Misha Mitrofanov

Misha Mitrofanov (born June 12, 1997) is an American pair skater. With his current partner, Alisa Efimova, he is the 2025 U.S. national champion and 2024 Skate America bronze medalist.

With his former skating partner, Audrey Lu, he is the 2022 Four Continents champion, 2021 Golden Spin of Zagreb champion, 2018 U.S. International Classic silver medalist, and 2022 U.S. national bronze medalist.

Mitrofanov was born on June 12, 1997, in Madison, Wisconsin.^[1] He is the eldest of two children born to Yelena, a real estate agent, and Gennadiy, a natural gas and oil marketer.^[2] He has a sister, Nina.^[2] After graduating (in May 2016) from Spring Creek Academy in Plano, Texas, he began studying sports medicine at the University of Texas at Dallas.^[2] He earned a bachelor's degree in healthcare studies in 2023.^[3] Mitrofanov has expressed interest in opening his own mechanic shop after finishing his competitive figure skating career.^[3]

Mitrofanov began learning to skate in 2001 at the age of four after doctors encouraged his parents to enter him into sports as a way to improve the weak immune system he had been born with.^[1][3] He was coached by Alexei Mantsorov from 2005 to 2014.^[2] Skating in the novice pairs' category, he placed 8th at the 2015 U.S. Championships with Emily Chan, and 6th at the 2016 U.S. Championships with Ashlee Raymond.

Mitrofanov teamed up with Audrey Lu in May 2016.^[4] Making their international debut, the pair placed twelfth at an ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in the Czech Republic in September 2016. Their season came to an end in November, after Mitrofanov dislocated his shoulder at the Midwestern Sectional Championships.^[4] He underwent shoulder surgery and resumed training after six months.^[4]

Lu/Mitrofanov placed fifth at both of their JGP assignments. In January, they won the junior pairs' title at the 2018 U.S. Championships; they ranked first in both segments and outscored the silver medalists by 17.74 points. In March, the pair placed fifth (sixth in the short program, fourth in the free skate) at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Making their senior international debut, Lu/Mitrofanov won silver at the 2018 CS U.S. International Classic in mid-September, and then placed fifth at the 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. They were invited to two Grand Prix events, the 2018 NHK Trophy and 2018 Internationaux de France, where they placed seventh and sixth, respectively.^[5] Debuting at senior Nationals at the 2019 U.S. Championships, they placed sixth.

Lu/Mitrofanov began the season with a fifth-place finish at the 2019 CS U.S. Classic. On the Grand Prix, they were eighth at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup. They concluded the season at the 2020 U.S. Championships, where they finished sixth.^[6]

With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting international travel, Lu/Mitrofanov were assigned to attend the 2020 Skate America, the Grand Prix having been arranged primarily based on training location.^[7] They placed third in the short program, 3.31 points ahead of national pewter medalists Cain-Gribble/LeDuc.^[8] Coming fourth in the free skate, their lead from the short program was nevertheless enough to remain in third place overall, winning the bronze medal.^[9]

Competing at the 2021 U.S. Championships, Lu/Mitrofanov placed third in the short program with a clean skate.^[10] They were fourth in the free skate, dropping to fourth place overall and winning the pewter medal.^[11]

After beginning the season with some minor America competitions, Lu/Mitrofanov competed on the Grand Prix at the 2021 NHK Trophy, finishing in fifth place.^[12] They went on to finish in fourth at the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, after which Lu said they were "satisfied" with the results on the Grand Prix that year.^[13] They next competed at the 2021 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they won the gold medal, their first Challenger title.^[14]

Lu/Mitrofanov won the bronze medal at the 2022 U.S. Championships. Mitrofanov said they were "very happy and grateful" for the event and its large audience.^[15] As a result of their placement, they were assigned to compete at the 2022 Four Continents Championships in Tallinn, and named second alternates to the American Olympic team. Lu/Mitrofanov won both segments of the Four Continents competition to take the gold medal.^[16] They parted ways following the season due to Lu deciding to prioritize attending university.^[17]

Mitrofanov briefly skated with Hazel Collier for the ice show An Evening with Champions.^[18]

Upon learning about her split with previous partner, Ruben Blommaert, Mitrofanov, messaged Finnish-Russian pair skater, Alisa Efimova on Instagram, asking if she would be interested in having a pair skating tryout with him.^[19] Efimova went on to contact Mitrofanov's longtime coaches, Aleksey Letov and Olga Ganicheva, asking if they would be interested in coaching her, to which they agreed. Following a successful tryout, Efimova moved to Norwood, Massachusetts, to train at the Skating Club of Boston with Mitrofanov. Mitrofanov later recalled, "There were some elements where we had different timing. But on other elements, it clicked almost right away, and it felt very nice. It just felt like [being] at home."^[19] It was announced in June 2023 that the pair team would represent the United States.^[20][21]

Following a silver medal win at the domestic U.S. Pairs Final, Efimova and Mitrofanov qualified for the 2024 U.S. National Championships.^[22] At the event, the pair placed fifth in the short program, but won the free skate, allowing them to move up to second place overall.^[23]

Efimova and Mitrofanov began their season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series. They won the silver medal at the 2024 CS John Nicks Pairs Competition before going on to finish fourth at the 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy.^[24][25]

Debuting together on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, the pair won the bronze medal at 2024 Skate America.^[26] “Our main goal of the season is to make the World team,” said Mitrofanov. “Therefore, we need to place in the top two at nationals and show good performances.”^[26] They went on to finish fourth at the 2024 Grand Prix de France.^[24][27] “We were happy that we got this opportunity to skate at two Grand Prix events and even medal at Skate America," said Efimova. "That was for sure a highlight for us.”^[26]

In January, Efimova/Mitrofanov competed at the 2025 U.S. Championships. They placed third in the short program after receiving a double downgrade on their attempted side-by-side triple toe-loops.^[28] They skated a clean free skate, however, winning that competition segment and winning the gold medal overall.^[29] Efimova expressed joy at the result in an interview following the event, saying, "For us, this is the second Nationals, and I’m very proud of us that we made it to the top of the podium [...] And for me, this is the first Nationals overall in any country that I placed first. It was my dream right now to do it for our team, our community. They do so much for us, our coaches, our parents, our skating club and everyone. I’m just really happy that it turned out this way."^[30]

A few days following the pair's win, however, eleven skaters and four figure skating coaches were killed in the Potomac River mid-air collision. Four of the victims were members of the Skating Club of Boston, where Efimova/Mitrofanov train. Speaking on the tragedy, Mitrofanov shared, "It was very difficult. That goes without saying. For the club members that were directly supported, I mean, directly involved in it, I think there were words indescribable for truly what happened. We all came together, and we supported each other, and we wanted to support them as much as we can. We took it day by day and we gave all the love that we had for one another."^[31]

Efimova/Mitrofanov went on to compete at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, where they finished in fifth place.^[24][32] “We’ve been practicing, and Alisa has been nailing the jumps in practices,” said Mitrofanov after the free skate. “Ice is slippery, but I’m really proud of Alisa. We didn’t give up, especially after the mistake that we had. We were able to collect ourselves immediately and continue the program, so I’m very proud of us for that.”^[32]

On March 2, 2025, the pair took part in Legacy on Ice, an ice show organized by U.S. Figure Skating that paid tribute to lives lost aboard American Eagle Flight 5342.^[33][31] A couple weeks later, they competed at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. After, placing ninth in the short program, the pair delivered a clean free skate, placing fourth in that segment and earning a new personal best in the process. They ultimately finished the event in sixth place overall.^[34] Their placement, in addition to Kam/O'Shea's seventh-place finish, earned three berths for U.S. pair skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics.^[35] Speaking on the experience of skating at Worlds in his hometown, Mitrofanov shared, "It was absolutely unbelievable! To have Worlds in Boston, it was everything I could hope and dream for. We had that slight extra pressure, you know, like, this is home, this is worlds. So, you really want to do well. But to be honest, the support from the crowd was absolutely amazing. That’s what really helped."^[31]

Selected to compete for Team United States at the 2025 World Team Trophy, Efimova/Mitrofanov placed fifth in all segments of the pair's event and Team United States finished in first place overall.^[24][36][37] “It’s so exciting whenever Team USA comes together,” said Efimova. “Champs Camp and Nationals and then now here again being all together. Just getting to talk and just live a little part of the life now together, that’s really nice, I really enjoy it!”^[36]

• Alisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov at the International Skating Union
• Elisa Efimova & Misha Mitrofanov at SkatingScores
• Audrey Lu / Misha Mitrofanov at the International Skating Union