For most, the 2026 world championships will be about titles and rankings. But for Ilia Malinin and Amber Glenn, this competition represents a new beginning. A reckoning of sorts.
The Olympics is where the world meets figure skaters. Where the lights are hottest and the audiences the largest. And the expectations are heavy enough to crush. It’s a stage that turns athletes into symbols. Or, in the case of these two American figure skating stars, reveals them as human.
Milan was set up to be their culmination. Both skaters had their Olympic debuts delayed four years. Both grew into medal contenders heading into the 2026 Winter Olympics. But the world didn’t see their brilliance. It saw them falter. They secured gold in the team event. But in the singles events, their best evaded them.
For Malinin, 21, it was a meltdown in which “I felt like I had no control” in the grandest skate of his life.
For Glenn, 26, a single mistake cost her a medal in her first and likely last Olympics. Their moment slipped through their fingers.
But figure skating demands resilience. While America celebrates its newest darling, Alysa Liu, two of its other stars begin the humble climb again.
The women’s and the pairs short program begin on Wednesday. The men’s short program and ice dance take place on Thursday. The medal rounds take place Friday and Saturday.
America sent a full contingent to Prague, the Czech capital. Liu, the women’s singles gold medalist, pulled out. Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the silver medalists in ice dance, also skipped this year’s worlds. But fellow Olympians Isabeau Levito and Andrew Torgashev, both of whom finished 12th, will compete in Prague. As well as Sarah Everhardt in women’s singles and Jacob Sanchez in men’s singles.
U.S. pairs champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov join fellow American pairs Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman, and Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe. The Americans in the ice dance competition: Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik.
But Friday’s women’s free skate and Saturday’s men’s free skate shine a spotlight on two of U.S. Figure Skating’s premier figures.
Malinin begins his journey toward redemption by seeking his third consecutive world championship gold. Phase one in erasing the disaster of his last performance.
He’s the best in the world. Milan was supposed to be his anointing. But the Quad God unraveled epicly in his final skate. When a typical performance by him would’ve won gold, he summoned his worst and finished eighth.
“It’s done,” Malinin said after his Olympic free skate. “So I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to. But from here it’s just regrouping, figuring out what to do next.”
Next is reclaiming his supremacy. Next is a slow grind back to the next Winter Olympics, the only stage on which he can redeem himself. Thus begins his four-year venture to solve what went wrong in Italy if he is to claim the only major award his sport has to offer that he doesn’t own.
While Malinin is counting up, Glenn is counting down. Thus begins the inevitable end to her inspirational career. She’s managed her body, fought through injuries and summoned all of her considerable athleticism to become one of the world’s best well past the sport’s typical prime. But how much longer she can stay elite is in the air.
About a month ago, in the mixed zone in Milan, Glenn let out a laugh when asked about competing in the 2030 Winter Olympics.
“I’ll be 30,” she said. “That’s cute.”
Which makes these major performances significant. For Glenn, who overcame mental health battles, concussions and early career struggles under her sport’s rigidity, this is about a last ride, however long it lasts. It began with a free skate that earned her a fifth-place finish in the Olympics, a salvage after a technicality in the short program dropped her to 13th.
But if Glenn’s career is about anything, it’s resilience. Fighting through.
Her and Malinin have that in common. Figure skating demands its greats bounce back. And they’ve taken their sport’s toughest blow.
Prague begins. The audience will be smaller. The pressure less heavy. But the urgency more personal. This time, it won’t be about medals as much as it will be about pride.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Olympics, Global Sports, Women’s Olympics
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