US Figure Skating Team Set for Milan 2026

January 11, 2026 6:58 PM Subscribe

The U.S. figure skating championships were this weekend, and the Olympic team has been announced! Featuring the strongest US women’s team in decades, the best jumper the sport has ever seen, and more...

Any member of the women’s team could plausibly win an Olympic medal. Amber Glenn, the first out queer woman on the U.S. Olympic figure skating team, nailed Nationals after years of inconsistency, and her Like a Prayer short program is a particular delight. Reigning world champion Alysa Liu returned to the sport after burning out and retiring to go to college, and she now skates with joy and freedom (and a crazy/awesome hair dye job). Isabeau Levito skates with an elegance that makes it easy to forget she’s still in high school. The women on the team are silly and support each other, a far cry from vicious rivalries of past years.

Highlights on the men’s side include Ilia Malinin, who lands jumps that literally no one else in history has ever landed and makes it look easy. Max Naumov persevered through grief after his parents–Russian pairs champions turned U.S. coaches–died in the tragic January 2025 plane crash that killed more than two dozen members of the figure skating community.

Ice dance is also a strength for the U.S., with gold-medal favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

The Olympic team figure skating event begins February 6, with skaters joining forces across disciplines and vying to earn the highest combined scores for their countries. Individual competition starts February 9!