Why people love Ilya Marinin
At the United States Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis, fans shared why they love skater Ilia Marin.
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ST. LOUIS — The 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships conclude today with the crowning of the men’s champion and ice dance champion.
The titles in both categories are almost confirmed. After another outstanding performance in the short program, Ilia Marin outperformed the other competitors by a margin of more than 15 points over second place, securing her fourth consecutive victory. The same goes for ice dancing, where Madison Chock and Evan Bates are just hours away from making national championship history.
The day remains an important one for the remaining competitors, as it is their last chance to show why they deserve to be part of the 2026 Olympic team, which will be announced on Sunday.
Follow USA TODAY Sports for live results, updates, scores and standings for Day 4 games.
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The standings will be updated as pairs complete their free dances.
- caroline green and michael parsons: 202.05
- Emily Blatty and Ian Somerville: 197.29
- Oona Brown and Gage Brown: 194.31
- Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitri Tzarevsky: 186.60
- Leah Neset and Artem Markelov: 176.46
- Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani: 173.17
- Amy Cui and Jonathan Rogers: 172.39
- Eva Pate and Logan Bye: 170.49
- Eliana Peele and Ethan Peele: 169.60
- Rafaela Consius and Alexei Shchepetov: 166.62
- Isabella Flores and Linus Colmore: 160.75
- Vanessa Pham and Anton Spiridonov: 158.62
Here are the results of the free dance so far.
- Oona Brown and Gage Brown: The total segment score was 118.59, the technical component score was 67.15, and the program component score was 51.44.
- Emily Blatty and Ian Somerville: The total segment score was 117.86, the technical component score was 66.38, and the program component score was 51.48.
- Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitri Tzarevsky: Total segment score 111.61, technical component score 62.33, program component score 49.28.
- Leah Neset and Artem Markelov: The total segment score was 105.18, the technical component score was 57.74, and the program component score was 47.44.
- Amy Cui and Jonathan Rogers: The total segment score was 104.79, the technical component score was 59.23, and the program component score was 45.56.
- Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani: The total segment score was 101.93, the technical component score was 54.63, and the program component score was 47.30.
- Rafaela Consius and Alexei Shchepetov: The total segment score was 101.47, the technical component score was 57.27, and the program component score was 44.20.
- Eliana Peele and Ethan Peele: The total segment score is 100.00, the technical component score is 55.38, and the program component score is 44.62.
- Vanessa Pham and Anton Spiridonov: Total segment score 97.21, technical component score 54.07, program component score 43.14.
- Eva Pate and Logan Bye: The total segment score is 96.95, the technical component score is 51.15, and the program component score is 46.80.
- Isabella Flores and Linus Colmore Jepsen: Total segment score 94.38, technical component score 51.44, and program component score 42.94.
- Caroline Green and Michael Parsons: The total segment score was 121.50, the technical component score was 68.06, and the program component score was 53.44.
Here is the rest of the lineup.
- Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
- Emilia Zingas and Vadim Kolesnik
- Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Who is on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team?
Teams will be decided on Sunday at 2pm, with three men’s singles skaters, three women’s singles skaters, three ice dance team members and two pairs, for a total of 16 skaters. The USFS selection process includes past performance, focusing on an athlete’s body of work over the past two seasons.
Ilya Marinin, Amber Glenn, Alisa Liu, and Isabeau Levit are on the roster, as are Madison Chock and Evan Bates. This leaves two spots open for the ice dance team and two spots for pairs on the men’s side.
- tv set: NBC
- Live stream: peacock
- Ice Dance Free Dance Groups 2 and 3: 7:20pm
- Men’s Free Skate Groups 2 and 3: 9pm
Madison Chock and Evan Bates have finished on the podium at the U.S. Nationals every year since 2013. They have won four straight ice dance championships, and their six combined titles are tied for the most with the greats Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
Tonight, they may be the only record holders. They have a nearly six-point lead over second-placed Emilia Dzingas and Vadim Kolesnik, with plenty of room for the free dance. If Chock and Bates’ free dance program is of high quality, they could end up with double-digit wins.
This is just the latest feat in what has been a great season for the couple. Since the start of 2025, he has won all but one of the seven tournaments he has participated in, including winning the Grand Prix Final in December for three years in a row.
The couple’s return to the Winter Olympics is almost official, with Milan-Cortina being their fourth Olympics. The only thing that has eluded them in their illustrious careers is an Olympic medal in ice dancing in 2022, when they fall just short of the podium.
Men’s Free Skate Group 2
- 9:05pm: Goku Endo
- 9:13pm: jimmy ma
- 9:21pm: Lucius Kazaneki
- 9:29pm: Kvar Island
- 9:37pm: Liam Kapeikis
- 9:45pm: Jacob Sanchez
Men’s Free Skate Group 3
- 10pm: Daniel Martinov
- 10:08pm: Andrew Tolgashev
- 10:16pm: Maxim Naumov
- 10:24pm: Jason Brown
- 10:32pm: Tomoki Hiwatashi
- 10:40pm: Ilia Marin
Men’s free skating results
- Lorenzo Elano: The total segment score was 141.69, the technical component score was 69.19, and the program component score was 73.50.
- Michael Shea: Total segment score 136.83, technical component score 72.40, program component score 64.43.
- Emmanuel Sabally: The total segment score was 127.93, the technical component score was 59.63, and the program component score was 70.30.
- Samuel Mindra: The total segment score was 125.02, the technical component score was 53.76, and the program component score was 71.26.
- Will Annis: The total segment score was 120.85, the technical component score was 56.27, and the program component score was 64.58.
- Ken Mikawa: The total segment score was 94.22, the technical component score was 40.04, and the program component score was 55.18.
ice dancing vs figure skating
Ice dancing does not involve jumps or lifts, as there are in pair figure skating. Ice dance consists of two sections: rhythm dance and free dance.
How did Ilia Marin come up with the program?
It takes an innovative mind to be as sensational as Malinin, but his creative process is far from ordinary. He said a lot of that comes from his love of gymnastics and acrobatics, which is why he can perform such spectacular jumps.
“It really pushes me to push the limits of my skating, not just in terms of performance, but every jump, every spin, every hard thing, to be even more athletic,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun, but at the same time we feel it’s really beneficial to bring something new to the sport, so everyone gets to see something unique.”
The “quad god” of figure skating: the nickname of Ilya Marinin
Simply put, Ilya Marin has the most versatile jumps of any figure skater in history. He launched seven quadruple jumps into the air in a single long program at last month’s Grand Prix Final, becoming the first skater to land a quadruple axel.
Marinin’s username used to be Lutz God, but he changed it to Quadruple God after landing his first quadruple jump.
“I didn’t really think about it…As the days went by, people started asking, ‘Why did you call yourself Quad God, when you could only do one jump?'” he said on USA TODAY’s new Olympic podcast, Milan Magic, whose first episode airs Saturday. “And I thought, ‘Oh, okay, maybe I should be a quad god.'” From there, he found a rhythm, landing quad after quad, and of course landing his first quad axel. ”
“In the most humbling way possible, I think it definitely helped not only my confidence in skating in general, but also the feeling that I deserve to be recognized for who I am.”
When will the 2026 Winter Olympics start?
The opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Games will be held on February 6th, and the closing ceremony will be held on February 22nd.
How does Ilya Marinin train for quadruple jumps?
Marinin said on USA TODAY’s new Olympic podcast “Milan Magic” with Christine Brennan and Brian Boitano, the first episode of which airs Saturday, that he likes to skate the entire program at least once a day. But that doesn’t mean every jump in that practice session has to be a quad. It depends on how his body feels.
“For me, to maintain stamina, just to maintain stamina, at least the standard base can be all triple jumps. But of course, depending on how I’m feeling and how my training is going, I can say, ‘Maybe tomorrow I can go for a full quad layout. Or maybe I can do a full quad and do the rest triple.’
“I think the main focus for me is just doing the whole program, all the jumps, all the spins, and getting that muscle memory in my head, because a lot of times, especially for me, I think if I’ve done a certain amount of triple jumps and I’m used to it, I can go and quadruple jumps are going to be a little bit easier, too, because I’ve been practicing muscle memory for a while.”
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