Above photo credit: Getty Images
By Abby Farrell
Five Team USA athletes are in medal position in three disciplines after the first day of competition at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2025 in Seoul, South Korea.
Three-time Four Continents champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates and the reigning bronze medalists Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea finished second in the rhythm dance and pairs short program, respectively, while Jimmy Ma placed second in the men's short program.
Chock and Bates’ performance to "Hawaii 5-0," "Let’s Twist Again" and "Rock Around the Clock" by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers; "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees; "Blame it on the Boogie" by The Jackson 5; Y.M.C.A." by the Village People; and "Last Dance" by Donna Summer opened with Level 4 sequential twizzles and concluded with a Level 4 rotational lift. Their skate earned highest marks for its midline step sequence.
The 2025 U.S. ice dance champions finished with 86.21 points, just 1.01 points behind Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada who currently sit in first place.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko finished just outside of the top three in fourth place on day one, scoring 79.30 points. The reigning Four Continents ice dance bronze medalists executed a Level 4 sequential twizzle and Level 4 rotational lift in their rhythm dance set to "Rip It Up" and "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard and "I Just Want to Make Love to You" by Etta James.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik’s performance to a Bee Gees medley featured a Level 4 sequential twizzle and Level 4 rotational lift that contributed 18.69 combined points toward a segment score of 74.63.
Leading the way for the U.S. in the pairs event, Kam and O’Shea secured a second-place finish in the pairs short program segment with a new international personal best score of 70.32.
The reigning Four Continents bronze medalists are within reach of a second consecutive podium finish at the event after earning Level 4 marks on five elements, including a triple twist lift at the beginning of their program worth 7.37 points. Their skate to "Rain, in Your Black Eyes" by Ezio Bosso also earned positive grades of execution on all but one element.
Also representing Team USA were Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, who placed fifth with a new international personal best short program score of 67.59.
The 2025 U.S. champions skated to "Ameksa” and ”Uccen” by Taalbi Brothers and executed four Level 4 elements, including a Level 4 backward outside edge death spiral and Level 4 pairs lift that were both awarded over five points each. Their triple loop throw tallied 6.14 points.
Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy ended day one of their Four Continents debut in 10th, collecting 51.70 points. Their highest scoring element was a Level 4 lift at the end of the program.
In the men’s event, Ma will enter Saturday’s free skate in second place after earning a short program score of 82.52.
His skate to "Mexican Phonk Eki" by NUEKI and TOLCHONOV opened with a quadruple toe loop followed by a triple Axel, which collected 9.50 and 9.83 points, respectively. Ma’s highest scoring element was a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination worth 11.45 points, and he also received positive GOEs on all but one element.
Tomoki Hiwatashi placed 15th with a score of 65.88 and Camden Pulkinen finished 0.09 points behind Hiwatashi in 16th, earning a score of 65.79.
Tomorrow, the first medals of the competition will be awarded following the pairs free skate and the women will take the ice for the first time for the short program in Seoul.
For full results from the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships 2025, click here.
