Go Figure Skating

Figure Skating Regional Competitions

By Go Figure Skating · Last reviewed November 9, 2026

For decades the U.S. qualifying season started with regional championships: each of the nine regions held its own competition in the fall, and the top skaters went on to sectionals or nationals. U.S. Figure Skating no longer holds regionals. They were replaced by the National Qualifying Series (NQS), and the 2026-27 rulebook does not list regionals among the qualifying competitions at all.

What replaced them: the National Qualifying Series

The NQS is a set of ordinary competitions held around the country between mid-July and early October. Each one counts for qualifying as well as for its own results. Instead of having one shot at a single regional, a skater can choose one or more NQS events, and is ranked by their best score. For the 2026-27 season the NQS ran from July 9 to October 4, 2026.

  • Singles skaters are ranked within their region. The top four in each region, plus the next six best in the section, go to their Sectional Singles Final.
  • Pairs and ice dance teams are ranked by section and nationwide, and go to the U.S. Pairs Final or U.S. Ice Dance Final.

The NQS covers the levels from Preliminary to Senior. The full path to the national championships is on the qualifying competitions page.

The regions still matter

The nine regions (New England, North Atlantic and South Atlantic in the Eastern section; Eastern Great Lakes, Upper Great Lakes and Southwestern in the Midwestern section; Northwest Pacific, Central Pacific and Southwest Pacific in the Pacific Coast section) still exist and have the same boundaries. They are used to rank singles skaters in the NQS. The states in each region are listed on the qualifying competitions page.

What an NQS event is like

For a skater, an NQS event feels much like any other club competition, often a bigger one. It is hosted by a skating club at a local rink or arena, runs over several days, and usually also offers non-qualifying events for skaters at other levels. Qualifying events are scored with the ISU Judging System, so every skater gets a detailed score sheet showing the points for each element and the program components. That feedback is a large part of why skaters enter more than one NQS event in a season: they can fix what cost them points and try again before the deadline.

Sources

U.S. Figure Skating 2026-27 Rulebook (rules 1022 and 2470-2475) and the 2026-27 NQS Participant Handbook. Find the current season's NQS events in the NQS calendar.