United States Figure Skating Championships

The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition organized by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is often referred to informally as "Nationals".

Skaters compete in three levels: Senior, Junior, and Novice. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: Ladies singles, Men's singles, Pairs, and Ice dance. Medals are given out in four colors: gold (first), silver (second), bronze (third), and pewter (fourth).

In addition to determining the United States champions, the event is used to determine the U.S. teams for the World Figure Skating Championships, World Junior Figure Skating Championships, the Four Continents Championships, and de-facto for the Winter Olympics.

Usage note

Unlike in other countries, such as Japan and Russia, where "Junior Nationals" refers to the National Championships on the Junior level, in the United States, Junior-level skaters compete at the National Championships, sometimes referred to as "Big Nationals". Juvenile and Intermediate-level skaters are the skaters who compete at the "Junior Nationals" in the United States. However, it is a common parlance to refer to the Junior-level competition at Nationals as "Junior Nationals" and can cause confusion when Juvenile and Intermediate level skaters receive local media attention.

Another usage note: the "Junior National Champion" is a skater who won Nationals on the Junior level, not a skater who won an event at the Junior National Championships.

The Junior Nationals were previously called the Junior Olympics.

Qualifying

Qualification for the U.S. Championships begins at one of nine regional competitions. The regions are New England, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Upper Great Lakes, Eastern Great Lakes, Southwestern, Northwest Pacific, Central Pacific, and Southwest Pacific. The top four finishers in each regional advance to one of three sectional competitions (Eastern, Midwestern, and Pacific Coast). Skaters who place in the top four at sectionals advance to the U.S. Championships.

The top five finishers in each discipline from the previous year are given byes to the U.S. Championships, as are any skaters who qualify for the Junior or the Senior Grand Prix Final. Skaters are also given byes through a qualifying competition if they are assigned to an international event during the time that qualifying event is to take place. For example, if a skater is competing at an event at the same time as his or her regional competition, that skater would receive a bye to sectionals. If a skater is competing at an event at the same time as his or her sectional competition, that skater would qualify for the national event without having had to compete at a sectional championship.

Skaters may not compete in the same discipline at different levels in the same National Championship, but may compete in different disciplines at different levels. For example, a skater could not compete in both the junior ladies and senior ladies event, but could compete in both the junior ladies and the novice pairs event. Skaters are also not permitted to regress a level; if a skater has competed in senior ladies, she may not compete in junior ladies in any subsequent year.

There are no age limits to competing. The terms "novice", "junior", and "senior" refer to the level of skating, not the age of the competitors. Therefore, competitors on the senior level do not have to be old enough to compete internationally on the senior level, and competitors on the junior level do not have to be young enough to compete internationally on the junior level.

Medalists

Men

Ice Dancing

ee also

* List of national championships in figure skating

References

* [http://main.put.com/Skate/ Skate Central]
* [http://www.pairsonice.net/competitions.php?event=11 Pairs on Ice: Pairs Results]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=24598 1998 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=25172 1999 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=24910 2000 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=24321 2001 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=18254 2002 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=18583 2003 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=19152 2004 Championships]
* [http://www.usfigureskating.org/event_details.asp?id=21252 2005 Championships]

External links

* [http://stlouis2006.usfigureskating.org/ 2006 Championships]
* [http://spokane2007.usfigureskating.org/ 2007 Championships]