Team USA’s 2026 figure skating team could be its best ever. Here’s why

Brown, who said Malinin makes the historic jump “look effortless,” notes that it is an entire 360 degrees more than any other competitor in his event.

Malinin hasn’t lost a competition in about two years — and he’s not looking to let the Olympics be his first.

The scores that he has posted along the way rival the best in history, including the standard set by his countryman, Nathan Chen. In fact, his personal-best score nearly broke the world record of 335.30 points, set by Chen in 2019 at the Grand Prix Final.

“You think of legends in other sports – Simone Biles, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods – Ilia Malinin is that for figure skating,” commentator Johnny Weir told NBC Olympics ahead of the Games. “He’s done elements that we never thought we’d see in our lifetime. Every time we watch him skate it’s like watching the moon landing.”

While he’s not expected to attempt his biggest feat during the team short program Saturday, Malinin is expected to go big these Games.

“He’s the only person that can land seven quads in a program and he’s going to attempt that [in Italy],” Weir said.

Malinin will be joined on the men’s side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It’s what I’ve been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can’t put this into words.”

U.S. Women – Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito.

On the women’s side, three prominent skaters will all be vying for their shots at a medal: Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito.

“I haven’t seen a U.S. women’s team this strong in 20 years,” Olympic gold medalist and commentator Tara Lipinski told NBC Olympics.

The trio will be aiming for the first U.S. women’s medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

“This time just feels so completely different. I know who I am as a person now,” Liu said after her performance in the team event Friday.

Friday’s skate in the short program wasn’t quite at that level and Liu grimaced at one wobbly landing as she placed second behind three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. Still, it kept the U.S. team in the lead with three of eight programs completed.

Liu’s biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

Glenn is the only American woman trying a triple axel at the Games.

Liu draws strength from her American teammates — “that energy is what I crave” — and came up with the nickname “Blade Angels” for herself and the other two U.S. women’s skaters, a mashup of “Blades of Glory” and “Charlie’s Angels.”

“If we do our jobs in Milan,” Glenn said, “then more than likely someone is going to be up there.”

U.S. Ice Dancing – Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko

Then there’s the husband-wife duo of Chock and Bates.

Chock and Bates are the three-time defending world champions, and they’ve been nearly unbeatable since finishing fourth in the individual ice competition in Beijing. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

This year they’ll be going for their first individual gold.

“Everyone still considers them very much the favorites for the gold here,” Weir said, adding “they certainly have the talent, and the ambition and drive.”

They showed their dominance in their first performance Friday, where they scored a world-leading 91.06 points to open the three-day competition.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

U.S. Pairs – Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, Emily Chan and Spencer Howe

The two pairs spots are held by Ellie Kam and Chicago-area skater Danny O’Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

O’Shea, who grew up in the Chicago area and attended Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights, is making his first Olympic appearance at 34.

O’Shea and partner Ellie Kam finished fifth in the pairs short program with a score of 66.59 after a fall by Kam during their performance. Still, it was enough to help keep the Americans in the lead in the team event.

“You could hear it when we landed our side-by-side jump set. It was so loud, I literally couldn’t hear anything,” Kam said. “I couldn’t hear our music for a second. I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Lock in. We need to do the rest of this program.’”

“I’m so excited for the team and I’m so excited to perform one more time for the team and we’re happy with what we did today,” O’Shea said.

O’Shea has been was praised by Lipinski and Weir for his skills.

“If there’s anyone I’d want to lift me it would be Danny O’Shea,” Lipinski said during his performance, adding that “Danny has stolen my heart.”

“It’s taken him 30 years to get to this moment,” she added.

Full figure skating schedule