ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2025: Boston-based Americans Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov produce epic skate for home crowd

Sometimes gold is more of a feeling – and less of a placement.

It felt that way Thursday (27 March) evening inside TD Garden as the Boston-based pairs team of Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov delivered one of the most chilling moments of the entire ISU World Figure Skating Championships week, bringing their home crowd to its feet.

And nearly blowing the roof off of this famed arena’s ceiling.

“It means everything; all of the hard work we’ve been putting in,” a breathless Mitrofanov said after. “We feel happy to make everyone so proud… everyone from the Skating Club of Boston, everyone who was affected by the crash.”

Hearts have been heavy in the skating community since the tragic Flight 5342 crash at the end of January, which included lives lost of many skaters, coaches and family members in the U.S. – a collection of them from Boston.

Efimova and Mitrofanov held up photos of those Boston Club members lost in the crash, including 1994 pairs world champions, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, who were coaches at the club.

“It feels like a family; we’ve all come together. We’re very blessed to train there,” Mitrofanov said. “Probably half the crowd [tonight] was from Skating Club of Boston.”

Efimova and Mitrofanov were excellent from the start of their Je Suis Malade free skate, opening with a solid triple twist as they settled into the program. But from there they went from strength to strength, hitting one element at a time.

After Efimova was called for an under-rotation on the back end of their side-by-side jumping combination, they delivered in fierce form, nailing a throw triple loop and earning positive GOEs (Grades of Execution) on all three of their lifts.

It was their final lift that was most spellbinding. The crowd was on its feet seconds before the music stopped. Boston had just witnessed two of its own deliver on the world’s stage.

When did you realise how special the program was? they were asked.

“At the end,” a smiling Mitrofanov said.

“I forgot about the crowd, actually,” Efimova added. “Misha turned me around at the end to be like, ‘Watch!‘”

“This is a precious experience for us; to know that we have this within us,” Alisa continued. “I feel like the best is still to come.”