The Olympic determine skaters of the Milan Cortina Games leaving rivalry on ice

It’s laborious to say precisely what instigated the change. Athletes like Glenn and her Japanese counterpart, Kaori Sakamoto, are preternaturally optimistic people. Both older athletes of their subject, and each on the high of it, they set the tone for the youthful skaters that look as much as them. This was maybe most notable when, in 2025, the three-time world champion Sakamoto discovered herself unseated by a very surprised Liu. Sakamoto didn’t miss a beat, giving Liu an enormous hug, leaping up and down together with her, joyfully celebrating the success that meant her failure.  

Another clarification of the camaraderie of the world’s elite determine skaters factors to the group occasions which have given skaters not solely extra alternative to compete, however extra alternative to view their success as collective.

The inaugural World Team Trophy occasion — a biannual competitors by which the nations with the highest athletes throughout all 4 skating disciplines compete for factors as nationwide groups — was in 2009. A model of the occasion then had its Olympic debut in 2014. It’s taken a while for athletes to take the occasion critically, however heading into these Games lots of the contenders indicated simply how a lot the occasion mattered. 

“The team event is extremely important to us,” Evan Bates stated within the days earlier than it kicked off in Milan. “Having the opportunity to compete as a team is so special, and this team in particular is so talented.”

That respect is born of shared experiences, whether or not on the group occasion, performing in reveals collectively, or attending annual coaching camps. Although lots of the determine skaters inside the U.S. prepare far other than each other, these alternatives give athletes time to bond with the tiny share of people that can greatest relate to them.

“Getting to skate with you guys is really rare for me,” Liu stated to the opposite “Blade Angels” after the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. “Back at home, there’s not really many people at my level, and I’m always really grateful coming to these competitions because I get to see what crazy things y’all do.”

With the game shifting away from an emphasis on quadruple jumps and towards an array of athletically advanced actions on the ice, skaters have discovered to be impressed by each other’s creativity, making it a lot extra pleasurable to pursue.

It additionally makes it extra pleasurable to look at, and that’s a objective for lots of the high athletes at this time. Malinin has shared in a number of interviews how a lot he desires to carry determine skating again to its ‘90s glory days.

“I really want figure skating to be big and popular like it was decades ago,” he stated. “Huge stadiums sold out. Tons of shows. On every news platform — that’s what I want skating to be brought back to.”

When seen as a complete like this, their teamwork begins to make much more sense: The athletes prepare laborious to be aggressive on the ice, however work collectively to raise the game’s picture whereas off it.

“I just think that we are all trying to lift each other up,” Glenn stated. “I think it’s just all about that, and doing it in a healthy way, and that’s the future of our sport.”