A year ago, Connecticut-based junior ice dancers Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin stunned the skating world with a first-place finish at their first U.S. Figure Skating Championships together.
Now, they’ve done it again. On Tuesday, the team defended its junior national title in St. Louis.
Last year, the duo went into the national championship as a new, unknown team. This time, their gold came on the heels of their victory at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, Japan in December, where they skated for a crowd of 3,000 people.
And winning a repeat national title means that the teenagers who train in Newington remain undefeated in just their second season together.
“It feels amazing to be here and being part of the whole, big, US figure skating community,” Veselukin said. “It’s our second title, so it feels really, truly unbelievable.”
Aboian, 15, and Veselukhin, 18, won the event with a personal best score of 174.47, earning personal bests in both Monday’s rhythm dance (71.68) and Tuesday’’s free dance (102.79), placing 16.31 points above the silver medalists and defeating a field of 12 teams at the Centene Community Ice Center. Jasmine Robertson and Chase Rohner of Novi, Michigan came in second, and Jane Calhoun and Mark Zheltyshev, of Colorado Springs, Colorado came in third. Aneta Vaclavikova and William Lissauer, training mates of Aboian and Veselukhin, placed fourth, earning the pewter medal.
Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin won the U.S. title a personal-best score of 174.47, earning personal bests in both Monday’s rhythm dance (71.68) and Tuesday’s free dance (102.79). (Melanie Heaney/U.S. Figure Skating)
As the training mates shared the podium, coaches Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov beamed, snapping photos from the sidelines. For a second year in a row, the coaching team had gotten a newly formed pair onto the podium (Vaclavikova and Lissauer teamed up just last spring). In a sport where partnerships often take years to gel, Gregory and Petukouv’s skating program at the Newington Ice Arena, Haus of Diamonds, is working magic on figure skaters who have recently teamed up.
The magic? “It’s just hard work. Lots of effort on the ice,” Aboian said upon defending her national title. “We set goals for ourselves. We just work on accomplishing them.”
A significant part of that hard work began last spring, after the team returned from their debut at the World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary (which was won by another of Gregory and Petukhov’s teams, Noemi Tali and Noah Lafornara, who represent Italy). The coaches got to work choreographing Aboian and Veselukhin’s new programs. In Monday’s rhythm dance, the team skated to “Vogue” by Madonna to fit the season’s requirement of “The Music, Dance Styles and Feeling of the 1990s.” In Tuesdays’ free dance, they portrayed the story of a statue of the goddess Nike coming to life, skating to “Hymnus Orbis,” “Salvation For a Proud Nation,” and “Surrender to Hope” by Trailerhead.
It was a statue of Nike in Ephesus, Turkey that caught Petukhov’s eye during a week of travel after coaching Aboian and Veselukin to the bronze medal 2024 Junior Grand Prix in Ankara.
“This ancient statue of Nike, perhaps over 2,000 years old, kind of inspired us to think about a story and then we had music that matched that feeling of personal perseverance and going through difficulties, overcoming and winning,” Petukhov said. “Hana and Daniil were able to match our vision, and they matched it with heavy training. Plus, it’s an Olympic year. We have this Greek mythology that relates to the Olympic Games, so we thought it was the right moment to give them that theme.”
Junior ice dancing medalists at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, from left, silver medalists Jasmine Robertson and Chase Rohner of Novi, Michigan, gold medalists Hana Maria Aboian and Daniil Veselukhin, bronze medalists Jane Calhoun and Mark Zheltyshev, of Colorado Springs, Colorado and pewter (fourth-place) medalists Aneta Vaclavikova and William Lissauer, training mates of Aboian and Veselukhin in Newington. (Melanie Heaney/U.S. Figure Skating)
Aboian’s speed and grace on the ice brought the goddess to life. “Originally, I start off as a sculpture, and Daniil shapes me into life,” Aboian said. She skated the part in a blue unitard fashioned with sheer, flowing wings.
Aboian and Veselukin will be eligible for their first Olympic Games in 2030. Before then, age will keep them in juniors for another year.
“Juniors is a really good platform for us to build new programs. It kind of allows us to test different waters, try different things,” Aboian said.
And Petrukov said that next year’s programs will be “completely different.”
“They’re young, so we’re going to keep evolving,” Gregory said, noting that they’ll have the team try out “many different styles. We don’t want to box them in. They’re still evolving and still changing.”
“This is junior. Our eyes and their eyes are set on seniors,” Petukhov said.
After Aboian and Veselukin’s free skate, teammate Lissauer tossed a plushie on the ice.
“Daniil’s like my best friend — we do a lot of stuff together,” Lissauer said. “It’s also nice having that competition. It’ll push you to work harder in training and get better.”
Twenty years ago this week, St. Louis was the site of the U.S. National Championships that awarded Gregory and Petukhov their Olympic berth. This February, as the 2026 Winter Olympic Games get underway in Milan, Italy, Aboian and Veselukhin will be hard at work with their coaches at the Newington Ice Arena.