by Anne Calder | Photo by Robin Ritoss

The final question at the 2026 U.S. Championships Free Dance Press Conference surprised the audience.

“Every single one of each team [sitting at the podium] has a connection to Michigan. You lived there, or trained there, or were born there. Is something in the water? What’s happening?” asked a curious journalist.

The ice dancers responded…

Emilea Zingas: “Yes, just the water is frozen in the winter. I think every kid in Michigan learns to skate – it’s a big thing. I learned to skate at Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit, the biggest in the country. So we’re making noise.”

Madison Chock: “Michigan has had a long legacy in ice dance. Starting with Naomi Lang & Peter Tchernyshev and Elizabeth Punsalan & Jerod Swallow, it goes way back to the DSC, (Detroit Skating Club) to Canton, to Novi. There has just been a history and a legacy that has drawn people to Michigan. Particularly In ice dance it was a real epic center for many, many years, and still is. So yes, there must be something in the water, and something special about Michigan. That Michigan magic just draws people in.

“I know I’m from California but my husband is a Michigander, tried and true. There’s something special about those Michigan people. I can see the draw, and sometimes I feel like it’s calling us back.”

Anthony Ponomarenko: I love Michigan. I’m a California boy. At the age of 12 I moved away from home. My  parents took me off to Michigan to ice dance. Christina also moved from Montreal to Michigan. There’s definitely something in the water. If you look at ice dance as a whole, in the last 30, 40 years, there’s always some sort of connection to Michigan.

“A big shout out to Igor Sphilband and Marina Zoueva and even before that. There’s so much growth. I think it’s very special to live in Michigan. I’m proud that I lived in Michigan.”

Michigan Ice Chips:

Emilea Zingas was born in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI.  Zingas and partner Vadym Kolesnik train in Novi, MI. 
Evan Bates was born in Ann Arbor, and is a University of Michigan graduate. He previously trained in Ann Arbor, Canton and Novi, Michigan.
Madison Chock trained in Michigan from 2007-2011 with Greg Zuerlein and 2011-2018 with Evan Bates.
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko trained in Novi, Michigan from 2014-2021.
The outdoor Rink at Campus Martius Park was recently recognized for the second year in a row as the best ice skating rink in the country in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards.

Two common denominators for the six athletes at the 2026 Ice Dance Press Conference are Michigan and Igor Shpilband. At some point in their careers they all trained in Michigan and called Shpilband their Coach.

Shpilband was born in Moscow in 1964.  Tatiana Gladkova & Igor Shpilband are the 1983 World Junior Ice Dance gold medalists. He retired in 1986 after the death of his coach Liudmila Pakhomova.

In 1990, Soviet ice dancers Gorsha Sur, Elena Krikanova, Veronica Pershina and Igor Shpilband defected in New York City while touring with Torvill & Dean and the Russian All-Stars. The group later settled in Michigan. Johnny Johns, the skating director at the Detroit Skating Club was impressed by their resumes and hired them as ice dance coaches.

Shpilband worked with former British coach Elizabeth Coates prior to her return to Britain. In 2001, Shpilband and Johns invited Marina Zoueva to join the team. Two years later the coaching duo moved their popular ice dance program to the larger Arctic Edge Arena in Canton, MI. In 2012 the coaching partnership ended and Shpilband relocated to Novi, Michigan, where he currently coaches.

After the Press Conference, IDC spoke with Coaches Igor Shpilband and Adrienne Lenda.

IDC: Igor, you touched everyone of those ice dancers sitting on that podium.  Are you a proud papa today?

Igor: Of course. They are all my kids. Like I told them, it’s a long journey. I’m happy for the journey they had.

IDC: Coach Lenda, you have been there on the journey also. Tell us about it.

Adrienne: It’s fantastic to work next to Igor. He’s just a master at what he does. I’ve never seen anybody so intensely in tune with so many different dance teams and finding their special qualities and bringing them out and finding the right people to put together and making it work.

Igor: We’ve got a great team of coaches. Natalia Deller is absolutely perfect, a great professional. Renee Petkovski is our off ice coach and Oleg Ouchakov, formerly with Cirque du Soleil works on the lifts. Pasquale Camerlengo is also our coach and choreographer.

IDC: You have challenged many ice dance teams from around the world since coming to the U.S.

Igor: Yes, that is what I’ve been doing for 35 years.

IDC: The 2026 Milan Olympic Team had not yet been disclosed. Please share your thoughts.

Igor: They did not announce the team yet, but in my opinion [Zingas & Kolesnik] definitely deserve to be on the team. They proved it, and I see no reason why they wouldn’t do it.

The next afternoon on January 11, 2026, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, the 2026 U.S. Olympic Figure Skating team was announced.

Zingas and Kolesnik were selected and presented with their Olympic jackets – Emilea by her mother and Vadym by a very proud Coach Igor Shpilband.