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The 2019 United States Figure Skating Championships are underway in Detroit, with the highly anticipated senior men’s, ladies, pairs and ice dance competitions taking place over the weekend. All four competitions (both short programs and free skates) will be televised live on NBC Sports Network (Thursday 5-7 p.m. and 9-11 p.m. ET; Friday 4-6 p.m. ET; Saturday 7-9 p.m. ET) and NBC (Friday 8-11 p.m. ET; Saturday 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET; Sunday 3:30-6 p.m. ET).
If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can watch a live stream of the 2019 US Championships on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
NBC Sports Network and NBC (live in most markets) are both included in the main Fubo package, which has 75-plus channels and is largely tailored towards sports.
You can start a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the US Championships on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast or other supported device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which will allow you to watch any day’s coverage up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
In addition to their extensive Netflix-like streaming library, Hulu now also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including both NBC Sports Network and NBC (live in most markets).
You can start your subscription of “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the US Championships on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
NBC Sports Network and NBC (live in some markets) are included in the “Sling Blue” channel package.
You can start a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the US Championships on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One or other streaming device via the Sling TV app.
If you can’t watch live, you can get 50 hours of cloud DVR storage as an additional add-on.
2019 US Figure Skating Championships Preview
As has become the norm in any major competition, all eyes will be on Nathan Chen.
Since a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, the 19-year-old sensation has returned to his dominant ways. He got quick redemption with a win at the 2018 World Championships a month later, captured his second-consecutive US title at the end of 2018 and followed that up by becoming the first male US skater to win a second Grand Prix Final last month.
The King of Quads continues to set records and is almost assured to become the first male since Johnny Weir to win three straight US titles, but he’s not taking anything for granted.
“Every competition, you come in fresh,” he said. “You’ve never done that competition. I learned a quite lot from last season, the Olympics, the worlds and all of that. But I definitely don’t want to carry my past mistakes and successes too much into the future.”
Chen’s main competition will come from 18-year-old Vincent Zhou, who finished sixth at the Olympics, and 2015 US champion Jason Brown.
Over on the ladies side, 2018 Olympian Bradie Tennell is back to defend her national title. With defending silver and bronze medalists Mirai Nagasu (taking a break) and Karen Chen (foot injury) both be absent, and two-time champion Grace Gold also out as she puts her comeback on hold for now, Tennell is the clear favorite to repeat.
Tennell was the only American to tally a medal at a Grand Prix event this past season when she finished third in France, but Mariah Bell topped Tennell’s score from France (198.96 to 197.78) during a fifth-place finish at the NHK Trophy.
“I have the highest score of all Grand Prix events of the ladies (at nationals),” Bell said. “I look at those things closely. NHK Trophy was a tough competition and I held my own there, so I feel like I’m in a good spot. I proved I could hang with the toughest ladies in the world.”
If Tennell and Bell are both at the top of their games, it should be a really close competition. But the party could also be crashed by 15-year-old phenom Alysa Liu, who became the youngest skater in history to land a triple axel in international competition in August.
In the ice dance competition, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are heavy favorites after picking up silver at the 2018 World Championships and gold at the Grand Prix Final last month.