Meet the U.S. Olympic figure skating team: Ilia Malinin heads a powerful squad
Malinin is the clear gold medal favorite. All three women's skaters have a medal shot. And the incredible story of Maxim Naumov continues.
The U.S. Olympic figure skating team is set.
On Sunday, at the conclusion of this week’s national championships, U.S. Figure Skating announced the team for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games, and it should be one of the nation’s strongest teams yet.
The Americans boast top gold medal contenders in three disciplines. Ilia Malinin is the best men’s singles skater in the world. Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito give the U.S. three medal hopefuls in women’s singles. And Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who have owned the ice dance competition in recent years, will vie for their first Olympic medal in the event.
The team also features several first-time Olympians, including Maxim Naumov, who lost his parents when a plane carrying several members of the U.S. figure skating community collided with a helicopter and crashed last January in Washington, D.C.
Here’s the full team for next month’s Olympics.
Women’s singles
Amber Glenn
Glenn, 26, was a former U.S. junior champion before stepping away from the sport for mental health reasons in 2015. When she returned, she struggled to match that form at the senior level. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she added a triple axel jump to her repertoire and found a new gear. Now, she’s won three straight U.S. championships, as well as last year’s Grand Prix Final — the culmination of the sport’s annual top-circuit season — and heads to the Olympics as the U.S. No. 1, ranked No. 3 in the world.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Glenn told NBC’s Andrea Joyce. “I’ve been working at this for so, so long.”
Isabeau Levito
Levito’s teammates and good friends Glenn and Liu have won most of the top hardware, but Levito is right there with them. The 18-year-old from New Jersey was the silver medalist at the 2024 world championships and the 2023 U.S. champion. She doesn’t have a major international gold medal like Liu and Glenn, but she’s ranked No. 5 in the world and will have her eyes on a medal in her first Olympics.
“This was my goal and my dream, and it just feels so special it came true,” she said.
Alysa Liu
The Oakland, Calif., native was the youngest member of the Olympic team at the COVID-impacted Beijing Games in 2022. She retired shortly after, then returned two years ago. Now 20, she’s the reigning world champion and a top contender for gold. She finished second to Glenn at this week’s U.S. championships.
“I’m not the youngest this time, so I’m feeling older,” she said. “And there’s people in the crowd, so I’m feeling the support.”
Alternates: Bradie Tennell, Sarah Everhardt, Starr Andrews
Men’s singles
Ilia Malinin
What else can you say about the “Quad God?” Malinin is the clear world No. 1 and an overwhelming favorite for gold in Milan. At 21 years old, he might just be getting started.
