Two Montgomery County ice dancers fell just short in their quest to make the U.S. Olympic team.

Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, from Rockville and Derwood, respectively, finished fourth at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Louis this week. It was not enough to be selected to the team for next month’s Milano Cortina Olympics in Italy, but they were named top alternates, making them the first in line to step in if one of the three pairs picked is unable to compete.

To determine the three pairs who made the team, U.S. Figure Skating factored in performances at nationals and international results from this season. Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko — the top three pairs at nationals — were selected.

At nationals, Parsons and Green skated cleanly in their rhythm skate and free dance, finishing with a score of 202.05, four points behind Carreira and Ponomarenko, who finished third.

Green and Parsons got their start in learn-to-skate classes, where they were spotted by Russian ice dancers Alexei Kiliakov and Elena Novak, who ran the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy. Green and Parsons joined the competitive program and began skating with their siblings, each pair winning junior national titles.

In 2019, Parsons’ sister, Rachel, and Green’s brother, Gordon, stepped away from the sport. In need of new partners and already familiar with each other, Parsons and Green formed a new pair. They found success right away and were named alternates for the 2022 Olympic team.

With Green graduating from high school that year, the pair decided to make a change. They left the Wheaton Ice Skating Academy and moved to the Detroit area to train at the new Michigan Ice Dance Academy. They have continued their rise, finishing sixth at the 2023 world championships and ninth in 2025.