US national skating champions barred from Olympic competition due to passport delay
Alisa Efimova had an American flag on her warmup jacket, but it wasn’t the one that mattered most: her passport.
Efimova and her husband and skating partner, Misha Mitrofanov, won the U.S. pairs national championship for the second consecutive year, but they won’t be heading to the Winter Olympics in Milan. Despite their top performance at last weekend’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Efimova is not yet an American citizen, making the pair ineligible to compete.
“Yes, we didn’t make it, but we don’t see that as a failure,” Mitrofanov said Wednesday at a send-off at the Skating Club of Boston for the rink’s three Olympians: U.S. bronze medalist Max Naumov and the pairs team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe. “This was an opportunity. It may not have worked out, but so many great things have come from it, and we are very happy moving forward.”
Mitrofanov, a U.S. citizen by birth, teamed up with Efimova after she moved to the U.S. full-time in 2023. Efimova, born in Finland, previously represented Russia and Germany in international competition. She received a green card that year but faces a three-year waiting period before obtaining citizenship. Their home rink worked with U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to try to speed the process, leaving the pair hoping for a “last-minute miracle,” Mitrofanov said. That hope faded as the Olympic roster was finalized Saturday, before the national gala celebration on Sunday.
The two U.S. pairs spots for Milan went to silver medalists Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and fourth-place finishers Chan and Howe. U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell acknowledged the situation, saying, “There are sometimes rules … and this is not the fun part.”
Efimova and Mitrofanov will instead compete at next week’s Four Continents in Beijing, where Olympic eligibility rules do not apply, and later prepare for the world championships in Prague. Mitrofanov noted that when the pair first teamed up, the Olympics had always seemed like a long shot because of paperwork, but their career progression brought them closer to that goal.
Despite missing Milan, the pair is already looking ahead. Efimova and Mitrofanov remain motivated by the possibility of the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. “Four years is a very long time. For now, we’re just thinking of how to approach the next season,” Efimova said. “If we make it in four years to the Olympics, I think it would be even more valuable, even more precious. So that’s definitely a motivation.”
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