Jan 11 (Reuters) - Ilia Malinin unsurprisingly headlined the U.S. Olympic figure skating team that was announced on Sunday and included Maxim Naumov, whose parents died last January in a midair plane crash
that devastated the figure skating community.
Malinin, who was left off the Olympic team four years ago when compatriot Nathan Chen won gold, is a red-hot favourite for gold at the Milano Cortina Games next month having won every competition he has entered since the 2023 Grand Prix Final.
The 21-year-old Virginia native's most recent triumph came on Saturday in St. Louis when he cruised to a fourth consecutive national title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“It’s such an amazing feeling. I worked so hard, especially after those 2022 nationals," said Malinin. "It has such a huge meaning for me, being able to go there and follow in my parents’ footsteps, being two-time Olympians. It’s such an honor and I’m so excited for that experience.”
Naumov finished third behind Malinin and Andrew Torgashev on Saturday. Torgashev also made the team.
The 24-year-old Naumov was competing with a heavy heart in St. Louis where, after Thursday's short programme, he held up and kissed a picture of himself as a child holding hands with his parents.
He was asked what he had thought about after being named to the team.
“My parents, what we talked about and how much we discussed this through my entire life, and how much it means to us, and how much the Olympics is part of our family," said Naumov. "I thought of them immediately. I wish they could be here to experience it with me but I do feel their presence and they are with me.”
Former world figure skating pairs champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova died when a plane carrying some of the country's most promising young figure skaters, as well as parents and coaches, crashed into a U.S. Army helicopter over Washington D.C.
Husband-and-wife duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who captured a record seventh national ice dance crown on Saturday, were also among the three ice dance teams that earned a ticket to Milano Cortina.
Chock and Bates helped the Americans to win a team gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics but just missed the podium in the ice dance and settled for fourth. The other ice dance teams are Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik plus Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Amber Glenn, fresh off winning a third consecutive U.S. title, was also added to the team along with reigning world champion Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito.
The team also included pairs Ellie Kam and Daniel O’Shea as well as Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
