Figure skater Alisa Efimova's Olympic dream hinges on last-minute US citizenship approval

ST. LOUIS — Alisa Efimova stepped off the ice and slipped into a jacket, an American flag patch on her left sleeve impossible to miss, after a brilliant performance with pairs partner Misha Mitrofanov at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday night.

Efimova hopes to be representing the stars and stripes at the Milan Cortina Olympics next month.

But time is running out.

One of the Olympic requirements is that competitors are citizens of the nations they represent. And while the 28-year-old Mitrofanov was born in the U.S., the 26-year-old Efimova was born in Finland — she didn't come to the States on a full-time basis until 2023, when they became partners — leaving her in bureaucratic limbo while the American government decides her fate.

Efimova and Mitrofanov were married in February 2024. She had a green card approved in July of that year and has been seeking a waiver of the required three-year waiting period for citizenship.

The finalized U.S. squad for the Winter Games will be announced on Sunday.

''We're hoping maybe a last-minute miracle might happen,'' Mitrofanov said.

''Most of the season has been great. To be honest, the last few weeks, it's been more difficult than normal. We've had to do a little more paperwork. There's been a great push for it,'' Mitrofanov said. ''Hopefully it happens, but it is out of our control. All we can do is focus on our training, focus on what we do, which is on the ice.''

They were brilliant on the Enterprise Center ice on Wednesday night.

Efimova and Mitrofanov opened their short program with a beautiful triple twist, then Mitrofanov bent low to hang on through their side-by-side triple toe loops. Their throw triple loop was spot-on, and both of them finished by pumping their fists in the air.

''Maybe two days before," Efimova said, ''I couldn't shut my thought process down. I was thinking about the competition, about the skate. But as soon as I entered the rink today, this is a space I know pretty well, and I just trusted the routine I'm used to before the competition. It doesn't erase all the nerves. But I think what I'm happy about is we were still able to skate well.''

Efimova and Mitrofanov scored a season-best 75.31 points to put a healthy distance between themselves and a quartet of pursuers, led by the duo of Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy, all of whom are also vying for one of the two U.S. pairs spots at the Winter Games.

Efimova and Mitrofanov's crisp, clean program Wednesday night stood in stark contrast to many of their closest rivals.

Shin and Nagy were second with a season-best 67.67 points, but that still left the relatively new pairing nearly eight points off the lead. Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. champions two years ago, were in third with 67.13 points, even after she fell on their side-by-side triple salchows and stepped out on their throw triple loop.

Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, who are in the running for one of the Olympic spots, struggled through a disastrous program.

Chan doubled their planned triple toe loop, then somehow hit the ice before their throw triple loop — and landed hard on the ice again once they did try the element. By the time the music ended, Chan had a look of total shock on her face, Howe shook his head, and their score of 59.29 points left them with a long climb ahead in Friday night's free skate.

At least they control their own fate where the Olympics are concerned.

''Of course it's in the back of our minds,'' Mitrofanov said, standing in a hallway just off the ice. ''However, our focus has been on skating. It's not like we're thinking on it every day, in all honesty. Even going into nationals, we knew a lot of questions like this would come up, and we wanted to take them head-on, and be like, ‘Hey, this is who we are. This is how we skate.'''

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