Watching Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov on the ice is equal parts mesmerizing and terrifying.
The figure skating duo, who train out of the Skating Club of Boston, blend skating, dancing and a flirtation with gravity’s limits into something all their own.
Their performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita in January was four minutes of pure passion and intensity, leading the pair to clinch the title of national champions. It also earned them a ticket to the International Skating Union’s World Figure Skating Championships, which start at TD Garden this week.
“I’ve been always wanting to make it to the world team and obviously the Olympic team as well, but step-by-step, and so this is honestly a huge honor to be able to skate for Team USA, for the Skating Club of Boston and Boston,” said Mitrofanov, who is competing in the world championships for the first time. “I don’t think it gets better than that.”
But just a few days after their triumph at the U.S. championships, 67 people were killed when an Army helicopter collided with a passenger plane near the Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Among the passengers on the plane were club members Spencer Lane and Jinna Han, their moms Christine Lane and Jin Han, and coaches Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova.
The tragedy stopped everything for the team.
“Yeah, we came from nationals, we were at a high point,” Efimova said. “And all this happened and we got to the lowest point.”
Now, as the duo prepares to take the ice for one of the biggest moments of their professional lives, it comes with even more meaning for both skaters and the club.
The significance of the worlds to figure skating can’t be downplayed. Besides the Olympics, this is the sport’s biggest stage. The last time the event was in the U.S. in 2016, Boston was also the host; so to get it again was a bit of a coup, according to club CEO Doug Zeghibe.
“The world championships is the largest and most prestigious annual figure skating competition,” Zeghibe said. “And it’s really only outdone by the Olympics every four years.”
Thousands of people from around the world are expected to attend. And this year, with the 2026 Winter Olympics right around the corner, there’s an added layer of pressure for the athletes.
“Because your final placement will determine how many spots your country has at next year’s Olympics,” Zeghibe said.
Coach Olga Ganicheva, who works with both Efimova and Mitrofanov, said the intensity is hard to put into words.
“It’s extremely difficult,” she said. “World and Olympics, it’s the same people.”
Just thinking about the training it takes to get to this level makes you feel like you need an ice bath. Six days a week, an athlete puts in three to four hours on the ice — plus work away from the rink, like ballet and dance.
But that’s the kind of grind required for a sport that looks like it’s breaking the Matrix. As Ganicheva puts it, they have similar skills to gymnasts, just on blades.
“Honestly, I don’t know any sport where [you] combine so many expectations,” she said. “You have to look good, you have to be super athletic ... you have to be explosive, you have to be quick, you have to be plastic, you have to be beautiful and you have to also look like it’s so easy.”
Naturally, it is a discipline that requires an intense focus. So when the airline crash happened, there was some difficulty getting back to training as Efimova and Mitrofanov were still adjusting to no longer seeing those who died in the accident around the club.
“That has definitely been an adjustment that we’re still trying to get used to,” Mitrofanov told GBH News last month. “And that definitely effects mentally. So it is a balance between trying to not forget but trying to be able to focus on your training while also trying to process everything.”
Normally, when the skating club has members go to the ISU World Figure Skating Championships, there’s a big sendoff. But that’s not happening this year, with several still in mourning.
“But in a credit to [Efimova and Mitrofanov], I don’t think they cared about their moment,” he said. “Because they lost training partners and friends and kids who looked up to them. And I think that they were just feeling it so personally that didn’t even occur to them.”
Efimova, who will be competing in her second world championships, admits that being able to focus on skating has helped with the roller coaster of emotions.
And as she and Mitrofanov get ready to take the ice at TD Garden, she’s still feeling support from those the club lost.
“And I believe that they want us all to skate, they want us all to skate good, they want us to do the best,” she said. “So with these thoughts we will be there on the ice.”
