2025-26 U.S. Ice Dance | Page 2 | Golden Skate

2025-26 U.S. Ice Dance

Yep. I heard the sad news about Olivia Ilin's injury challenges. Rooting for her smooth rehab and for Dylan continuing to train and improve while his partner rehabs. I'd love to see them continue to grow and flourish in the sport. It was sad to see another young, longtime team (Tkachenko/ Kiliakov) hit the retirement button. 🙁

I also heard the news about Vadym's citizenship coming through. I knew he was expected to receive it this summer. Christina Carreira should finally be receiving hers very soon, too. Thanks for sharing the news, @DemTuppesSeine.

Some fans might be unaware that Christina would have had her U.S. citizenship a while ago, if she had received better immigration attorney advice. She tried the Extraordinary Person O-1 visa legal route some years ago (to speed the process), and she was refused. Her attorneys then stupidly suggested that she attempt to sue U.S. immigration. 🫣 End result: she ultimately dropped the suit and had to restart the entire long route U.S. citizenship process! 😳😬 Alls well that ends well. Christina was unlikely to go to any earlier Olympics in any case, but just 'squeaking in' for 2026 was not her original aim.
 
I've been at the Bolero Cup in Sheffield this past two days - four US Ice Dance teams competing - all were very impressive and I hope we see more of them internationally in future.

In seniors, Amy Cui and Jonathan Rogers (4th place), Raffaella Adele Koncius and Alexey Shchepetov (5th place). In Advanced Novice, brother and sister team Katherine Li and James Zhu took gold and Rylen Lukanin and Patrick O'Brien the silver.
 
Yep. I heard the sad news about Olivia Ilin's injury challenges. Rooting for her smooth rehab and for Dylan continuing to train and improve while his partner rehabs. I'd love to see them continue to grow and flourish in the sport. It was sad to see another young, longtime team (Tkachenko/ Kiliakov) hit the retirement button. 🙁

I also heard the news about Vadym's citizenship coming through. I knew he was expected to receive it this summer. Christina Carreira should finally be receiving hers very soon, too. Thanks for sharing the news, @DemTuppesSeine.

Some fans might be unaware that Christina would have had her U.S. citizenship a while ago, if she had received better immigration attorney advice. She tried the Extraordinary Person O-1 visa legal route some years ago (to speed the process), and she was refused. Her attorneys then stupidly suggested that she attempt to sue U.S. immigration. 🫣 End result: she ultimately dropped the suit and had to restart the entire long route U.S. citizenship process! 😳😬 Alls well that ends well. Christina was unlikely to go to any earlier Olympics in any case, but just 'squeaking in' for 2026 was not her original aim.
Ironically Vadym's hopes to go to the olympics would be greatly increased if Christina did not get her citizenship in time. The US fight to go to Italy is going to be fierce. I think Maddie and Evan are safe. Momentum favoured Christina and Anthony. But then you Green And Parsons. VAdym and his partner, The Browns and the ShibSibs who m ight be in trouble. At least we have seen Guillaume and Lawrence but no one has really seen the Shibsibs not even at champ camp. No leaked reports or a lot of clips. These competitors who are coming back is creating a lot of interest and mystique. Are the Shib Sibs, Sui and Han and Keegan Messing really coming back? If so how competitive will they be?
 
Ironically Vadym's hopes to go to the olympics would be greatly increased if Christina did not get her citizenship in time. The US fight to go to Italy is going to be fierce... Are the Shib Sibs, Sui and Han and Keegan Messing really coming back? If so how competitive will they be?
We won't know until we find out how it all turns out. 🙂

Regarding Christina, she got her green card some time ago and she's already applied for citizenship, the final stage of the process. She's in line to receive U.S. citizenship this fall, as she reportedly recently said during an interview.
 
Dance time:

Bye Criteria: https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/2026 Qualifying Bye Advancement Criteria.pdf
CTES: https://www.usfigureskating.org/sites/default/files/media-files/TN 319 Minimum TES 2026.pdf

Top 5: Chock/Bates, Carreira/Ponomarenko, Green/Parsons, Zingas/Kolesnik, Brown/Brown
Any Individual Medal at the Olympics: Shibutani/Shibutani

3 Assignments:
Neset/Markelov: Kinoshita, Denis Ten, Skate Canada
Wolfkostin/Tsarevski: Lombardia, Nepela, NHK


2 Assignments:

Pate/Bye: Lombardia, GP France
Bratti/Somerville: Nebelhorn, GP France, Skate Canada


9/22: Striking through for the withdrawal of B/S from Nebelhorn, since you have to be assigned and compete at events to get the bye.
 
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Glad to see citizenships coming through - should make things interesting. Chock/Bates are still tops in my book and I expect them to be in the number-one spot again this year. I don't think Shibs have what it takes to even make top 3 at US nationals. Even if they can return to their previous form, which remains to be seen, I think C/B, C/P, G/P and maybe even Z/K are all faster, better skaters and performers and have eclipsed them as US ice dance has progressed. Will be interesting to see if Shibs get massively overscored out of nostalgia from judges, or underscored because they've been off so long, or neither. Still think C/B, G/P and C/P are the top-3 US teams in terms of artistry and skill, in that order, and I hope thet make the US Olympic team. They've earned it.
 
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Do we know why Bratti/Somerville missed Nebelhorn? Hoping it is not an injury or illness.
 
The US Ice Dance Final qualifier is coming up! The tiles for the junior and senior free dances are on Peacock.

Here's the GS thread:

 
I wonder if the waiting for her citizenship has been a bit of a weight on her mind this season as we got closer and closer to the Olympics and she still didn't have her passport and it affected her skating? With the shutdown lasting as long as it did she had to be a bit nervous about it even if her people were telling her it would get done soon.
 
So relieved that she got it in time.
Now they maybe need to bring back their last season's FD to be more competitive at U.S. Nationals. 🤔 Hmm @Jammers, perhaps the long wait was concerning. But more likely, Christina knew her attorneys had a good idea of the passport coming through in time. As far as Car/Pom's performances this season, their material, IMO, is not as good as last season.

Anything can happen, of course. But Chock/ Bates are locks, with Zingas/ Kolesnik making a strong case for second, and third more likely between Car/Pom and the Shibs. Perhaps Green/Parsons in the battle for third, but more likely Gr/ Par, Pate/Bye will get 4CCs, with the third 4CCs spot battled between Bratti/ Somerville and Wolfkostin/ Tsarevski.

Link to US figsk athletes who will compete at Nationals:

 
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