5 Pacific Northwest skaters take the ice at US Figure Skating Championships as 2026 Olympic race heats up

As the nation’s top figure skaters descend on St. Louis this week for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, most eyes are fixed on the athletes jockeying for a spot on the 2026 Olympic team. But five skaters from the Pacific Northwest are also competing on the sport’s biggest domestic stage.

While the championships are the final Olympic team qualifier, the event is also a showcase of the depth of U.S. figure skating — and a chance for Pacific Northwest athletes to be seen alongside the sport’s biggest names, including world champion and Olympic gold favorite Ilia Malinin.

Portland’s Samuel Mindra, 22, will perform in the Men’s Championship Free Skate on Saturday. This is his fourth national championship at the senior level, where he has quietly built a reputation as one of the most compelling performers.

“Out of all of the competitors, there’s something about his skating that’s just so entertaining and it’s just so joyful,” said 2014 Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon. Rippon looks forward to Mindra’s performance every year. “He is somebody who stopped me in my tracks with the way that he was performing and captivating,” Rippon said. “I cannot wait to watch him here.”

In the short program on Thursday night, Mindra fell on his triple lutz-triple toe loop combination jump earlier in the program, and upgraded his later triple loop into a combination to offset the mistake. As soon as the jumps were done, he brought the audience to their feet with an energetic step sequence to “It’s Time to Play” by Uzonov. Mindra said he felt the audience’s energy and delivered an energetic performance because “everyone’s here, might as well do it.”

Mindra was born in Beaverton and coaches at Lloyd Center Ice Rink in Portland.

This season, Mindra has been commuting three hours each way to Snoqualmie, Washington, after his coaches lost their ice time at Sherwood ice area.

“I miss my family, but the training’s going good when I’m up there,” said Mindra, who has nine siblings.

Mindra is looking forward to “committing to his jumps fully” in the free skate on Saturday. “I’m also looking forward to connecting with the audience as usual,” he said.

Mindra’s training mate, Michael Xie, 19, is from Camas, Washington, and started skating after receiving lessons for his tenth birthday. He began landing triple jumps by 13 and rising in the ranks of competitive skating with coaches Nani Tanaka and Mari Malama at Sherwood Ice Arena.

Xie’s short program to “Never Enough” by Loren Alllred had a mistake on his triple axel for a total score of 59.95 in the short program.

Xie didn’t expect to earn a spot at these nationals, so he’s just here for a last competition before retiring from competitive skating to focus on academics as a junior studying data science and linguistics at U.C. Berkeley.

“I’m happy I got one last chance to compete again,” Xie said. He is looking forward to skating his best in the free skate on Saturday, “I want to have some good memories to finish off with,” he said.

16–year-old Annika Chao grew up in Portland and began skating at the Lloyd Center Ice Rink. She clinched the silver medal in her final domestic competition at the junior level. She now trains in Anaheim, California, because of the limited opportunities for ice in the Portland area, but her grandparents still live in Portland.

Her second-place finish in the juniors women’s competition improved on her fifth-place finish in 2025. Next year she’ll move to the senior level in domestic competition. “I’m really glad I ended on a high note and I couldn’t be happier,” said Chao.

Wilsonville’s Ryan William Azadpour, 18, finished tenth in the junior men’s event earlier this week. It was his third trip on the national stage.

Samuel Mindra and Michael Xie compete at the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships Men’s Free Skate in St Louis, Missouri, this Saturday. You can find a full event schedule and where you can watch here.