US Figure Skating Championships 2016: Saturday Results and Updated Schedule

Team USA’s best opened 2016 in style at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Minnesota at the midway mark before the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

This year’s event will be without defending champion and former Olympic gold medalist Jason Brown, who continues to recover from a back strain. But Max Aaron and Adam Rippon will headline an exciting event on the men's side.

Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds—all of whom competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia—are the top-tier talent to keep an eye out for on the women’s side.

Here is a look at Saturday's results:

Intermediate Dance – American Waltz and Fox Trot	Competitiors	Total Score
Intermediate Dance – Fox Trot	Competitiors	Score
Intermediate Ladies – Short Program	Competitiors	Score
Intermediate Men – Short Program	Competitiors	Score
Intermediate Pairs – Short Program	Competitiors	Score
Juvenile Boys – Free Skate	Competitiors	Score
Juvenile Dance – Hickory Hodown	Competitiors	Score
Juvenile Dance – Ten Fox	Competitiors	Score
Juvenile Girls – Free Skate	Competitiors	Score
First	Elizabeth Tkachenko, Alexei Kiliakov	22.69
Second	Isabella Amoia, Cory Fraiman	21.43
Third	Isabel Blahunka, Will Shawver	19.21
First	Elizabeth Tkachenko, Alexei Kiliakov	24.86
Second	Isabella Amoia, Cory Fraiman	22.00
Third	Isabel Blahunka, Will Shawver	21.84
First	Alysa Liu	40.24
Second	Jacqueline Lee	39.14
Third	Sophia Chouinard	39.02
First	Joseph Kang	45.14
Second	Alex Wellman	41.33
Third	Lucas Altieri	38.15
First	Jasmine Fendi, Joshua Fendi	36.59
Second	Eliana Secunda, Blake Eisenach	33.17
Third	Berit Cummings, Jabe Roberts	33.14
First	Ilia Malinin	58.06
Second	Samuel Mindra	54.41
Third	Maxim Zharkov	51.92
First	Layla Karnes, Jeffrey Chen	25.82
Second	Claire Cain, Andrei Davydov	25.16
Third	Maria Soldatova, Faddey Soldatov	24.96
First	Layla Karnes, Jeffrey Chen	25.61
Second	Maria Soldatova, Faddey Soldatov	25.19
Third	Claire Cain, Andrei Davydov	20.69
First	Stephanie Ciarochi	54.62
Second	Hanna Harrell	53.90
Third	Reagan Scott	53.33

And here is a look at the rest of the event's schedule:

Elizabeth Tkachenko, 9, and Alexei Kiliakov Jr., 10, each followed up their gold medal performances from a year ago with another clean sweep in the intermediate dance in the juvenile category Saturday. And the Fendi twins, Joshua and Jasmine, continued their march among the intermediate pairs.

In the juveniles, Ilia Malinin won the boys' free skate, while Layla Karnes and Jeffrey Chen won the Hickory Hoedown and Ten-Fox, and Stephanie Ciarochi won the girls' free skate.

U.S. Figure Skating congratulated the group of winners:

The marquee events will take place next weekend, with Gold, Aaron, Evan Bates and Madison Chock set to hit the rink. Perhaps the most enticing event will pit Wagner against Gold next Saturday.

"Obviously, that battle is always interesting. They're both seasoned competitors now and they're always pushing each other to get better," gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi said about the event, per Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. 

This early-year event will be pivotal, as it's the final qualifying competition before Team USA names its official team for the junior championships and Four Continents Figure Skating Championships. The Americans will also send three women, three men, two pairs teams and three ice-dance teams to the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in March in Boston based on this week's results.