Photo credit Melanie Heaney/U.S. Figure Skating
Brooke Tufts (North Jersey FCS) stood on top of the podium in the senior combined event for the first time since 2023 to clinch her third senior title and Violet Yan (Washington FSC) took home the top prize in the junior combined event for the first time at the 2025 National Solo Dance Final in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Additionally, Amal Israilova (Palm Beach FSC) successfully defended her title in the international solo pattern dance while newcomer Jessica Burns (Ann Arbor FSC) captured the gold in gold solo pattern dance. Mina Esfandiari (All Year FSC) and Shin Lei Case (Dallas FSC) topped the field in gold-international shadow dance.
Below are results from the senior combined, junior combined, gold pattern dance, international pattern dance and the gold-international shadow dance events.
Senior Combined
In her swan song performance at the Final, Tufts came out on top to win her third career senior combined title with a total score of 198.03. Tufts recently announced her plans to hang up her skates following the Épinal Solo Ice Dance International in Epinal, France, later this year, with the intent to transition to coaching.
Skating to “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’” in the rhythm dance, Tufts opened with a Level 4 spread eagle edge element. She also earned a Level 4 distinction and a program-high 11.97 points for her pattern dance type step sequence toward the end of her program for a segment score of 81.52.
Leading going into the free dance, Tufts earned Level 4s on her two edge elements, her solo twizzles and her dance spin in her performance to “Swan Lake.” At 14.50 points, her spread eagle and spiral edge element combination was the highest-scoring element of the event, contributing to a free dance score of 116.51.
Israilova, who took home two medals in Utah with gold in international solo pattern dance, improved upon her bronze in this event last year to capture the silver medal this year and 195.25 points in total. Skating to “Knock on Wood” by Maii Stewart in the rhythm dance, she received Level 4s on her spread eagle edge element as well as for her sequential twizzles for a score of 80.78.
In the free dance, her skate collected 114.47 points thanks to her Level 3 circular step sequence that was awarded 11.59 points and Level 4 solo twizzles worth 9.74 points.
Finishing just 0.13 points behind Israilova, Lucas Appel (Florida Everblades FSC) captured bronze – his fourth straight podium finish. The 2024 senior combined champion earned 79.67 points for his rhythm dance, which included a program component score of 35.17 – the highest of the event. In the free dance, Appel finished second in the segment thanks to scoring Level 4 marks on four elements for a segment score of 115.45 and a total score of 195.12.
Dessie Hoewing-Moxley secured pewter with 76.64 points in the rhythm dance, 107.83 points in the free dance and 184.47 points overall.
Junior Combined
Violet Yan was victorious in the junior combined event, taking home her first win. Improving on her silver medal finish from 2024, Yan ran away with the competition, winning both segments and finishing with a score of 155.71, 9.2 points ahead of second place.
Yan was also awarded the inaugural Sasha Kirsanov Trophy, presented in honor of the beloved solo dance coach Alexandr “Sasha” Kirsanov, who was one of 28 members of the figure skating community who perished on Jan. 29, 2025, in a plane crash near Washington, D.C.
Yan bookended her rhythm dance set to “Le Freak (2018 Remaster) (Dimitri from Paris Remix)” by CHIC with her strongest elements – a Level 3 midline step sequence worth 11.07 points and a spiral edge element followed by sequential twizzles that were both awarded Level 4s to tally 64.00 points for the segment.
Building on her momentum in the free dance, her skate to “The Labor of Creation” by Dom Pérignon and Lady Gaga opened with four consecutive Level 4 elements for a day two score of 91.71.
Competing for the University of Delaware FSC, Evan Bertz stood on the second step of the podium. He opened his rhythm dance to an Elvis Presley medley with Level 4 sequential twizzles that collected 9.14 points and ended on a high note with his highest-scoring element – a Level 3 midline step sequence – that contributed 10.55 points to a segment score of 61.75.
His free dance to “The Ballad of Sweeny Todd” and “My Friends” from Sweeny Todd featured four Level 4 elements and a Level 3 diagonal step sequence that collected 10.29 points. He received a free dance score of 84.76 and 146.51 points as a whole.
Marilynn McCoy-Sprung (Wisconsin FSC) placed third with 59.66 points in the rhythm dance, 84.08 points in the free dance and 143.74 points overall. In the free dance, she collected over 13 points for her Level 4 spiral edge element and spread eagle edge element combination.
Jessica Burns (Ann Arbor FSC) placed fourth for her second medal, scoring 55.40 on day one and 78.45 points on day two for a combined score of 133.85.
International Solo Pattern Dance
In the international solo pattern dance event – the highest level in solo pattern dance – athletes must first compete a tea-time foxtrot followed by a Finnstep variation.
Israilova successfully defended her title in this event, marking her second consecutive year standing on top of the podium. In the tea-time foxtrot portion, Israilova scored a combined 10.53 points on her first sectional dance sequence toward a score of 34.67 points for her skate to “Singin’ in the Rain” from Singin' in the Rain.
On the second day of competition, Israilova maintained her lead with 33.54 points in the Finnstep variation thanks in part to a 10.10-point first pattern dance sequence to claim the top prize by a margin of 7.85 points with a score of 68.21.
Shin Lei Case (Dallas FSC) earned the silver medal – her highest finish in this event. With the silver, Case has medaled every year she has competed in the event since 2021. She kicked off the competition with a third-place finish in the tea-time foxtrot, scoring 29.32 points for her skate to “Pennies from Heaven” by Paul Anka.
In the Finnstep variation, Case moved up from third to second with her skate to “It Don’t Mean a Thing” by Club des Belugas by scoring 31.04 points for a total score of 60.36.
In a tight race, the final two spots of the podium were determined by only 0.13 points.
Bertz, competing in his first of two events of the weekend, clinched bronze with a total score of 57.08. He garnered 28.70 and 28.38 points in the tea-time foxtrot and Finnstep variation segments, respectively.
Jordan Brenne (Greater Kalamazoo Skating Academy) claimed the final step of the podium with segment scores of 31.26 and 25.75 for a total score of 57.01.
Gold Solo Pattern Dance
In this event, athletes competed a quickstep followed by a Viennese Waltz variation. This year’s podium featured three first-time medalists.
In her first year competing at the National Solo Dance Final, Jessica Burns (Ann Arbor FSC) took home the gold with a score of 58.20. Skating to “Happy Feet” in the quickstep portion of the competition, Burns earned an event-high 6.73 points for her first pattern dance sequence toward a segment score of 28.78 for her first pattern dance sequence.
Burns maintained her lead after the Viennese Waltz to claim gold overall. Her skate to “Say Something” by A Great Big World garnered 9.10 points for both pattern dance sequences for a combined 29.42 points.
Milena Autero (Palm Beach FSC) collected 55.74 total points to claim silver. Her quickstep to “Let’s Face the Music” by Frank Sinatra received a score of 26.94.
In the Viennese Waltz variation, Autero skate to “La Pluie” by Zaz” was awarded a segment score of 28.80.
Jessica Wang (Scott Hamilton SC) upgraded her pewter medal from 2024 to bronze this year with an impressive jump from seventh after day one to second on day two. She scored 54.48 total points, which was comprised of scores of 25.50 on day one and 28.98 points on day two.
Evelyn Zheng (Washington FSC) clinched her first podium finish, capturing pewter with 54.03 points total. She tallied 26.55 points in the quickstep and 27.48 points in the Viennese Waltz variation.
Gold-International Shadow Dance
In a close race to the finish, the top four finishers in the gold-international shadow dance event were only separated by just over two points.
Mina Esfandiari (New Year FSC) and Shin Lei Case won their first gold as a team. Skating to “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the duo earned an element score of 19.52 and a factored program component score of 12.19 for a total of 31.71 points to claim the top spot of the podium.
Trailing Esfandiari and Case by less than one point behind to finish in silver medal position were Khloe Felton and Jordan Brenne, both representing the Greater Kalamazoo Skating Association. The duo tallied a score of 30.82 for their skate to the “Cha Cha Slide.”
With an even closer point margin of 0.36 points separating silver and bronze, Violet Yan and Evelyn Zheng (Washington FSC) secured the bronze medal with a score of 30.46 points. While Yan and Zheng scored a higher program component score of 12.00, Felton and Brenne came out on top with a higher element score.
Rounding out the podium, Charlotte Manfield and Evan Bertz of the University of Delaware FSC claimed pewter with 29.63 points in total.
For full results from the 2025 National Solo Dance Finals, click here.
