ST. LOUIS — Alysa Liu, the 20-year-old reigning women’s world champion from Richmond, is returning to the Olympics as a key member of one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history.
In addition to Liu, the U.S. squad will be anchored by reigning men’s world champion Ilia Malinin, U.S. women’s national champ Amber Glenn and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men’s gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will Liu and Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
“I’m just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment,” Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate Liu. She returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women’s medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist whose mother is from Milan.
“If we do our jobs in Milan,” Glenn said, “then more than likely someone is going to be up there” (on the medal stand.)
Malinin will be joined on the men’s side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It’s what I’ve been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can’t put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Koklesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete’s life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, “and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what’s best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren’t easy,” Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
Bay Area ice dancer makes roster
Anthony Ponomarenko of Morgan Hill made his first Olympic team along with partner Christina Carreira after finishing third at the U.S. Championships in St. Louis.
“Unbelievable. I just can’t wait,” Ponomarenko said of the honor. “We are finally in a good groove, so just keep working. We still have a lot of little details to fix up and show the best possible version of ourselves at the Games.”
Ponomarenko and Carreira will be joined by two more American pairs in Italy: Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who won the Olympic gold in the 2022 team event, and Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik.
Freelance reporter Elliott Almond contributed to this story.