Ilya Marinin talks about his dreams and goals for the 2026 Winter Games
Ilya Marinin joined the Milan Magic videocast with Christine Brennan and Brian Boitano to discuss his dreams for the upcoming Olympics.
Sports serious, Milan magic
ST. LOUIS — U.S. Figure Skating announces the figure skaters who will represent the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The team announcement will take place four days after the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and will be led by 21-year-old “God of the Quad” Ilia Marin, a gold medal favorite at the Milan Games. Amber Glenn, Alisa Liu and Isabeau Levitt secured the three women’s spots, forming the best women’s team in the United States in nearly 25 years.
In total, the United States will send 16 skaters to the Olympics, the most ever for any Games. The breakdown of the U.S. team for February is as follows: We will update this story as skaters are named to the team.
Ilia Marin
- year: twenty one
- height: 5 feet 8
- Hometown: vienna, virginia
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: men’s single
- What you need to know: “Quad God” is ready to shine. Marinin is arguably the best skater on the planet, and he has a complete arsenal of elite arsenals that no other skater can match, starting with the quad axel that gave him his nickname. He has dominated tournaments, winning every tournament he has competed in since December 2023, including two world championships. He will be the favorite to win America’s second consecutive gold medal, joining Nathan Chen in 2022.
Watch an exclusive conversation with Ilia Marin in our debut episode. Milan Magic Olympics Podcast. Subscribe and listen: apple podcast | spotify | Amazon
Andrew Tolgashev
- year: twenty four
- height: 5-7
- Hometown: Coral Springs, Florida
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: men’s single
- What you need to know: It was quite a season for Tolgashev, but he performed well and earned his first Olympic appearance. After winning the silver medal at the 2025 U.S. Championships, he endured some hardships at the World Championships and elsewhere. Despite the difficult conditions, Tolgashev held on and another silver medal helped the United States earn a spot. Tolgashev is half-Ukrainian and has family in Ukraine.
Maxim Naumov
- year: twenty four
- height: 5-6
- Hometown: norwood, massachusetts
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: men’s single
- What you need to know: This year marks a year of recovery for Naumov, whose parents were also victims of the January 2025 plane crash near Washington, D.C. that devastated the skating community. He overcame the tragedy to win his first senior championship at the 2025 Ice Challenge, and won a bronze medal at the 2026 U.S. National Championships with an impressive performance. The strong finish emphasized the captivating story.
Alyssa Liu
- year: 20
- height: 5-2
- Hometown: Oakland, California
- Olympic experience: 2nd (2022)
- event: women’s single
- What you need to know: Back like she never left. Liu retired in 2022, returned in 2024, and has been nothing but great since. She made her big announcement by winning the 2025 World Championships and capped off the year by winning the Grand Prix Final, securing her return to the Olympics. She won two silver medals at the past two U.S. Championships. She is very creative in her programs and with her carefree attitude, Liu has the talent to win some hardware in Milan-Cortina.
amber glen
- year: 26
- height: 5-6
- Hometown: Plano, Texas
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: women’s single
- What you need to know: Glenn, who just missed out on competing in 2022, had a sensational season that leaves no doubt he will qualify for his first Olympic Games. She was a fierce and powerful skater with top-notch technical skills and won three consecutive U.S. championships, making her the first woman to do so since Michelle Kwan. She can win a medal at the Olympics. She is a leading advocate for mental health and has helped transform the conversation around mental health in figure skating.
Isabeau Levit
- year: 18
- height: 5-1
- Hometown: Mount Laurel, New Jersey
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: women’s single
- What you need to know: Any talk of a third-place finish for the women’s team ended with Levit’s impressive performance at the U.S. Nationals. The 2023 national champion defined beauty and grace on the ice, which propelled her to a third-place finish in 2026. Her mother is from Italy and has family in Milan, so the Olympics will be a kind of homecoming for her family. She also speaks Italian and Russian.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates
- year: Chock is 33 and Bates is 36.
- height: Chock is 5-2 and Bates is 6-1.
- Hometown: Chock is from Redondo Beach, California. Bates is from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
- Olympic experience: 4th (2014, 2018, 2022)
- event: ice dance
- What you need to know: Chock and Bates have dominated ice dancing, and will be returning to the Olympics with hopes of making it to the podium for the first time in that event. They’ve accomplished everything else, winning nearly every tournament they’ve competed in since 2022, including five consecutive U.S. Championships, three World Championships, and three Grand Prix Final titles. It will also be the couple’s first Olympics together since they got married in 2024.
Ellie Kamm and Daniel O’Shea
- year: Cam is 21 years old, O’Shea is 34 years old.
- height: Cam is 5-0, O’Shea is 6-0.
- Hometown: Both are from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- Olympic experience: beginning
- event: pair
- What you need to know: The partnership, which began in 2022, will compete in the Olympics for the first time. Cam and O’Shea were the 2024 U.S. champions and have been trying to get back to that title ever since. They won a bronze medal at the 2025 U.S. Championships and had two more third-place finishes in the following two Grand Prix events, but this year they achieved their best finish of the season with second place, a big boost towards securing an Olympic berth.
