National spotlight fixed on Wichita this week for US Figure Skating Championships
Olympic gold medalists, world champions and the best figure skaters in the country will be hosted by Wichita when the U.S. Figure Skating Championships come to Intrust Bank Arena this week.
Not only will Wichita be mentioned several times on national television — with NBC airing more than 40 hours of live coverage across its networks — but past championship events have generated an estimated $8 million in economic impact for host markets.
Past championships have been held in cities like Boston, Detroit and Las Vegas, so to bring the most prestigious event for U.S. Figure Skating to Wichita, the smallest market to host in 15 years, was a massive victory for Visit Wichita.
“For them to choose Wichita and put us in the national spotlight for an event like this says a lot about our city,” said Josh Howell, who is in charge of sports development for Visit Wichita. “It’s the reason why we continue to land big, national events. It’s a snowball effect. The more success we have with events like this, the more these other national governing bodies that we meet with are going to say, ‘Why can’t I bring my event here? I think I can have future success in Wichita.’ That’s why it’s huge for Wichita.”
Here is everything Wichitans need to know about the championship event coming to town this week.
Who are the figure skating stars to watch for in Wichita?
More than 180 athletes in total will compete over the span of six days, as U.S. champions will be crowned in the women’s, men’s, pairs and ice dance events at the junior, novice and championship levels.
Headlining the competition is Ilia Malinin, the 20-year-old who is shaping up to be the gold medal favorite for the 2026 Winter Olympics. He is the reigning world champion, the 2-time defending U.S. national champion and recently won his second straight Grand Prix Final title. Nicknamed the “Quad God,” Malinin is the only skater in history to land a quad axel, which requires a skater to rotate their body four and a half times in the air and is regarded as the most difficult jump in the sport.
The men’s championship field also includes Jason Brown, a former U.S. champion (2015) who represented the United States in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Meanwhile, the women’s championship field features three former champions who have accounted for five of the last seven titles. The reigning champion is Amber Glenn, who also recently captured the 2025 Grand Prix Final title, while 19-year-old Alysa Liu (2019, 2020 U.S. champion) and Bradie Tennell (2018, 2021 U.S. champion) both carry Olympic experience.
But the most accomplished skaters competing in Wichita will be in ice dance, as the partnership of Madison Chock and Evan Bates won an Olympic gold medal in the team event in 2022 with the United States. The duo has competed in the last three Olympics, won the last two world championships, the last two Grand Prix Final titles and will be looking for their sixth (and fourth straight) U.S. championship this week.
In fact, all four U.S. champions from 2024 will be in Wichita, including the defending pairs champion, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea.
Why Wichita could be a preview of the 2026 Olympics
Not only will U.S. championships be settled this week, but the stop in Wichita kicks off an Olympic push for the best figure skaters in the United States.
While the focus this week is in contending for a U.S. title, skaters are also trying to round into form for the World Figure Skating Championships taking place in Boston on March 25-30. It is the first time the event will be held in the United States since 2016.
The World Championships take on an even larger significance in an Olympic qualifying year, as the results in Boston will determine who qualifies for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
“What an honor it is for Wichita to be able to have the best skaters in the country, if not the world, competing right here,” said Jolene Taylor, president of the Wichita Figure Skating Club. “This competition doesn’t get to go everywhere, so we’re very lucky to have it here in Kansas for the first time. Some of these skaters will be in the next Olympics and they are going to do things that will blow your mind. Even if you’re not a figure skating fan, it’s definitely something that people aren’t going to want to miss.”
Even the championship-level skaters themselves have acknowledged the importance Wichita plays in their ultimate goal.
“Of course it’s in the back of my brain, but there’s so many steps before (the Olympics) that are so important,” said Amber Glenn, the defending women’s U.S. Champion. “So yes, it’s in my brain, but I’ve got to do ‘Step A’ before I can get to ‘Step B.’ I don’t know what things will look like in a year, so all I know is my plan right now is for nationals and for worlds. I know as long as I keep my trajectory, it’ll be something that I’m capable of doing.”
How Visit Wichita landed U.S. Figure Skating Championships
After 2024 was the busiest year in the history of Visit Wichita in terms of quantity, the first three months of 2025 feature two of the most quality events the organization has helped bring to Wichita.
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships will be followed in two months by March Madness at Intrust Bank Arena, as each event has been years in the making.
To bring U.S. Figure Skating’s ultimate prize to Wichita, it began with demonstrating Wichita could handle and excel at hosting sectional championships in 2018, 2020 and 2024.
“You have to build up trust and develop relationships with folks in U.S. Figure Skating,” said Visit Wichita’s Howell. “We hosted some of their smaller events and proved that Wichita can support events like this and can host it and do it well. That’s what led us to the big one.”
A key to bringing marquee events like this one back to Wichita? Local support.
“Figure skating might not be a sport that everybody is familiar with, but even if locals can just make it out for one day or one session, that would be huge,” Howell said. “This is something that doesn’t happen every year, the chance to watch Olympic skaters right here in our backyard is something that we hope locals will take advantage of.”
What kind of impact can this week have on Wichita figure skating?
Kansas isn’t exactly what one might consider a figure skating hub.
But enthusiasts in Wichita have been around for nearly a century, as the Wichita Figure Skating Club was established in 1932. The current headquarters is the Wichita Ice Center and president Jolene Taylor says the club’s membership fluctuates between 60 and 100 with ages ranging from small children to retired seniors.
Taylor hopes to see attendance grow following exposure to the best of the sport. The easiest way to pick up ice skating is to take a learn-to-skate class at the Wichita Ice Center.
“You hear a lot of successful skaters talk about their first experience watching it on TV or in person and that’s what got them hooked,” Taylor said. “But skating is actually a sport that has something for everyone, whether you want to be an Olympian or just want to be a recreational, casual skater. It’s something you can do for your whole life. So hopefully people will watch it this week and maybe they’ll get hooked.”
That’s how Amber Glenn, the reigning women’s U.S. champion, was introduced to the sport in her hometown of Plano, Texas.
“People didn’t really think of Texas as a figure skating hub either,” Glenn told The Eagle. “But over the last decade or two, it’s really progressed and we’ve seen a lot of talent come out of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I really do think the national championships being in someone’s hometown that isn’t necessarily a skating-focused community can really spark some interest. That’s what happened with me and it snowballed and I feel like the national championships could do the same thing in Wichita to have people come out and experience figure skating.”
That’s certainly the level of impact U.S. Figure Skating has seen its championship event have on other host cities.
“We are incredibly excited for the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships to begin in Wichita,” U.S. Figure Skating president Sam Auxier said in a statement to The Eagle. “This event features the top skaters in the United States and the World as they compete to be crowned a U.S. champion. In bringing our most prestigious national event to Wichita for the first time, we hope to expose a new audience to the outstanding athleticism and artistry that figure skating has to offer.”
How to watch the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita
Novice and junior titles will be crowned on Tuesday and Wednesday, while championship events begin Thursday with U.S. champions being crowned on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. All-session, weekend and single-session tickets are available to purchase through Select-A-Seat.
For fans who want to watch coverage of the event, NBC will be carrying live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. Friday, 1:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The USA Network will also feature coverage beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, 5 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday. All events will be livestreamed on Peacock.
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