This week the American figure skating community converges in St. Louis, Missouri, for the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating

Championships. The pressure is on for athletes who are hoping to continue their season by earning a place to compete in the various International Skating Union championship events and the Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina, Italy, next month. This event marks the first U.S. Championships since American Airlines Flight 5342 took the lives of 67 individuals, including 28 beloved members of the figure skating community. 
 
The skating community, while large in numbers, is a tight-knit group of athletes, coaches, officials and family members who see the U.S. Championships as a family reunion of sorts. It is fitting, then, that three athletes who will compete in this year's edition of the event, skate in tribute of those who were lost.
 
Reigning junior men's bronze medalist Patrick Blackwell will skate to honor his friend, Spencer Lane, who was just beginning to realize his potential in the sport. As a 16-year-old, Lane began skating in 2021 after being captivated by his peer, Blackwell, who inspired him to turn in the rental skates and enroll in Learn to Skate USA classes. Soon thereafter, Lane was taking private lessons and cultivating a path that led him to the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating High Performance Development Camp after winning the gold medal in the intermediate men's competition at the Eastern Sectional Championships.
  "He was only in the sport for three years or so, and he was already working on quads," the 17-year-old, who trains at The Skating Club of Boston, said. "I've seen many skating careers, but I have never seen someone like Spencer. His drive and motivation on and off the ice every day was unbelievable. My mom and I had to tell him to slow down because he was going to hurt himself, but it just shows his drive and motivation."
 
Lane was very much looking forward to debuting on the novice level this season, so much so that he had already completed choreography with Ann Goldberg-Baldwin, an assistant professor at the prestigious Berklee School of Music in Boston. Blackwell initially approached Lane's father, Doug, to ask permission to include a tribute to Lane in his new free skate, and he quickly gave his blessing. With Goldberg-Baldwin, Blackwell worked in tandem with his choreographer, Adam Blake, to include "Autumn Moon" by Eternal Eclipse into his already set free skate.
 
"It is about 40 seconds in the middle of my program, around the one minute and 20 seconds mark," Blackwell explained. "It was important for us to consult with Anne and make it right since this was part of her choreography.
 
"I see this as having a piece of Spencer with me in this program, and I know that he is there during the full performance."

 
U.S. junior women's champion Sophie Joline von Felten will make her championship level debut in St. Louis, skating her short program to "I Will Never Abandon You" by Efsio Cross and "Cassiopeia" in honor of the friends that she trained with at The Skating Club of Boston.
 
"The whole program is in tribute to them, but I feel like I skate it with them and for them," the 16-year-old said. "This is for all of the [skating family] that were lost, but in particular for Spencer and Jinna (Han) who I spent time with almost every day,"
 
Von Felten's program begins with learning of the crash and having some hope that her friends had survived.
 
"When my step sequence starts, we learn that we unfortunately lost them," she explained. "I always try to give the program my all because it's for them. This helps me even more to skate the way that I want in competition, because I want to do it well for them."
 
It has been a therapeutic process for von Felten, helping her to transform her grief into something that she can express through her skating. She admits that it has been lonely without her friends, but she is learning to channel that into something that brings them back to the ice through her own skating.

 

"She was so welcoming when I came to Boston," von Felten said of Han. "Spencer came a little bit later, but Jinna and Ela (Cui) were my first friends there. We did so many things together."
 
A third athlete, 15-year-old Sofia Bezkorovainaya, who represents the Washington Figure Skating Club, will compete in the junior women's competition. She skates her short program "Over the Rainbow" by Loren Allred, for her friend, Everly Livingston, who was planning to skate to this music for her debut on the junior level this season.
 
"I decided to skate to this program because I know how excited Everly was for this program, and how much she loved this song," she said. "She was supposed to compete with this program this season and got her new choreography right before she left for Wichita. We really wanted to make it to [the U.S. Championships] together this year, so this feels like such a special way to treasure our friendship and always feel her shining down on me."
 
She continued, "I feel her most strongly at the crescendo of the music, right as I run forward. And in the opening and closing moments of the program, when I look up and hug myself, it feels like she's hugging me."
 
Livingston's sister, Alydia, and parents, Donna and Peter, were also lost in the crash, as well as Bezkorovainaya's coach, Inna Volyanskaya.
 
"Definitely, this season was not easy," Bezkorovainaya said. "They have been my skating family ever since I started, and I want to believe they are supporting me with every step I take."
 
Blackwell and Bezkorovainaya will skate their respective short programs later today, while von Felten begins her competition on Wednesday evening. Each performance will be available to watch live on Peacock.