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

[Debbie S]

Google says that 176cm is about 5'8".

Totally outdated he must tower over 6 foot three

176 cm is 5'9", but Lucius is definitely taller than that. I've stood near him in person...granted, he had skates on, which add a few inches, but I'd say 6 feet (w/o skates).

ETA: Actually, ANL may be more accurate. I just saw the pic USFS posted of Lucius and A/V from Abu Dhabi and Daniil, who is listed as 5'11", is several inches shorter than Lucius. So 6'3" might be a better estimate.

 

[ice coverage]

According to the fall issue of Skating, Maxim Naumov earned the 2024-25 Skating magazine Readers' Choice Award! Have they announced this somewhere?

AFAIK, the new Skating magazine article is the (first) announcement naming Max Naumov as winner of the Readers' Choice Award.
I had not seen the news elsewhere, and I got teary when I saw the page from the latest issue of the magazine that was about Max as Readers' Choice. (It was one of the pages that a USFS photographer from Champs Camp shared on her Instastory this week.)
Congratulations to Max!

I searched online and couldn't find any results about Max winning the award (?). It shows Ilia winning for both 2024 and 2025, but it's an AI summary so maybe not accurate. I guess it may not be officially announced until the US Championships.

I think Max would have said something on his instagram if this is official... he did post something when he won that ISU award earlier this year

The news of Max as Readers' Choice winner already is official -- it is in the current issue of an official publication of USFS.
For those who receive hard copies, delivery of the new Fall issue has been happening this week.

IIRC(?), for at least one of the years that Nathan Chen won Readers' Choice, the announcement also was first published in Skating magazine, before USFS ever spread the news more widely on its websites or social media.

Another type of news sometimes has first come to light via Skating magazine as well.
Going back to pre-pandemic January 2020, Skating magazine was the first source of news of the selection of Vegas for Skate America for the second consecutive year.

The article is in the January issue of Skating magazine which some people have received in the mail ... It's really odd that USFS wouldn't put out a press release before the mag was published.

IIRC, selection of Columbus as host of 2024 Nats was another example of a brand-new revelation appearing first in Skating magazine.

 

[panda42]

AFAIK, the new Skating magazine article is the (first) announcement naming Max Naumov as winner of the Readers' Choice Award.
I had not seen the news elsewhere, and I got teary when I saw the page from the latest issue of the magazine that was about Max as Readers' Choice. (It was one of the pages that a USFS photographer from Champs Camp shared on her Instastory this week.)
Congratulations to Max!





The news of Max as Readers' Choice winner already is official -- it is in the current issue of an official publication of USFS.
For those who receive hard copies, delivery of the new Fall issue has been happening this week.

IIRC(?), for at least one of the years that Nathan Chen won Readers' Choice, the announcement also was first published in Skating magazine, before USFS ever spread the news more widely on its websites or social media.

Another type of news sometimes has first come to light via Skating magazine as well.
Going back to pre-pandemic January 2020, Skating magazine was the first source of news of the selection of Vegas for Skate America for the second consecutive year.

​

IIRC, selection of Columbus as host of 2024 Nats was another example of a brand-new revelation appearing first in Skating magazine.

Thanks for the explanation, good to hear! I'm very happy for Max.

 

[ice coverage]

Thanks for the explanation, good to hear! I'm very happy for Max.

Sorry that I forgot to mention two things:

The new article said that 2026 Nats will have a presentation of the Readers' Choice Award to Max. (I think the presentation at Nats is customary.)
I am so glad that Max will be honored in the arena, with the audience surely giving him lots of support at his first Nats without his beloved parents.

My memory is 99% sure that the article had direct quotes from Max, including expression of his gratitude to fans for the Readers' Choice Award.
(I think Max likely also will make an Instagram post at some point, although hard to predict whether in the near future or not until the time of Nats?)

ETA:​

Occurs to me that I don't know what Kiki's post above meant by: "he won that ISU award earlier this year."
I love Max, and I don't recall an ISU award? Maybe Kiki intended to refer to the 2025 USFS coaching award that he received in May. Max won the Impact Award for Resilience.​

 

[TanithandBenFan]

I misspoke earlier - Ilia came in third in the Readers’ Choice award, not Amber.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

, not Amber.

How dare you?