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≡ EFIMOVA IN STARS & STRIPES? ≡
Born in Finland in 1999, Alisa Efimova was accepted into a Russian figure skating training group in 2013 and from 2014 to 2020, skated for Russia in Pairs with Aleksander Korovin, winning the Pairs silver at Skate America in 2018.
Korovin retired and Efimova teamed up with German Ruben Blommaert and began skating for Germany in 2022. They placed fourth at the 2023 European Championships, but Blommaert retired in 2023.
That led her to look for a new skating partner and she got that and more in 2023, when she accepted a week-of-training try-out – via Instagram – with American Misha Mitrofanov, who she had met previously at a Russian training camp when he was skating with former partner Audrey Lu.
Efimova and Mitrofanov paired perfectly on the ice, working with coaches from The Skating Club of Boston and qualified into the 2024 U.S. nationals in Columbus, Ohio, placing second overall and winning the Free Skate after less than a year together.
They also got married in February of 2024!
Following the one-year waiting period for transfer of allegiance under International Skating Union rules, they won the U.S. title in 2025 in Wichita, Kansas, moving from third to first during the Free Skate, and placed sixth at the ISU World Championships held in Boston in March.
They are the top American Pairs entry in the weakest event for the U.S. team, which scored World Championships golds in the other events at the Boston Worlds: Ilia Malinin (men), Alysia Liu (women) and Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Ice Dance).
So, according to Efimova, writing in a post for The Skating Club of Boston:
“As I reflect on my journey that brought me to Misha and the United States, one of the biggest things that stands out for me besides Misha is what it means to be part of a community. Misha’s family and The Skating Club of Boston took me in as their own family right from my arrival. Nowhere had I seen how strangers can quickly become friends, and give you so much support and care. And how a community can actually become a family too. Since I became family with Misha and first stepped inside The Skating Club of Boston, I have always been home while being away from my birth home in Finland.
“The sincere striving in the attitude and approach of the Americans to be the best in the world is the other thing that has really impressed me from living here. I see it in the skating club, within U.S. Figure Skating, my fellow Team USA athletes, and among the many fans of figure skating. The supportive network and expertise that U.S. Figure Skating and the Team USA provides is very powerful, which shows through every person connected with the organization. For example, U.S. Figure Skating officials are volunteers, yet they regularly travel to watch and monitor our training sessions in Boston. They share their knowledge, feedback and critiques, as well as their passion for the sport. They sacrifice their free time for the possibility for us to improve; and to push us to become best in the world.
“Also, the loyalty of figure skating fans in the United States is the strongest I have seen anywhere in the world. I never knew that people just watching the sport can wish you that much success. Americans really care! I first experienced that with the standing ovation after our free skate at this year’s U.S. Championships. I realized that when we are on the ice, we are not only representing ourselves, we are also representing all the people who stand behind us. We are representing this whole country. That is both meaningful and powerful to me.”
But her path to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games is blocked:
“The U.S. Olympic team for figure skating will be decided in early January 2026 after the U.S. Championships in St. Louis, MO. At the moment, Misha and I will not be eligible to make the team because I don’t yet have a U.S. passport and must currently wait 20 more months as of this December’s USOPC deadline.
“Making the Olympic team would not only be a dream come true for me, it would also be my greatest chance to give back to the country which has become my new home. And to help bring Olympic gold to the United States with deep gratitude and pride.”
Thus, The Skating Club of Boston is campaigning for help for Efimova and Mitrofanov to be able to compete to make the U.S. team for Milan Cortina:
“Alisa obtained her United States Green Card approval on July 27, 2024. She is now seeking a waiver of the full-three year waiting period for a U.S. passport so as to be eligible for the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Olympic Team.
“According to the U.S. Figure Skating leadership, Alisa and Misha would be the final winning element of the U.S. Olympic Team to afford it the best possible opportunity of winning the gold medal in the Figure Skating Team event at the 2026 Winter Games. This was proven with their performance at April’s World Team Trophy event in Tokyo, Japan. As a team, the United States not only won the competition, they did it with the highest team score in the history of the competition.”
This is not going to be easy, as the U.S. generally has not advanced such citizenship requests in the past, and time is running out.
But if the Trump Administration and the U.S. Congress want to celebrate a love story with the potential for a happy (gold medal) ending, and for Efimova, the right partner on the ice (and in her life) on the third try, this is a pretty good candidate.
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