Above: Jacob Sanchez glides to victory at his JGP event in Slovenia. Photo credit: Getty Images
By Elvin Walker
When Jacob Sanchez arrived in Wichita, Kansas, for the 2025 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he was eager to make his senior level debut on the national stage. Despite the excitement of dipping his blades into the big leagues, the 17-year-old was battle worn from an aggressive early season competition schedule. Recovering from illness and nursing some back and joint pain, the 2023 U.S. junior men’s silver medalist was not sure what to expect from his performances.
In the short program, the high school senior showed no signs of insecurity or injury, landing each of his jumping passes and entertaining the audience with his exuberant presentation. Sanchez finished in sixth place, earning a place in the final warm up in the medal-deciding free skate.
“I feel like I exceeded the expectations that I had for myself today,” he said after the program. “The last two weeks have been really difficult — I was really sick and was not able to train properly. I have a lot of back, knee and ankle pain, so just pushing through that was a victory for me today.”
In the free skate, Sanchez was equally impressive, landing six triple jumps and making only one mistake — singling an intended triple Axel early in the program. Despite finishing in sixth place in both phases of the competition, the Middletown, New York, native ended up in seventh place overall.
“I enjoyed every moment,” Sanchez said. “It's definitely such a different experience than what I've been used to in the past. Being able to come here and do what I did having the training that I did the last two weeks that felt great to just put out those performances and finish the week feeling satisfied.”
Sanchez admitted after the competition that he had to remind himself to focus on himself instead of watching the likes of World champion Ilia Malinin and reigning U.S. medalists Andrew Torgashev and Camden Pulkinen, in warmup.
“The energy in the practices and warmups were amazing. Sharing space with such great company was incredible,” he said. “Honestly, I am still a fan of all of these guys, and I caught myself watching their jumps and felt like a spectator at times. I’m happy I was given this opportunity.”
Sanchez now turns his attention back to the junior ranks in preparation for a trip to the World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, later this week. His junior campaign this season has been nearly perfect. A second-place finish in the Cranberry Cup International in August was the only competition where Sanchez did not earn the top step on an international podium thus far this season. He closed out his Junior Grand Prix season with a gold medal at the final in December.
Tenth at the World Junior Championships last season, Sanchez shared that he succumbed to the pressure of expectations. It is a piece of history that he hopes to right as he gets a second chance to compete on the global stage.
“I really want to have fun and enjoy everything about the experience. Last year I put a lot of pressure on myself and that really took away from the experience,” he said. “I want to perform at the level that I know that I can and focus on enjoying myself.”
Leading up to the competition, Sanchez focused on the quality and consistency of his programs rather than pushing himself to add technical difficulty. The end goal is to put out the two best program of his young career.
“We’ve focused on quality,” Sanchez said. “The composition of the program — the quality in and out of every jump, improving my spins and steps, and refining the choreographic sequence. We’re planning to keep the layout that we had in Wichita. I don’t think change is really needed as of now. If I am able to complete my programs with this content, I think that I have a good shot of finishing in the top three.”
Looking ahead, Sanchez is planning to leverage what he has learned from his experiences this season to have an even better 2025–26.
“The hardest part has been balancing the season in terms of timing,” he said. “My Junior Grand Prix events were close together, and then I had a month off before my next competition. Understanding how to come down after those competitions and then be ready at peak level for the next was a challenge, but I think that I have learned a lot about what to expect in those situations.”
With the Olympic Winter Games on the horizon, Sanchez is hoping to put his name into the conversation for consideration to be selected to represent Team USA in Milano-Cortina, Italy.
“I think my debut at the U.S. Championships was the perfect timing,” he said. “With this under my belt, I feel like that there is a lot that I can do next season. If I am able to put the right pieces together and train them in the right way, I could definitely put out a good season.”
Once his season ends, Sanchez will be looking to reaching another milestone in his young career — finishing high school.
“I’m on track to finish in late May or early June,” he said. “I don’t know yet if I will take a gap year, but I will definitely be doing my first two years at a community college so that I can stay with my coaches. What comes after that is something that I wait to decide.”
