The U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships are an annual figure skating competition organized by U.S. Figure Skating to crown the junior-level national champions of the United States. Medals are awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. The first U.S. Championships for junior-level skaters were held in 1918 in New York City, and featured the men's and women's events. Skaters may qualify for the national championships by competing at either the Pacific Coast Sectional Finals, Eastern Sectional Finals, Midwestern Sectional Finals, U.S. Ice Dance Finals, or U.S. Pairs Finals. The results of the competition are among the criteria used to determine the American teams to the World Junior Championships. They have been held without interruption since 1920.
Beginning with the 1988 U.S. Championships, pewter medals have been awarded to the fourth-place finishers in each event. Compulsory figures, which had been a required element of men's and women's single skating since the championships began, were retired after the 1990 U.S. Championships, although they continued as a separate event for men and women from 1991 to 1999, when they were retired altogether.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 U.S. Championships were still held, albeit in a sealed arena with no live audience present. The sound of an audience was piped into the arena, seats were filled with fan cutouts, and the athletes' friends and families could be seen cheering them on via strategically-placed monitors.
Three days after the 2025 U.S. Championships, a group of twenty-eight skaters, coaches, and family members flying to Washington, D.C., were killed when their airplane collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River. Coaches Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, the parents of U.S. skater Maxim Naumov, who had just won the pewter medal in the senior men's event, were among those killed.
The 2027 U.S. Championships are scheduled to be held from January 5 to 10 at the Maverik Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Contents
Qualification
Beginning with the 2022–23 season, skaters qualify for the U.S. Championships by competing in the National Qualifying Series (NQS), a series of regional competitions running from mid-July to early October. Skaters compete in one of three sections (Pacific Coast, Midwestern, or Eastern) based on geographic location. The highest-placed skaters and teams across all competitions advance to the NQS finals (Pacific Coast Sectional Finals, Eastern Sectional Finals, Midwestern Sectional Finals, U.S. Ice Dance Finals, or U.S. Pairs Finals). The top juvenile, intermediate, and novice skaters are invited to the National High Performance Development Camp, while junior and senior skaters advance to the U.S. Championships. Athletes may also receive a bye to the NQS finals by being assigned to and competing at an international assignment from an approved list.
Advancement to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships:
Single skating: 18 spots available
Athletes receiving a bye
Top two from each section, plus the next best scores nationwide until the maximum number of entrants is met
Pair skating: 12 spots available
Athletes receiving a bye
Next best scores from the NQS Finals until the maximum number of entrants is met
Ice dance: 15 spots available
Athletes receiving a bye
Next best scores from the NQS Finals until the maximum number of entrants is met
Skaters can earn the right at the U.S. Championships without qualifying through a sectional championship by accomplishing any of the following:
Medalists
Compulsory figures
Competitions in compulsory figures were held for the last time at the 1999 U.S. Championships in Salt Lake City.