The U.S. figure skating program is one of the great dynasties in Olympic history, earning 54 medals—including 17 gold—since the sport’s inclusion in 1908.
Champions including Peggy Fleming (1968), Dorothy Hamill (1976), Scott Hamilton (1984), Brian Boitano (1988), Tara Lipinski (1998), and Nathan Chen (2022) have risen to the occasion against the world’s best.
So amid talk of the 2026 U.S. team at Milano Cortina being the most talented ever—with U.S. women’s champion Amber Glenn and Ilia Malinin, the viral “Quad God,” leading the pack—we asked a figure skating expert if the hype is real. (Spoiler: It is.)
Biography.com recently sat down for a video interview with Gracie Gold, a 2014 bronze medalist in Sochi, Russia, for a preview of the figure skating in the upcoming Winter Games and scouting reports of the top U.S. skaters competing.
Who Is Gracie Gold?
Gracie Gold is among an elite group of skaters who’ve experienced the pride and pressure of performing at the global level.
Born on August 17, 1995, Gold was initially interested in playing ice hockey, but instead started figure skating at the suggestion of her family. She earned gold in her first international competition, the Junior Grand Prix in Tallinn, Estonia, in 2011, and continued to rise the ranks. The following year, she won the U.S. junior championship in women’s singles.
In 2014, Gold won her first of two U.S. senior championships with a record-scoring short program and free skate, qualifying for the U.S. Olympic roster. She earned a bronze medal in the team competition at that year’s Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. She continued skating competitively through 2023.
In February 2024, Gold published Outofshapeworthlessloser: A Memoir of Figure Skating, F—ing Up, and Figuring It Out. In the book, ghostwritten by former New York Times journalist Karen Crouse, she candidly details some of the biggest moments from her career, as well as her mental health struggles and treatment for depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder.
Gold serves as a correspondent for Olympics.com and will be on site at the 2026 Winter Games.
Who Is on the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team?
The 2026 U.S. Olympic team consists of 16 members (plus alternates) across four disciplines: women’s singles, men’s singles, pairs, and ice dance. The U.S. Figure Skating body selects the team based on performance throughout the season, though the recent U.S. championships in January factored heavily into its decision.
Here’s the complete roster:
Women’s Singles
- Amber Glenn
- Isabeau Levito
- Alysa Liu
Men’s Singles
- Ilia Malinin
- Maxim Naumov
- Andrew Torgashev
Pairs
- Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe
- Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea
Ice Dance
- Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
- Madison Chock and Evan Bates
- Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik
From inspiring comeback stories to never-before-seen acrobatics, this year’s U.S. roster isn’t short on storylines or potential. Here’s a look at the key names to watch at Milano Cortina.
Can Three-Time U.S. Champion Amber Glenn Finally Secure Her Olympic Moment?
No member of Team USA is carrying more momentum into the Olympics than Glenn, the three-time defending national champion after her women’s singles win in St. Louis in January.
That Glenn made her first Olympic team at age 26 is an anomaly. She is the oldest U.S. skater to qualify for the Winter Games since 1928—almost a full century. For context, Lipinski was 15 when she won gold in 1998.
Milano Cortina is an appropriate stop for Glenn, given the adversity she has overcome throughout her career. A year after winning the U.S. junior championship at age 14, she received treatment for anxiety, depression, and an eating disorder. “I thought life was done for. There was eventually a spark that kept me going, that grew from the support around me and seeking help,” Glenn told People. She has also suffered two concussions in which she broke her orbital bones.
Glenn is also known for her outspoken support of the LGBTQIA+ community. She identifies as bisexual and pansexual and is known for celebrating with a Progress Pride flag after her biggest performances.
In terms of her skating arsenal, Glenn has a notable X-factor: She is one of only a handful of U.S. women’s skaters to land a clean triple Axel, considered the sport’s most difficult jump, in international competition.
Gracie’s Scouting Report
“So, of course, the triple Axel. Everyone’s going to highlight that. Her power and speed and how much of the ice she covers in such a short amount of time is sensational, and she maintains that power from start to finish,” she told Biography. “She’s committed 100 percent. She’s an exceptional spinner, an exceptional jumper, of course. But I think of the power when I think of Amber. She’s a power athlete.”
Back from Retirement, Can Alysa Liu Cashe Olympic Gold?
Alysa Liu is only 20 years old, but has already led two separate skating lives.
She burst onto the scene as the youngest U.S. champion ever at age 13 in 2019, repeated the next year, and competed for the United States at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. However, Liu shocked everyone that same year when she suddenly announced her retirement at age 16, citing burnout from skating.
“I would live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado, in a dorm by myself. I would eat their food. I went to the rink, skated, ate lunch there, skated some more. Went back to the dorm. I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t see anything. I was just there,” Liu later explained. “And so all that, I was like, ‘Skating is not worth it.’ Like, this is not worth it. I didn’t, you know, care about what I skated to, or what my dress was like. I let everyone else decide. So I was really like, ‘Who am I?’ I felt like a puppet other people were using.”
Liu attended college at UCLA and even climbed to Mount Everest Base Camp, but ultimately caught the skating bug again. She is now the defending women’s world champion and just finished second to Glenn at nationals.
Liu is known for her high-difficulty jumps and became the first U.S. woman ever to land a quadruple Lutz and triple Axel in a single program.
Gracie’s Scouting Report
“I would say her consistency is what sets her above everyone else. She really doesn’t miss, and she has a lightness and an ease to her skating. But her consistency is something that I think all athletes, regardless of sport, admire,” she told Biography. “She would be the player that just never missed a free throw; it’s like she can’t. So, I think that’s what sets her apart from some of the other top women.”
Will the “Quad God” Ilia Malinin Get the U.S. Repeat in Men’s Singles?
Nathan Chen will not defend his 2022 gold medal at Milano Cortina, but breakout star Malinin is one of the favorites to win gold and keep the Olympic title with the United States.
The 21-year-old has arguably the best nickname of any athlete at the Games, the “Quad God,” a reference to his historic ability to complete jumps with four rotations in the air. He is the only skater in the world to complete a quad Axel in competition.
Skating is in Malinin’s blood. He was trained by his parents, Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinin, according to CBS News. “They did not want me to skate at all. They wanted me to do something else, ’cause they know,” Malinin said. “They went through all those years of hard work, dedication, commitment to get to where they were, two-time Olympians. And now they coach skating. So, they were like, ‘Oh, we don’t want another skater in our family.’ But here I am. Me and my sister skate now.”
Malinin is the two-time defending world champion and has won four straight national titles. The only thing that might be able to stop him at the Olympics are his skates, as he began breaking in a new pair just prior to nationals in January. Still, he insists the boots have “started cooperating with me” and he is good to go in full force.
Gracie’s Scouting Report
“I mean, ‘historic’ is almost an understatement. It’s absolutely unbelievable. He was the first skater to do five quads, and then seven quads, and then one of each quad, and then quad Axel. And then based on what I’ve seen in practice, maybe there’s now two quad Axels! He just has continued to push the ante... I mean, he’s almost, I don’t want to say the Michael Jordan [of men’s skating] because [even] Michael Jordan had losses,” she told Biography. “And Ilia’s been in second or third in three events over the last four years. That’s it. It’s like the equivalent if you missed three baskets over four runs to a championship.”
Madison Chock and Evan Bates Are Skating for Ice Dance and Team Gold—Are They Unbeatable?
After helping the United States win gold in the team competition in Beijing, the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates are hoping to solidify their place as one of the greatest pairs of all time with a title in the discipline.
Chock, 33, and Bates, 36, have been skating together since 2011 and their partnership extends off the ice as the couple married in 2024. They are coming off one of the biggest wins of their career, a seventh ice dance championship at nationals that moved them past 2014 Olympic champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White for most all-time. They are also three-time and reigning world champions.
Speaking to Biography.com during nationals, Gold said Chock and Bates struggled at times at the U.S. championships and likely used the competition as a mock run for the Olympics. That they did win bodes well for their chances. “They’re almost so good, I can’t add anything interesting other than they are just the best. I feel like, what other story can be written about them?” Gold said.
Bates is already making history just by competing at Milano Cortina. The Winter Games are his fifth, making him the only U.S. skater in any discipline to compete at the Olympics that many times.
What Are Some Other Figure Skating Storylines to Watch?
There aren’t just impressive comebacks and powerful jumps to keep an eye out for.
Men’s Singles Competitor Maxim Naumov
Naumov will be skating at the Winter Games with a heavy heart. Naumov, 24, is participating in his first Olympics just one year after his parents, former pairs champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, died in the January 2025 accident involving an American Airlines plane and U.S. Army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
“The reason why [the Olympics are] so important to me is because I want to honor their legacy,” Naumov told People. “They were world-class athletes that were the best of the best during their time. I mean, two-time Olympians, you know, it’s the 1 percent of the 1 percent, and they deserved all the praise.”
Pairs Skater Spencer Akira Howe
Howe represents the United States not only on the ice with partner Emily Chan, but as a member of the U.S. Army.
Howe, 29, is a Private Second Class who serves as part of the transportation logistics team, according to U.S. Figure Skating. He is able to train as a skater through the World Class Athlete Program, which allows active duty, National Guard, and reserve soldiers to pursue a sport with the goal of qualifying for the Olympics or Paralympics.
“Going through the enlistment process meant taking a step away from skating to learn a completely new set of skills,” Howe, who enlisted in October 2024, said. “Looking back, that change of perspective and environment really opened my mind. In one sense, it allowed me to have what felt like a fresh slate as I moved back into skating and set new goals for myself moving forward.”
How Many Skating Medals Can the U.S. Win?
There are five figure skating events total at the Milano Cortina games: women’s singles, men’s singles, ice dance, pairs, and the mixed team event.
While it’s impossible to account for all of the variables in Olympic competition, from ice conditions to judging, Gold believes the United States is capable of multiple victories. She cited the 2025 World Championships, at which Liu and Malinin won singles titles and the pairing of Bates and Chock won in ice dance. Levito and Glenn were just off the medal stand in fourth and fifth, respectively.
“I think it could definitely be possible for [the U.S.] to have two medals in the women’s events,” Gold said. “I think that would even be classified as hope or potential, rather than direct expectation, but I think three gold medals and a gold in the team event is not crazy. That same team and same skaters just did it in March.”
Beyond final results, Gold is equally excited to see if the team—and figure skating as a whole—can capitalize on the attention surrounding the Games.
“If every single person on the team could have one of those Olympic moments that people talk about, a performance that brings people to tears or has them jumping on their feet, the stuff that when you’re watching at home makes you jump off of your couch, if every skater could have that, that would be one goal that I think really can help keep the interest in the sport,” she said.
How to Watch Figure Skating at the Milano Cortina Olympics
Figure skating is one of the first sports to kick off the Winter Olympics, with the rhythm dance portion of the ice dancing competition scheduled to begin on USA Network at 4 a.m. ET on Friday, February 6—hours before the opening ceremony.
The Olympics will be broadcast on the NBC family of networks and stream at NBCOlympics.com and on Peacock. Check here for a full schedule of events.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
