday and rode the Metrolink to 8th and Pine. It was fine, although it stunk a bit from weed. Sit in the front car where the conductor is. I paid $4. To get the discounted fare you have to apply in advance with ID.

Sounds good! Thank you!

 

[Debbie S]

Arrived this morning and my Uber driver drove into IL and then back into MO. He showed me what his GPS was telling him, and then we ended up at a dead end in the middle of nowhere but there was a highway ramp next to the road that he got on. He dropped me off at the side of the hotel that has multiple steps going up (there is apparently another entrance w/o steps around the other side). I don't mind steps but lugging a suitcase up them is a bit much.

Then the hotel had my rate at almost $100 more than it was supposed to be and claimed i agreed to pay for early check-in, which i hadn't, but we resolved that. Um hmm.

The woman at check-in also gave me bad directions on how to walk through Union Station to the arena, so I ended up taking a detour around downtown, but I got to men's practice in time to see Ilia's run-through. And just saw Jason's Riverdance so all is right with the world now (except for his 3A ).

ETA: The Chiefs fans are here, sitting down near the front wearing their Chiefs gear. Did they not get the memo that their team finished the season at 6-11 and is nowhere near the playoffs?

 

[Jammers]

Arrived this morning and my Uber driver drove into IL and then back into MO. He showed me what his GPS was telling him, and then we ended up at a dead end in the middle of nowhere but there was a highway ramp next to the road that he got on. He dropped me off at the side of the hotel that has multiple steps going up (there is apparently another entrance w/o steps around the other side). I don't mind steps but lugging a suitcase up them is a bit much.

Then the hotel had my rate at almost $100 more than it was supposed to be and claimed i agreed to pay for early check-in, which i hadn't, but we resolved that. Um hmm.

The woman at check-in also gave me bad directions on how to walk through Union Station to the arena, so I ended up taking a detour around downtown, but I got to men's practice in time to see Ilia's run-through. And just saw Jason's Riverdance so all is right with the world now (except for his 3A ).

ETA: The Chiefs fans are here, sitting down near the front wearing their Chiefs gear. Did they not get the memo that their team finished the season at 6-11 and is nowhere near the playoffs?

So you stop being a fan when your team has a bad season?

 

[Debbie S]

So you stop being a fan when your team has a bad season?

Clearly you missed the snarky humor of my comment.

It does seem a bit odd that fans would deck themselves out in team gear at a different sporting event. It made sense at recent Nats when the Chiefs were in the playoffs that same weekend. This year, maybe not so much. IYKYK.

 

[Spikefan]

I’m at Katie’s Pizza and Pasta and Chock is here with her parents. Good lunch special of two courses for $20, M-F.

 

[Lanie]

My flight was delayed and we had to deplane because the flight recorder wasn’t working. Ugh!

We’re on another plane so I will miss the first part of pairs but hope I can get my ass to the arena fast enough. I checked my bag, which I didn’t wanna do. I’d wanted to bring my skates but I had zero room since I’m bringing all this to Sheffield too.

 

[Carolla5501]

Yes, but some of this is scalpers getting hold of more resale tickets and charging astronomical prices. $1000+ for balcony!

https://www.ticketmaster.com/us-figure-skating-championships-session-6-saint-louis-missouri-01-09-2026/event/0600636BAD0DBE4B

If the scalpers are doing that for the 300 level tickets, they’re crazy because you can go on Ticketmaster resale right now and buy 300 level tickets for half of what the official website is charging

It’ll serve them right to lose a lot of money

 

[peibeck]

Parked today at the adjacent Union Station lot and the lady told me it would be $8.75 to park. I thought "What a bargain." After the event, I look at my parking ticket and they charged me $45 (!!!). Needless to say, I will NOT be parking there again. (The covered parking garage next to the stadium was charging $30).

 

[AnnM]

Overheard from the bar, while I was all the way in an adjacent stairwell on the floor below -- some man proclaiming to someone that he gave only three 6.0s in his life.

 

[ice coverage]

Skate & Save all week in St. Louis!

As St. Louis hosts the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships at Enterprise Center, explore special Championship Week deals across the metro.

[five slides worth of food, drink, attractions, merchandise]

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View this content on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTOhpCEki2q/

 

[acraven]

USFS has sent a message to (All-Event?) ticket purchasers, correcting the door-opening time for Session 5 on Friday. Doors will open at 1 PM. The event begins at 2 PM (no change).

 

[Iceblink]

Anyone know if the "arena clear" between warmup and the rhythm dance today means they're kicking everyone out completely, or can we remain on the concourse? Trying to decide if I want to catch the remaining warmups but don't want to have to hunt out shelter from the rain before they open doors for dance if we have to vacate the building.

 

[acraven]

Sorry too late to help you, but we were able to stay on the concourse yesterday

 

[mattiecat13]

I asked today and the ticket guy said they were just going to clear seats but we can stay on the concourse.

 

[AnnM]

So the regular hotel bar at the 21c hotel closes at 11pm. But there's a small bar set up in a lounge off to the side that is open until 1am "if you're here for the skating" according to the hotel staff. But apparently that really means only if you're credentialed per the USFS staff at the lounge entrance. Likewise, the USFS info desk in the hotel said spectators could ride the officials' shuttle "if there's room," but neither the shuttle driver nor other USFS staff has permitted it yet so far IME even when there were only 1-3 people on a 25ish person shuttle.

I don't really care one way or the other about any of this, but at least try to have some sort of consistency between what people are being told!

 

[Lanie]

I wonder why info desk would say that when there's stuff on the badges that's like NO SHUTTLE. Used to be able to use the buses/shuttles, not this time.

 

[acraven]

I just receoved a text from a friend who just entered the arena and was told no plastic water bottles are allowed. Yesterday empty bottles were OK.

 

[Iceblink]

I just got in with an empty plastic bottle (I went through the bag scanner line). Gotta love consistency!

 

[AnnM]

I just receoved a text from a friend who just entered the arena and was told no plastic water bottles are allowed. Yesterday empty bottles were OK.

The same happened to me today. Unbranded empty were fine yesterday and the day prior. Today they are interpreting "reusable" to mean "reusable AND non-disposable." I asked Guest Services what the policy would be tomorrow. They tried to blame the hockey league rules, as if the NHL is seriously concerned about our exposure to BPAs.

Then as I walked away there was a young woman with a Chi-Pom dog zipped up into her jacket. So that was cool but empty water bottles aren't.

 

[SidelineSkater]

It’s not any worse then Boston Worlds where they randomly let people in without checking bags for some and stopping others for a full bag exam.

I think security at these types of events are wildly inconsistent. I also think some people love to complain about every. Little. Thing.

 

[Carolla5501]

Pockets people. C’mon

 

[Aceon6]

Pockets people. C’mon

For those who have access and $, I highly recommend any LL Bean coat that’s advertised to stuff into its own pockets. The one I have has a stuff pocket large enough for 2 water bottles and a sandwich.

 

[Lynn226]

Clearly you missed the snarky humor of my comment.

It does seem a bit odd that fans would deck themselves out in team gear at a different sporting event. It made sense at recent Nats when the Chiefs were in the playoffs that same weekend. This year, maybe not so much. IYKYK.

It's the I-70 rivalry between Kansas City and St. Louis. It's more a a baseball thing though due to both cities having MLB teams.

Former Independence, MO resident here, so I get it.

 

[AnnM]

That's where @AnnM is staying. So besides being a at Boitano's Lounge, she can now get the scoop about the officials.

Boitano's Lounge -- Not as good as the only other time I went in 2023 from a food, beverage, and mingling perspective. The Hall of Fame recognition portion also wasn't as well executed as the others HOF ceremonies I've been too. The presentation was a little disorganized, it was hard to hear with all the background chatter, and not everyone could see the inductees. Combining the two things didn't really work IMO. There was also no bathroom access if you weren't credentialed, which is odd at an event with unlimited beverages.

And that doesn't take into account at all that Nathan Chen had to cancel due to illness, since unpredictable things like that can happen! Jean Luc appeared on his behalf, commented on Nathan's work ethic, forming Your True Step, and played a video message Nathan filmed today (he sounded horrible - bronchitis?). Raf said some nice words about his students and the opportunities life in America has given him. He said that when he was growing up in the USSR he couldn't speak to foreigners, so he couldn't have ever imagined being honored in another country in this fashion. John Nicks also made some nice comments about Raf. I couldn't hear all of what Joe Inman was saying, but they're was something about the faults of the 6.0 system in there. Lots of skaters from the 80s to the present were around and chatting with their friends. I somehow always manage to find myself near Timothy Goebel at a bar during any given Nationals. Richard Dwyer was leaving at the same time we were; it was a nice surprise to see him there. No sightings of Charlie White.

The judges and officials were still partying it up in their secret bar and overflowing into the lobby area when I got back to my hotel a bit after midnight. I didn't care to stick around.

 

[jkl]

When I went through security this afternoon I told the guard I had knee replacement. Of course the machine beeped. He asked me what I had in my pocket and I told him my gloves. He stuck his hand in my
Coat pocket and pulled out a glove. Dumbass didn’t know my snacks were in my pants pocket.

 

[tangerine dream]

When I went through security this afternoon I told the guard I had knee replacement. Of course the machine beeped. He asked me what I had in my pocket and I told him my gloves. He stuck his hand in my
Coat pocket and pulled out a glove. Dumbass didn’t know my snacks were in my pants pocket.

Ooh that's a great strategy! Stuff snacks into one set of pockets, then stuff something big and bulky but allowable into other ones to draw their attention away from the actual contraband. Very smart.

 

[AnnM]

Boitano's Lounge tonight was a much better experience. There were fewer fans present, likely because it wasn't the HOF reception. I think the smaller crowd made skaters more amenable to being approached by fans if that's what people wanted to do. I met two young women who really wanted to talk to Timothy Goebel but were nervous about it. I encouraged them to try and was happy to see the three of them in conversation later. And yes, my streak of being next to him at the bar continues. There was supposed to be a panel of past men's champions, but they had a Team USA panel instead featuring Scott Hamilton, Vincent Zhou, Madi Hubbell, Alexa Knierim, Brendan Frazier, and Mariah Bell. But again, it was a hard to follow the actual conversation unless you were in the very front half of the room. Otherwise they're was too much social chatter. Amber Glenn (wearing a mask) and Zingas/Kolesnik were the only current competitors who were there. Made some new friends and had an easier time finding some old ones. And they finally relented and let us peasants use a restroom.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

When I went through security this afternoon I told the guard I had knee replacement. Of course the machine beeped. He asked me what I had in my pocket and I told him my gloves. He stuck his hand in my
Coat pocket and pulled out a glove. Dumbass didn’t know my snacks were in my pants pocket.

That's odd that security was allowed to put their hands in pockets. I work security (licensed) at times and we are told to ask guests to empty items in their pockets in a bin. Female security can pat down a female guest and male security a male guest if they can't go through a scanner for medical reasons. A guest might be asked if they don't mind being patted down by a security officer of the opposite sex if a same sex officer is unavailable. One must ask a guest politely of course if a pat down is ok. We are also never to put our hands inside bags or purses, either we use a probe and a flashlight or we ask the guest if they can move items inside around so that we can see to the bottom.

 

[skipaway]

Thank you St. Louis for putting on a very well run event. Your hospitality, not at just the Enterprise Center but everywhere I ate and the Drury Union Station hotel staff were awesome!

Fun story about how helpful the residents were: Ate at the Songbird for breakfast. Apparently they recently moved to a new location. My Uber app had noT been updated so we arrived to a closed restaurant fortunately with a sign on the door with the new address. Uber driver reset my trip and got me there easy peasy. Then when I mentioned it to Blaine, my waiter, he and the manager apologized profusely and comped my drinks and chicken sausage!

BTW…Eleven Eleven Mississippi was simply outstanding and had the best dessert I’ve ever had!

Crowd at the Enterprise were enthusiastic and patient.

Skaters: for me the Browns were my favorites of the comp. I love when up and comers show what they can really do. I hope they stay for the next quad.

The women slayed with clean, difficult content. I actually don’t have a favorite. I want them all to win!

And once again everyone here on FSU, with commentary, snark and emotion made the championships that much more special.

Thanks again St. Louis!