Ilia Malinin reeled off his fourth consecutive U.S. title on Saturday night with a captivating free skate, capping an epic 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, meanwhile, etched their names into the coveted, sterling silver U.S. Figure Skating Championships Trophy for a record seventh time with their victory in ice dance.

Long recognized as the sport's most compelling performers, Chock and Bates held the crowd in the palms of their hands with a fierce contemporary flamenco, set to an orchestral version of "Paint It Black."

From its opening combination curve lift that scored an event-high 15.70 points to its closing diagonal step sequence, the taut, polished performance grew in intensity without ever losing control. With seven Level 4 elements, and grades of execution of 2.25 or better on every element, the three-time and reigning World champions earned 137.17 points for their free dance and finished with a total score of 228.87.

"I think our performance was the best that we've skated the free dance all year," Bates said. "I think it shows that the plan Madi was just spoke about is working. We like to build momentum through the season and it's a great feeling going into a big event knowing you've skated well at the previous competition, and we are going to roll with that momentum into Milan."

Partners since 2011, the Montreal-based skaters have earned 14 consecutive medals at the U.S. Championships, including the past five gold medals. With their win in St. Louis, they surpassed 2014 Olympic ice dance champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White for the most U.S. ice dance titles with seven.

"This means everything to us," Chock said. "Seven-time national champions seems surreal. I remember growing up and looking up to Tanith [Belbin] and Ben [Agosto] and Meryl [Davis] and Charlie [White] and just idolizing them. Just what they embodied and encompassed for ice dance and I just took it to heart and let it guide me. Hopefully we can leave a little bit of that legacy to the next generation and keep the love of the sport going."

It takes exceptional conviction and stamina to interpret Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," but Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik met the challenge of the driving, passionate score. The Michigan-based skaters, rising stars on the international scene, showed superior ice coverage and speed, as well as exceptionally fast twizzles and a striking rotational lift with Kolesnik turning on one foot.

The two-time U.S. pewter medalists produced personal-best scores in their free dance, 127.67, and overall, 228.87, to finish second in the segment and with the silver medal – their best result at the U.S. Championships.

"This is a very special event for us," Zingas said. "Last year at this time, we experienced some disappointment at the U.S. Championships and, honestly, I feel grateful for that moment because it taught me to know what I want and taught me how I don't want to feel after a national championships. I think that was a little bit of a blessing in disguise, because we were able to come together in the offseason and know exactly what our goal was and exactly what we needed to get here."

After an up-and-down season, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko returned to top form with a revival of their 2023-24 free dance set to music from "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer." The skaters told the sinister and foreboding story with skill, showing deep edges in their step sequences and using their choreographic lift and sliding movements to build to a frenzied, and fatal, conclusion.

The Canadian-based team, partners since 2014, generated a free dance score of 123.66 and an overall total score of 206.95 to finish third in the segment and take home the bronze medal, their fifth career U.S. Championships medal.

"It means everything for us to be standing here," Carreira said. "We had a bit of a rocky start to this season, but I'm happy that we kind of got our act together after the Grand Prix and were able to deliver a good performance here."

Securing their sixth U.S. Championships podium finish, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons finished fourth in the free dance with 121.50 points and as the pewter medalist with a score of 202.05.

In a free dance packed with exotic highlights, each element they showed to a Hozier and Tsar B medley was unique and creative. 

"We left every single piece of ourselves out there on the ice today. It's hard to speak now. I just feel empty but in the best possible way," Parsons said.

"This program has meant so much to us in terms of the growth that we've had the past four years," Green added. "I think the overarching theme now that we are at this culminating point is the agency we wanted to have in our creative process and our coaching and being to manage our own training in some ways and take ownership over that. I think to have so much input into this program and to work with someone like Jean-Luc [Baker], who is so open to our creativity and just like the way we throw things at the wall thinking they might never be possible and having someone say, 'No, follow that thread.' It's been so rewarding. The fact we get to show the finished product of that here in a really clean free dance and delivering the way we know is so rewarding."

In his free skate to a medley including Asaf Avidan's "The Ball," Malinin didn't show his most famous jump, the quadruple Axel; he didn't need it. Instead, he paid extra attention to finishing each movement and sharpening his spins, all of which gained Level 4.

The quads he did land, including an opening quad flip and a quad Lutz-triple Salchow combination in the program's second half that generated a whopping 22.37 points, were done with ease, as was a backflip that drew one of the loudest cheers of the night. A turnout on the second jump of his final combination, a quad Salchow-triple Axel combination, was his only flaw.

The two-time and reigning World champion posted a free skate score of 209.78 and an overall total of 324.88

"I decided to play it safe here, save my energy, save my condition to prepare for those Olympic Games," Malinin said.

"This has been one of my favorite national championships, so far," he added. "The energy and the crowd were so amazing. Everyone from the staff to the people to the support, it was all there and I felt it and it really helps me and it helps all the other athletes get through all of their performances."

Malinin is unbeaten since December 2023. He likely heads to Milan for the Olympics riding a 13 competition win streak. The team will be announced Sunday live at Enterprise Center and on NBC during Making the Team: Presented by Xfinity from 1-3 p.m. CT.

Fighting back after a disappointing fifth-place short program, Andrew Torgashev had the free skate of his life, a stirring display of solid jumps and expressive movements, capped with wildly inventive, high-flying step and choreo sequences.

The skater, who trains in Southern California, landed two quad toe loops, one in combination with a double toe, and two triple Axels en route to earning 182.63 in the free skate and 267.72 overall.  The silver medal is his second straight at the U.S. Championships.

"Today's run-through was great; it is everything I was training so I'm glad it came together today," Torgashev said. "Throughout the Grand Prixs I wasn't showing my best, so this was a good run-through for myself. I will continue to work at it. I accepted a little while ago that regardless if I can call myself an Olympian or not one day, I think the Olympic spirit is in all of us — this resilience, this drive, this tenacity that brings us all coming back to the rink every single day."

When he took ice for his free skate to "In This Shirt" by The Impressibles, Maxim Naumov carried the hearts of many along with him. In a fitting tribute to his late parents, 1994 World pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the Boston-based skater had one of his finest ever performances, opening with a smooth-as-silk quad Salchow, followed by a triple Axel. Although he turned out of the landing of two triple jumps, he hit two triple Axels and showed refinement and style in every spin and movement.

Naumov, the three-time U.S. pewter medalist, claimed the bronze medal – his best-ever result at the U.S. Championships – with a free skate score of 163.44 and an overall total of 249.16 points. He placed fourth in both the short program and free skate.

"My intention was to not leave anything behind," Naumov said. "I went into it giving every single bit of energy that I possibly could to it. There were mistakes obviously, but I would fight tooth and nail to get to the end of this program and not leave the points that I could behind. That's the mentality I've had ever since I was a kid, and I will continue to have that throughout my entire life. That's exactly what got me through, is the resilience and the grit and I feel the strongest after these kinds of performances and that's the most important to me."

In a surprise, Jacob Sanchez leapt from seventh after the short program to a place on the podium with a clean and lyrical program to a contemporary medley, highlighted by two triple Axels and Sanchez's unique ability to move an audience. 

The 2024 Junior Grand Prix Final champion posted a personal-best free skate score of 167.80 and a personal-best overall total of 249.07, overcoming his previous personal bests by over 16 and 13 points, respectively. Sanchez secured the pewter, his first U.S. Championships medal at the senior level.

"I had so much emotion after I landed that last jump," he said of his reaction of falling to the ice. "It had been so stressful all week. I haven't been this nervous since last year's [Junior] Grand Prix Final. I'm glad when the time came, I was able to get myself to perform under pressure. All year I haven't had a perfect program, but today I feel it was as close to a perfect program as I have had."

For full results from the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships, as well as how to watch information, bios and more, visit the U.S. Figure Skating website.