Ilia Malinin captured his fourth Skate America title and Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov clinched their second Grand Prix medal of the season in front of a highly charged crowd in Everett, Washington, on Saturday at 2026 Saatva Skate America.

The 21-year-old has not lost a Grand Prix event, including a Final, since he captured silver in France three years ago this month. In addition, Malinin's gold medal is the ninth for an American in the last ten seasons.

Skating to the soundtrack of the film Blue Eye Samurai, Malinin focused this performance on artistic growth, attempting just four quadruple jumps, to bring a more direct spotlight on his improved musicality. The three-time and reigning World champion was credited with two clean quadruples—a toe loop and a Lutz in sequence with a triple Axel and double Axel. He finished the free skate with the second-highest score of the evening—187.57 points and a total of 284.31 overall.

"I feel very good. I would say honestly, I was coming to this competition just to see how the program feels for the very first time in competition," Malinin said. "I feel very relieved and very happy with how I was able to put myself out there. I felt really a lot more immersive, and it felt like I was really connected to the music, the audience, and to the program a lot more than previous years. I think that's definitely shown through my focus on trying to improve myself not only in the physical and technical capabilities but also being more present emotionally and artistically in my programs."

Teammate Jason Brown skated a stirring program to Cody Fry's take on "Over the Rainbow". Always a crowd favorite, Brown made his debut in this event all the way back in 2013 where he finished in fifth place. This year, the two-time Olympian finished just off the podium in fourth place.

Brown's technical arsenal has never been the hallmark of his performances, but this week has proven that Jason Brown still has a place on the international stage. He opened with a fall on his triple Axel attempt, but earned Level 4s on his two spins and step sequence. His triple flip-double Axel-double Axel sequence in the second half of his program generated 14.45 points. Though he was credited with only three clean triple jumps, his willingness to push himself to new choreographic levels of storytelling is second to none.

"The program is all about weathering the storm, working through my emotions of last season, and for me this felt like this cloud moving and the sun the shining through and the rainbow taking shape," he said. "That's really how this program felt and was it perfect? By no means, but I kept going forward, I kept resetting every time I had those bubbles, and I just said keep staying present, keep resetting, and put your best foot forward.  I'm just so proud of my fight."

He earned 161.73 points in the free skate and a competition total of 245.73, less than three points from a podium finish.

Fifth after the short program, Daniel Martynov finished in ninth place in his Grand Prix debut. The Illinois native opened with two quadruple attempts but was unable to connect on either. He was credited with three clean triple jumps, however, a solo Lutz as well as a Lutz-toe loop combination. He concluded with a Level 4 spin.

"It still is sort of surreal to be here," Martynov admitted.  I said yesterday that I put myself in a position that I could just enjoy, and it seems like I spoke a little too soon on that, but overall skating after Jason and being between just an incredible group of figure skaters has been amazing."

Martynov finished with 136.79 points in the free skate and 220.96 points overall.

In the pairs competition, three-time and reigning U.S. champions Efimova and Mitrofanov captured the silver medal, clinching a spot at the ISU Grad Prix of Figure Skating Final. Efimova and Mitrofanov were joined on the podium by the new team of Katie McBeath and Balazs Nagy, who finished in third place in their first Grand Prix event as a team.

Skating to music by Spanish recording artist Rosalia, Efimova and Mitrofanov had a tough time with the solo jumps in the program but still managed to equal their placement from the Grand Prix France earlier this season. Highlights from the program include a solid triple twist lift and two gorgeous throw jumps, but the high point was arguably their closing choreographic lift and choreographic spin, which showed Cirque de Soleil caliber inventiveness.

"I'm not satisfied with my skate today," Efimova admitted. "But I feel like it's now giving me a lot of fire and motivation to work, and I hope that for the next event everything all goes better."

Mitrofanov added, "I'm very proud of us and I'm very proud of Alisa that we fought to the end — we kept going no matter what. Even though not everything went our way, we made sure to do what we could in that moment."

The silver medalists finished the free skate with 119.94 points and a competition total of 191.79.

McBeath and Nagy, just five months into their fledgling partnership, moved up from fifth place after the short program to claim their position on the podium. Their free skate, set to Ludovico Einaudi's "Experience" gave the American champs a run for their money, finishing less than half a point behind the silver medalists.

"I think Katie and I are both very proud of our skate," Nagy said. "We've been training very hard, and it feels good to have kind of the work we've been doing at home validated with the result."

In just their third international competition as a team, McBeath and Nagy performed like skilled veterans. The only element that received a negative grade of execution was their double Axel sequence, but everything else was clean as a whistle. They finished with a season's best 119.51 points in the free skate and competition total of 187.13 points.

"It's been really nice to be able to rely on each other and come together as a unit in such a short period of time," McBeath shared. "I just feel like this is a really good step in the right direction on our journey together, so I'm excited about that."

Another new pairing, Audrey Shin and Spencer Akira Howe maintained their sixth place finish from the short program, earning 171.81 points in the competition.

Despite a rocky opening, the duo closed out their Romeo and Juliet performance with strong choreographed elements and a solid Level 4 death spiral and lift.

"It's cool that our first Grand Prix was Skate America in our own country, which is awesome," Howe lamented after the competition. "Obviously, we want a better skate, and we know we can skate better, but every opportunity is a learning opportunity to get in there, so we're happy to be there."

In the afternoon session, fans were treated to the season debut of Olympians Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, who lead after the rhythm dance. The reigning World bronze medalists took a calculated risk in choosing to skate from Bizet's warhorse Carmen after receiving word at this summer's Champs Camp that they needed to make a change from their original music selection.
 
"I was hoping to save it one year for the free dance because this was my dream," Kolesnik said. "I'm just happy that we were able to do something a little bit different because I think that most teams did not choose a story or theme to their rhythm dance. Most have a dance style and character, but we also added a story to it and try to change it into a rhythm dance."
 
The risk paid off in a big way for the Michigan-based duo, as they received Level 4s on all but one of their elements, including the challenging Golden Waltz pattern dance. With 82.52 points in the competition thus far, Zingas and Kolesnik are in great shape to stand atop a Grand Prix podium for the first time in their partnership.
 
"I think the execution of Golden Waltz today was definitely not our best, but I'll say for the first competition and my first time competing a pattern dance, I'm okay," Zingas said after the competition. "So hopefully we'll be better executed next time, but overall, we're very happy."
 
In just their second season in the Grand Prix Series, 2025 World Junior Championships silver medalists Katarina Wolfkostin and Dimitry Tsarevski are poised to improve from a pair of sixth place finishes in their debut on this global stage from last season. Despite a mistake on the opening twizzle sequence, the duo is in fifth place heading into the free dance.
 
"I actually think even with a small mistake, we've improved a lot because all of our other scores are improving," Wolfkostin offered. "I think we both felt more prepared every single time we compete so I'm very happy."
 
The tandem earned Level 4s on their curve lift and on the closing creative dance element and finished with a total of 69.62 points.
 
"We've done a lot of good preparing for this," Tsarevski said. "So, it really wasn't a surprise to be able to have such a strong performance despite the mistake in the beginning."

The third American entry, Leah Neset and Artem Markelov, finished just behind their teammates in sixth place with 69.10 points, which is a new season's best. What makes that even more impressive is that they earned that score with a program that, for all intents and purposes, is still in its infancy.

"Right now, it's four weeks old so we are still getting a little bit into the routine. We're happy with the improvements we made, (and) we'll keep working," Markelov explained. "We still left some technical elements on the table so we would like the technical mark to be higher so (we'll) keep working on that and improve on that. I think we just to keep developing ourselves as much as we can, definitely focusing on both the technical and the components, and just growing overall."

And though the 2024 World Junior Champions see plenty of opportunity to improve this program, they left the ice with a sense of pride.

"I feel good, it was a lot of fun skating for such a supportive crowd today," Neset said. "I'm so thankful for everybody who came to watch, and it was fun to skate it together. I think we really enjoyed ourselves."

The women's short program featured three Americans who are making their debut appearance on the Grand Prix circuit this season. The 2024 U.S. women's junior champion, Logan Higase-Chen sits in ninth place after a strong performance to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons".

"I was nervous and excited, but it felt comfortable—it feels like nationals," she admitted. "I'm in my home country and the fans were really supportive."

Higase-Chen opened with a triple flip-triple toe loop combination in which the first half was called as a quarter rotation under. However, the rest of her program was nearly flawless, earning the high school student a career-high 63.29 points.

"I'm really happy about how I was able to perform today. Things could have been better, but I'm happy about it," Higase-Chen said after her program.

Another up-and-comer, Sophie Joline von Felten, made her Grand Prix debut just last week at 2026 Cup of China and finished in seventh place. Von Felten began her difficulty-packed Michael Jackson program with a triple Axel attempt, but rebounded to nail her next element, a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. She finished with a season's best 61.23 points.

"It's sad that I didn't land my Axel how I did in the practice, but I feel like that I could land a nice Lutz toe after it," she said. "But it's just work for next competition."
 
The third American entry, Alexa Gasparotto, finished the short program in 12th place, but despite her placement, the Illinois-native made history, becoming the first Black woman to land a triple Axel in a Grand Prix.

"That I made another accomplishment in that aspect means the world to me, and I can't imagine how many other little girls and boys that look like me are feeling right now if they saw that on the TV," she said. "I can't wait to just be a mentor to them and be able to share this whole experience with everybody."

Skating to a mix of versions of Adele's "Make You Feel My Love," Gasparotto opened with the historic move, earned a whopping 10.63 points. Admittedly overcome by the gravity of that moment, Gasparotto managed just a double Lutz-double toe loop combination immediately after but earned Level 4 marks on both spins at the end of the program.

"I started crying literally. I'm like, 'Wait! I'm crying. I'm not done yet,'" she laughed afterwards.

Even with the lapse in concentration, Gasparotto earned a new personal best of 56.04 points.

The women and ice dancers close out this edition of Skate America on Sunday afternoon.

For a full schedule, results, news and more, visit the 2026 Saatva Skate America Competition Central.