Headlined by stars like Ilia “Quad God” Malinin, the US announced its strong lineup for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics following the 2026 Prevagen U.S. Figure Skating Championships that served as the national Olympic qualifiers this weekend. The nation is putting forward the best of the best: 3 men, 3 women, 2 pairs, and 3 ice dance couples will be competing for Team USA next month. Nationals were streaming live on NBC, where the Olympic Games will be broadcasted as well. Many members of the Olympic team will also be skating live here in Albany at MVP Arena on April 26th for the Stars on Ice Tour. Tickets are currently on sale at both Ticketmaster and the Box Office, with box office tickets being roughly 20 to 30 dollars cheaper than those online. Most seats are currently still available. It’s expected that the arena will begin to fill up following the Olympics, although dynamic pricing does not seem to be in use and most tickets are not yet in resale markets.
The Men: Ilia Malinin, Andrew Torgashev, and Maxim Naumov
21 year old Ilia Malinin, the four-time U.S. Champion also titled the “Quad God,” is revolutionizing the sport itself, with jumps unparalleled by any other skater. He hasn’t lost a competition since 2023 and is thought to be the likely recipient of a gold medal in Milan. Former athletes reporting on this weekend’s nationals said that while other skaters could prove to be a threat, he would likely have to miss multiple skills in order to genuinely lose. In 2022, he became the first and only skater to successfully do a quadruple axel, the most challenging jump in figure skating for its 4.5 midair rotations. At last year’s Grand Prix Final, he became the first to execute seven quadruple jumps in one routine. His “playing it safe” at the National Championships still consisted of multiple jumps formerly thought to be physically impossible, and he ended the competition in St. Louis, Missouri with a 57.26 point lead on silver medalist Maxim Naumov. With 324.88 points overall, including a shocking 209.78 point free skate and an unheard of 48.82 points in jumps alone during his short program. His short program featured 2 quad jumps, a quad flip and remarkably a quad lutz, the second hardest jump in figure skating, paired with a triple toe loop in a combination that earned an insane 21.54 points. The cherry on top? He did it all while breaking in new skates. Milan will be Malinin’s first Olympics, as he narrowly missed the team for the Beijing 2022. He’s hoping to compete in 3 Olympics over the course of his career, ending in the 2034 Salt Lake City Games. He grew up in Vienna, Virginia and was coached by his parents, including his father who competed for Uzbekistan in multiple Olympics. He now trains in Reston, Virginia representing Washington Figure Skating Club.
24 year old Andrew Torgashev placed second at Nationals in both 2025 and 2026, with 267.62 points last weekend. Milan will be his first Olympics. He’s known for his artistry and creative choreography, as well as his powerful jumps. His love for pizza, having subsisted solely off of it for 54 straight days, is also an integral part of his reputation. He grew up in Coral Springs, Florida, but now trains in Irvine, California for Panthers Figure Skating Club. His parents were figure skating champions representing the Soviet Union in pairs and ice dance.
24 year old Maxim Naumov placed third at Prevagen with 249.16 points and is the final member of the men’s figure skating team. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, he grew up in Norwood, Massachusetts and continues to train there for the Skating Club of Boston. This last year hasn’t just been a journey in his career, it’s also been a journey of dealing with grief. Naumov lost both of his parents in the D.C.-area plane crash of January 2025 that struck the figure skating community when it took the lives of 67 passengers, 28 of which were skaters.
Skating legend Jason Brown is the first alternate for the men’s team, with 5th place winner Tomoki Hiwatashi and 4th place winner Jacob Sanchez as the second and third alternates.
The Women: Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, and Isabeau Levito
26 year old Amber Glenn placed first at Prevagen, making her the first American woman since the legendary Michelle Kwan to win the national title 3 years in a row. She’s known for her athleticism as one of the only American women to consistently land the triple axel, the most challenging triple jump in figure skating. Her advocacy for mental health and the LGBTQ+ community as the first openly queer female olympic skater (Glenn is pansexual, a term expressing attraction to all genders) has made the first-time Olympian a notable figure in the sport. She grew up in Plano, Texas representing Dallas Figure Skating Club, and now trains in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
20-year old Alysa Liu placed second at Prevagen after having retired at 16 following her first Olympics in Beijing and returning to figure skating with a new attitude and love for the sport. At 12 years old, she became the youngest skater in history to land a triple axel during an international competition, and she became the youngest U.S. women’s champion in history just a year later in 2019. She suddenly retired and attended UCLA with no intent to ever reenter the sport. In 2024, she changed her mind, taking control of her artistry and training and adding in her own unique flair to her image, with her DIY smiley piercing and black-and-blonde striped hair containing one stripe for every year since her retirement. Born in Clovis, California, she grew up and continues to train in Oakland, California for St. Moritz Ice Skating Club.
18 year old Isabeau Levito placed third with routines highlighting her princess-like image and skating style. Affectionately called “Tinkerbeau,” she was the 2023 U.S. Champion and 2024 World SIlver Medalist. Her mother’s side of the family is from Milan, making this first Olympics of hers an especially special moment. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she continues to train in her hometown of Mount Laurel, New Jersey representing the Skating Club of Southern New Jersey.
Bradie Tennell, Sarah Everhardt, and Starr Andrews, who placed fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively, will serve as the first, second, and third alternates.
The Pairs: Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and Emily Chan and Spencer Howe
21 year old Ellie Kam and 34 year old Danny O’Shea will represent Team USA in Milan. The two have been skating partners since 2022. Kam was born on the Yokota Air Base in Japan and O’Shea was born in Pontiac, Michigan. Both grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they currently train, with Kam representing Thunderbirds Figure Skating Club and O’Shea representing the Skating Club of New York.
28 year old Emily Chan and 29 year old Spencer Akira Howe will also skate pairs for Team USA, and have skated together since 2019. Chan was born in Pasadena, Texas, but calls Dallas her hometown. Born in Burbank, California and raised in Los Angeles, Howe is serving as a private second class in the U.S. Army as part of the World Class Athlete Program. They both train in Norwood, Massachusetts and represent the Skating Club of Boston, which lost 6 members in the D.C. plane crash.
The pair that took home the gold at Prevagen, married couple Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, will be unable to compete at Milan due to Efimova’s lack of American citizenship. The Finnish-Russian green card holder was hoping to receive citizenship status by Sunday, however last-ditch efforts by figure skating officials did not succeed in time. Fifth, sixth, and seventh place teams Audrey Shin and Balazs Nagy, Valentina Plazas and Maximiliano Fernandez, and Chelsea Liu and Ryan Bedard will serve as alternates.
The Ice Dance Teams: Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
33 year old Madison Chock and 36 year old Evan Bates placed first at the National Championships, winning their 7th national title with their flamenco-inspired free dance telling the story of corrida de toros, or bullfighting. Known for their storytelling and artistry, Chock and Bates are three time Olympians, the reigning world champions, and one of the most recognizable ice dance duos. They began skating in 2011, started dating in 2017, and got married in 2024. Chock is from Redondo Beach, California and skates for All Year Figure Skating Club, while Bates is from Ann Arbor, Michigan and skates for Ann Arbor Figure Skating Club. They train together in Montreal, Canada.
23 year old Emilea Zingas and 24 year old Vadym Kolesnik, a dating couple who have been skating together since 2022, placed second. Their free dance focused on highlighting tragedy as they reimagined the story of Romeo and Juliet. Zingas was born in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, and grew up in Detroit. She currently represents St. Clair Shores Figure Skating Club, but she formerly competed in women’s singles for Cyprus, where her paternal grandparents are from. Kolesnik was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, but moved to Novi, Michigan, a town on the outskirts of Detroit, when he was 15. He now skates for the Skating Club of New York. Zingas and Kolesnik continue to train together in Novi.
25 year old Christina Carreira and 24 year old Anthony Ponomarenko placed third with their free dance exploring Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, a 2006 film and 1985 novel about a perfumer who murders women to preserve their scents. Carreira is from Montreal, Canada but moved to Michigan at 13. In order to get her citizenship, she spent four years commuting across the border to maintain U.S. residence while training with Ponomarenko in Ontario until she was granted her citizenship last November. She skates for the Skating Club of New York. Ponomarenko is the son of Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, former Soviet skaters who are the only ice dancers to have won bronze, silver, and gold medals at the Olympics. He is from San Jose, California and skates for the Skating Club of San Francisco. The duo trains in both Montreal and London.
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