2021 U.S. Figure Skating Championships
The 2021 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held from January 11–21, 2021 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance at the senior and junior levels. The results were part of the U.S. selection criteria for the 2021 World Championships. It would also have been part of the selection criteria for the 2021 World Junior Championships and the 2021 Four Continents Championship, but the events were cancelled. San Jose, which previously hosted the event in 1996, 2012 , and 2018, was announced as the original host in October 2019. On November 9, 2020, U.S. Figure Skating announced that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the event would be moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. After the success of 2020 Skate America's bubble environment in the same arena, USFSA implemented the same structure for the 2021 U.S. Championships. Las Vegas had never hosted the event prior to this year. San Jose was awarded the right to host the 2023 U.S. Championships. No audience was allowed to be present at the event. Qualifying. U.S. Figure Skating  announced a new qualifying structure, the U.S. Figure Skating Championship Series, to replace Regionals and Sectionals due to skaters' delayed training times resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. USFSA Championship Series. The Championship Series consists of eight events held in November and December 2020. Skaters can select up to two competitions and will then be advanced to Nationals or the High Performance Development Team based on their highest score, rather than their placement. A list of the skaters who qualified for either will be made available on December 7. On November 2, 2020, USFSA moved the Championship Series to a virtual  format. The following changes occurred as a result of the shift: Schedule. The Championship Series was scheduled to comprise the following competitions: ISP Points Challenge. Over the month of September, USFSA held the virtual ISP (International Selection Pool) Points Challenge to allow skaters to be judged by ISU-level judges. Skaters also competed for $200,000 in prize money. The competition was used to give senior skaters byes to Nationals and was used in the selection of future international assignments, as conditions allowed. Advancement to Nationals. Athletes and teams receiving a bye were required to register for the Championship Series . Although senior-level skaters were eligible to earn byes from the ISP Points Challenge, it did not award byes for junior-level skaters. Consideration for additional byes based on international-type events will be evaluated on a case by case basis. As of November 2, the Championships Series was replaced by a virtual qualifying competition, resulting in changes to the qualification structure. On November 9, it was announced only Junior and Senior events were to be skated, with Juvenile, Intermediate, and Novice skaters in either the High Performance Development Camp or the International Selection Pool allowed to skate up. No  Senior Ice Dance event would be held in the series due to a lack of entries. Only 12 Entries in the Junior Singles event would move forward to Nationals, along with 8 Junior Pairs and 10 Junior Ice Dance entries. Skaters already with byes were told not to enter, and they would receive more information. There will be no minimum score this year. Senior entries in the Singles events qualifying for Nationals remain the same - 9, but Pairs was lowered to 5. The results will be posted by December 21. Video submissions to the series will be available on public  format, including the US Figure Skating Fan Zone and Peacock Premium. Seniors. Singles skaters advanced to Nationals in the following ways: Pairs teams advanced to Nationals in the following ways: Ice dance teams advanced to Nationals in the following ways: There will be no alternates to the senior events. Juniors. Junior singles skaters advance to Nationals in the following ways: Junior pairs skaters advance to Nationals in the following ways: Junior ice dance skaters advance to Nationals in the following ways: The next two ranked skaters in each discipline will be alternates to the events. Entries. Seniors. U.S. Figure Skating  published a list of entries on December 22, 2020. Skaters either earned a bye based on their placement at the 2020 U.S. Championships and/or the ISP Points Challenge or qualified through the Championships Series. Juniors. U.S. Figure Skating published a list of entries on December 22, 2020. Skaters qualified through the Championships Series. Schedule. Due to the bubble environment, the Orleans Arena will host all practices and competitions. Senior events will be held from January 12–17 and Junior events from January 19–21. Also due to the bubble environment, there are specific entry/leaving dates for each of the Senior disciplines , with all Junior-level skaters arriving on January 18. Controversy. U.S. Figure Skating maintained strict COVID-19 protocols within the bubble, including asking skaters to don a mask immediately after leaving the ice, but appeared to apply inconsistent requirements to skaters who had come into contact with positive cases prior to the event. After three senior pairs teams training under the same coach came into contact with a COVID-positive case, they voluntarily chose to withdraw out of precaution, whereas senior ice dance team Christina Carreira / Anthony Ponomarenko appeared to be asked to withdraw by the federation. However, Carreira/Ponomarenko's  rinkmates and coaches were able to attend the competition, despite Carreira/Ponomarenko having come into contact with the positive case at their training rink. In addition, coach Tom Zakrajsek was unable to travel to the event due to contracting COVID-19 in early January and one of his students, Paige Rydberg, also tested positive upon arrival in Las Vegas; despite this, no contact tracing protocols were enacted, with the remaining athletes from Zakrajsek's training group and rink being allowed to compete. International team selections. World Championships. The World Championships are scheduled to be held from March 22–28 in Stockholm, Sweden . U.S. Figure Skating announced the ladies' team on January 16 and the men's, pairs, and ice dance teams on January 17. Four Continents Championships. The 2021 Four Continents Championships, to be held from February 9–14 in Sydney, Australia, were cancelled. World Junior Championships. The 2021 World Junior Championships were scheduled from March 1–7 in Harbin, China, but were cancelled on November 24. World Team Trophy. The World Team Trophy is scheduled to be held from April 15–18 in Osaka, Japan.