The Boston-based pairs team were at the top of their game Wednesday (7 January) on Day 1 of the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, scoring a 75.31.
“This has been by far our best program so far,” a beaming Mitrofanov told reporters.
They are eight points clear of the next three teams, with Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy in second at 67.67 and pre-event favourites Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea third at 67.13.
Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez (67.07) and Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman (66.81) rounded out the top five.
The U.S. has two pairs quota spots for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.*
Time is running out for Efimova, however, as she still has not received her U.S. citizenship, meaning she’s currently ineligible to be selected for Team USA.
“We’re still hoping to have a last-minute miracle,” Mitrofanov said. “The last few weeks, it has been more difficult than normal. We had to do a little bit more paperwork. There has been a great push for it… but it is out of our control. All we do is focus on what we’re able to do, which is on the ice.”
Regardless, the team is looking to become the first U.S. pair to claim back-to-back national titles since Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir in 2013-14.
Audrey Shin: “Working with Tessa Virtue was a dream come true”
While the night belonged to Efimova/Mitrofanov, it was a standout performance for Shin/Nagy, too, who took on a new Moulin Rouge-themed short program mid-season.
The team has only skated together for two years, but are now knocking on the Olympic door in part thanks to an Olympic gold medallist, ice dancer Tessa Virtue.
Shin/Nagy’s coaches, Bruno Marcotte and Meagan Duhamel, had reached out to Virtue to come work with their team – and Virtue accepted.
“It was great to have her help us with the intention and obviously the choreography of the program,” Nagy said.
Added Shin: “For me, working with Tessa was kind of like a dream come true. I’ve watched her [PyeongChang 2018] Moulin Rouge program so often. [Having her] work with us was such an honour. And she gave us really good key points and character notes, which really helped us for this program.”
Kam/O’Shea were the final team to skate as the top-ranked American pair, Kam fell on their second big element, their side-by-side triple Salchows, then struggled to stay upright on their throw triple loop on the other end of the rink.
“I’m definitely a little disappointed in how I skated,” Kam said. “I thought that we were really well prepared and we were practicing really well all week. … We look forward to having a really strong long program.”
“The nerves never go away, but it’s good to constant,” O’Shea added. “But I think it’s a feature, not a flaw. … We won’t make any drastic changes before the long, we’ll keep the same process and just try to execute a little better.”
