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

[Sylvia]

Jacob Sanchez was a guest on Polina’s podcast:

The Iron Butterfly: On The Come Up: Jacob Sanchez

I sit down with 2024 Junior Grand Prix Final Champion and Youth nOlympic Silver medalist Jacob Sanchez on his skating journey so far and goals for the future!

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Thanks!

Which reminds me ... if you haven't yet watched the short documentary film about Jacob (includes footage from when he was young through 2023 Nationals in San Jose when he won the Junior silver medal), here's the link to the TV Alerts thread post: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...b-sanchez-olympic-dreams.111022/#post-6850561

 

[Sylvia]

2026 ISU Four Continents Championships (Jan. 21-25 in Beijing) preliminary entries were published online today and the USFS is being allowed to submit their entries & subs after Nationals (Men's FS is on Saturday, Jan. 10).

16 of the 18 men currently scheduled to compete at 2026 Nationals have the 2026 4CC minimum CTES of 86 (as usual, the 3 selected for the Olympic team will bypass 4CC):
Ilia MALININ USA 210.34
Tomoki HIWATASHI USA 137.45
Jason BROWN USA 136.38
Jimmy MA USA 131.88
Andrew TORGASHEV USA 130.25
Maxim NAUMOV USA 126.58
Jacob SANCHEZ USA 121.38
Liam KAPEIKIS USA 116.18
Daniel MARTYNOV USA 116.12
Camden PULKINEN USA 113.96 (has not competed this season due to injury; has not WD from Nationals to date)
Michael XIE USA 104.21
Goku ENDO USA 99.60
Kai KOVAR USA 94.58
Samuel MINDRA USA 89.25
William ANNIS USA 87.82
Emmanuel SAVARY USA 86.04

5 more have the minimum CTES but are not competing at 2026 Nationals:
Lucas BROUSSARD USA 131.32 (has not competed this season due to injury)
Taira SHINOHARA USA 109.06 (Midwesterns, 4th; 2nd alternate to Nationals)
Yaroslav PANIOT USA 104.51 (retired)
Joseph KLEIN USA 103.42 (has not competed this season due to injury)
Beck STROMMER USA 90.53 (competed in 1 NQS this season; WD from Mids due to injury)

ETA: 2026 Worlds minimum CTES is 109.

 

[Sylvia]

Jacob Sanchez was interviewed by a Puerto Rican media outlet yesterday (he spoke English) - video is linked here: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...b-sanchez-olympic-dreams.111022/#post-6857372

 

[Sylvia]

11 ISU Junior age-eligible men currently scheduled to compete at 2026 Nationals have the 2026 Junior Worlds CTES of 80 (U.S. has 2 spots; dates are March 3–8 in Tallinn):

Lucius KAZANECKI USA 124.75 (Senior at Nationals)
Patrick BLACKWELL USA 122.97
Jacob SANCHEZ USA 122.65 (Senior)
Caleb FARRINGTON USA 106.68
Nicholas BROOKS USA 104.43
Lorenzo ELANO USA 103.43 (Senior)
Aleksandr FEGAN USA 98.54
Zachary LOPINTO USA 93.20
Kirk HAUGETO USA 91.05
Louis MALLANE USA 90.28
Ryan William AZADPOUR USA 81.81

2 more have the minimum CTES but are not competing at 2026 Nationals:
Marlo ROSEN USA 84.63 (Midwestern, 5th in Junior)
Vaclav VASQUEZ USA 81.45 (Pacific Coast, 5th in Junior)

 

[Allskate]

Lucas BROUSSARD USA 131.32 (has not competed this season due to injury)

Has anyone seen or heard an update on Lucas? I know he can't compete at Nationals, but is he at least training? Is he at the Cricket Club? Any word on injury? It's such a shame he has missed competing this season.

 

[Sylvia]

Has anyone seen or heard an update on Lucas?

Sadly, no. I periodically check the various Cricket Club-related Instagram accounts and haven't seen Broussard featured in any posts/reels since July.

June 2025 (spin clip with Grayson Long): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK2hyxTuGUu/
July (Jason's videos): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLxPAhvs0eh/ & https://www.instagram.com/reel/DL9350HsCNS/

At one point I was considering starting a fan/cheer thread for him in the Trash Can (I've followed his career since he was a Juvenile)... guess it's a good thing that I never did?
ETA that Lucas won the Juvenile national title in 2019 (Tao MacRae now GBR, Antonio Monaco and Vaclav Vasquez are the 3 still competing from that field, AFAIK): https://ijs.usfigureskating.org/leaderboard/results/2019/27958/CAT002SEG002.html

I just looked at his 2025-26 National Team profile again: https://usfigureskating.org/sports/figure-skating/roster/lucas-broussard/1110
"Attends Stanford University ... Graduated from The Bush School in Seattle in 2025 ... Aspires to be an engineer at a tech company ..."

Maybe he decided after attending Champs Camp to forgo his planned gap year and begin his freshman year at Stanford after all?

 

[clairecloutier]

Ilia said in his pre-Nationals press call that he hopes to continue for 2 more Olympics after Milano

Malinin: "I want to skate in 3 Olympics" - A divine sport

For Ilia Malinin, the road to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics is winding ever closer to its finish. Next week, the 21-year-old American will look to win his fourth straight national title at the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Less than a month later, he expects to be in...

adivinesport.com