Skating pair took title at U.S. nationals but can't compete in Olympics after passport delay

NORWOOD, Mass. (AP) — Alisa Efimova had an American flag on her warmup jacket but not where she needed it most: in her passport.

The two-time reigning pairs national champion and her partner — and husband — Misha Mitrofanov are heading overseas for their next competition, but it won’t be to Milan for the Olympics. Despite skating well enough at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships last weekend to qualify for the Winter Games, they are ineligible because Efimova isn’t an American citizen.

“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 pair of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

“Hey, this was an opportunity,” Mitrofanov said. “It may not have worked out. But so many great things have come from it that we are very happy moving forward.”

Mitrofanov is a U.S. citizen by birth, but Efimova was born in Finland and also has represented Russia and Germany in international competition. She moved to the States full-time in 2023 when they became partners, and she received a green card that year but faced a three-year waiting period for citizenship.

Their home rink worked with U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to speed up the process, and the pair competed at nationals still hoping for what Mitrofanov called “a last-minute miracle." But the skaters weren’t able to sort out the red tape before the Olympic roster was submitted Saturday, and they were headed home by the time a gala celebration took place Sunday.

The two U.S. pairs spots for Milan went to Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, the silver medalists at nationals, and Chan and Howe, who finished fourth. U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said after announcing the team — without the two-time champions — that “there are sometimes rules … and this is not the fun part.”

Without Efimova and Mitrofanov on the ice, the Americans still will be favored to defend their gold medal in the team competition that opens the figure skating program, just not as heavily. The U.S. was not expected to compete for a pairs medal.

Efimova and Mitrofanov will instead head to Beijing for next week’s Four Continents, where the field will be made up mostly of non-Olympians, and then prepare for the world championships in Prague. The rules governing the International Skating Union are different from the International Olympic Committee, so Efimova does not have to have citizenship to represent the U.S. there.

“Whenever we first started as a team, we didn’t know whether or not the Olympics is even a possibility. We knew it was a long shot because of the paperwork,” Mitrofanov said. “The more we progressed with our skating career, the closer we got to that opportunity."

“There were so many people who messaged us and reached out to us wanting to support us,” he said. “So, for us, we’re very grateful.”

And there's still a chance for the 2030 Games in the French Alps. Efimova will be 30 and Mitrofanov will be 32.

“We’re thinking about it,” she said. “Four years is a very long time. For now, I think we’re just thinking of how to approach the next season, because this situation, and after these nationals, it left us with some kind of hunger to make it.

“(If) we make it in four years to the Olympics, I think it would be even more valuable, even more precious,” Efimova said. “So that’s definitely a motivation.”

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AP Sports Writer David Skretta contributed to this story from Kansas and Missouri.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics