8 Storylines to Follow in Olympic Figure Skating at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Games

I love the Olympics, for hippie-ish reasons like international cooperation, but also because it’s a big, brash soap opera of a competition. Nowhere are the stories richer (or more ridiculous) than in figure skating. Here are some of the stories you can expect to play out on the ice in Milano-Cortina:

1. France is flying the flag of MESS in Ice Dance

Of the four figure skating disciplines, ice dance is always the messiest, partly because the judging is so subjective. At least “you rotated your jumps” is hard data in the other three events. In ice dance, who wins is a lot of politicking, reputation and vibes. Never forget that the 2002 pairs figure skating scandal was actually triggered by cheating in ice dance. Specifically, French ice dance.

Now France is at the centre of the messiest saga in ice dance once again.

At face value, it may seem expected – almost boring – that reigning ice dance Olympic champion Guillaume Cizeron would return to defend his title. Indeed, he’s back. And Cizeron truly is a gorgeous man (think “male model who’s inexplicably sulking because he’s so handsome”) and a gorgeous skater to watch (so expressive! so fluid!).

But things get messy because he ditched his ice dance partner-since-childhood, Gabriella Papadakis, without even telling her he was getting a new partner (boo, hiss). Apparently, she was “unreliable”. Papadakis has hit back in a recent memoir, describing Cizeron’s behaviour within their partnership as narcissistic and bullying.

Who did Cizeron pick as his new partner? Only the most controversial choice possible.

Laurence Fournier-Beaudry used to skate for Canada with her boyfriend Nikolaj Sørensen, until he was credibly accused of rape and banned from the sport. She stood by her man (grimace), but her ice dance career evaporated overnight. No one expected to see her on the ice again – except, fast-forward a year, and now she’s French and skating with Guillaume Cizeron. File under, things that make you go “yikes”.

In ice dance terms, it’s absolutely insane to be a brand new team, who’s only competed together a handful of times, and expect to win Olympic Gold.

The wrinkle? Guillaume and Laurence are just that good. In an ice dance field that has felt stale (with the same three or four teams shuffling between podium spots for the past four years), these two are sexy and fresh and fun to watch. Despite the mess, I’m rooting for them to win over the “safe” favourites, USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

Ice Dance podium prediction: (1) Fournier-Beaudry/Cizeron (FRA), (2) Chock/Bates (USA), (3) Gilles/Poirier (CAN)

Other skaters to look out for in Ice Dance:

Excuse my nationalism when I say that Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who skate a free dance that is FULL SCOTTISH, NONSTOP SCOTTISH, are the most rousing ice dancers you’ll watch.

If you love romance, you’ll enjoy the USA’s Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik. They’re sweethearts on and off the ice, and they’re skating to Romeo and Juliet.

Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier skate to a sentimental but lovely Van-Gogh-themed program that will likely make me cry when it’s on Olympic ice.

If you love weirdos (I do!), look out for the other French team, Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud, who have a bonkers rhythm dance set to Blue (Da Ba Dee). No, there’s not another song titled Blue (Da Ba Dee); it’s the one you’re thinking of.

2. Deanna is a geriatric 42 years old; can she win an Olympic medal? (Doubtful, but we love her.)

Get ready to hear about Canadian pairs skater Deanna Stellato’s age a lot. For me, the media furore about Deanna’s age has an air of, “People over 40 should be consigned to the scrap heap of life. Are we sure she doesn’t need a walking stick to get around?”

However, Deanna’s story is an incredible one. In her mid-teens (yes, calendar fans, that was in the 90s), she was a top level skater, winning the Junior Grand Prix Final (one of the highest accolades in the sport for young athletes) in 1999. Struggling with injury, she retired from the sport before she was even able to vote. Then, in her thirties, she came back.

Figure skating is a sport with an expiry date. Most skaters hang up their skates when they hit 30; they don’t fix their sights on Olympic Gold. Stellato, who is now a pairs skater with Maxime Deschamps, is doing just that.

Deanna and Max have pedigree. They won the World Championships two years ago. Unfortunately, the two have had a rough season, and they’re struggling with injury, so they’re a longshot for Gold, but watch out for their Carmina Burana short program, which is deliciously melodramatic and features an insane backflip move.

3. Italy pin their hopes on a home victory in Pairs

The pairs event is set to be hotly contested, but I’ll be rooting for the home favourites, Italy’s Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii.

Sara is about 83% eyes, reflecting every expression possible, while Niccolò looks like one of the lesser Weasley brothers who’s been conned into trying pairs skating.

Their programs this year can best be described as: ITALIAN, DID WE MENTION WE’RE ITALIAN? Their chemistry is… interesting. Rumoured to be exes, they barely touch each other (let alone celebrate together) in the Kiss and Cry after a performance, but apparently they say the word “together” before taking the ice. Hmm.

If Conti/Macii don’t make it to the top of the Olympic podium, it will likely be because they’re pipped by Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara. They have the speed and skating skills the judges love, although they’re not always error-free and (whisper it) they can be a little boring. Still, if the Japanese pair skate clean, no one can beat them.

If Japan and Italy both make errors, the door is open for Germany or Georgia. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin are strong but slightly lacking in emotion (she’s such a diva that I don’t care, though), while Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava have big tricks and bombast, but their scores are pulled down by empty sections of their programs.

Pairs podium prediction: (1) Conti/Macii (ITA), (2) Miura/Kihara (JPN), (3) Hase/Volodin (GER)

Other skaters to look out for in Pairs:

I have a real soft spot for Great Britain’s Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby. Though not in contention for a medal, they’ll be skating in Milano for the love of it, and their short program to Lighthouse is lovely.

4. Spare a thought for Maxim Naumov, whose trauma will be called inspirational

I love to find out the stories in sports – to know the behind-the-scenes, the emotion behind the performance – but some stories are just too tragic to be tea. 

Maxim Naumov is a USA men’s skater. He won’t factor in the medals, but you’ll hear about him, because his story is genuinely devastating.

A year ago, American Eagle Flight 5342 crashed with a helicopter over Washington DC, killing 67 people. A number of skaters and coaches were on the plane, including Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who won the World Championships in pairs skating for Russia in 1994. This married couple became coaches and settled in the USA, having a family, including a son who reached the top of the sport.

A year ago, Maxim got the news that both his parents died in the plane crash. Now he’s competing at the Olympics, skating in tribute to them. Maxim is clearly stronger than I could ever conceive of being, but I also think everyone should just leave him the hell alone, rather than expecting him to be unerringly “inspirational”.

Let’s move on.

5. GenZ is here, they’re winning the men’s event, and they’re doing it to the soundtrack of their own affirmations

What do you do if you’re 21 years old, the self-proclaimed “quad god”, and a shoo-in to be Olympic Champion in men’s singles?

Well, apparently you record yourself doing incomprehensible spoken word poetry (sample: “you are something, but not nothing”) and use it within your figure skating program. Which is what USA’s Ilia Malinin has done.

Ilia has huge tricks – he’ll be aiming for an insane seven-quad free skate, including a quad axel jump (four and a half rotations) – which makes him almost unbeatable. His skating isn’t my cuppa tea, but hey, you know what Mr Malinin? You ARE something but not nothing.

6. Watch out for the “menning”, but expect excellence from Team Japan

With Malinin basically locked for gold, who will take home the silver and bronze in the men’s event?

It’s always hard to say, due to the tendency of men towards “menning”. This describes what happens when a skater crashes out in the short program, only to have a virtuoso performance in the long program and end up on the podium (or vice versa; a perfect short, followed by a nightmare long).

Expect a strong chance of menning from France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, Italy’s Daniel Grassl, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, Georgia’s Nika Egadze, Korea’s Junhwan Cha, and more.

But the podium places are likely to go to the smoothest, steadiest skaters of the bunch, and those are from Japan, namely Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato. If you love gorgeous, refined skating, congratulations, you’re a Team Japan stan (me, too).

Men’s podium prediction: (1) Ilia Malinin (USA), (2) Yuma Kagiyama (JPN), (3) Shun Sato (JPN)

Other skaters to watch out for in the Men’s event:

I watch skating for the artistry, and no one else is prepared to rip their heart out and throw it on the ice in the name of PERFORMANCE like Korea’s Junhwan Cha. His Rain in Your Black eyes short program is captivating. His jumps are unfortunately inconsistent, but oh… I hope Jun can put it all together for a shot at the podium.

Purely for the meme, Italy’s Daniel Grassl is worth a look. Skating to the Conclave soundtrack, his free skate begins with “THE POPE IS DEAD”, and then halfway through, Grassl does an outfit change to reveal… HE IS THE NEW POPE?? It’s not clear whether Grassl knows about the big twist of Conclave and how that might affect his performance. My main criticism of this bonkers program is that I wish it were even MORE camp.

7. The Russians are back! Actually, they were here all along…

Even the most casual skating fan probably remembers how the 2022 Olympics culminated in figure skating, with doping allegations and meltdowns.

Russia’s Alexandra Trusova ended her bid for Gold by screaming and crying “I hate this sport, I will never skate again!” Despite doing everything her coaches asked of her (including doping?), she lost out on the Olympic title and now her life seemed worthless.

(For the record, Trusova seems to be doing fine now, married with a new baby.)

Russia were, of course, banned from Olympic sport after violating the terms of the Olympic truce by invading Ukraine during the Paralympic Games. Well, great news, Russia is back!

I personally enjoyed the return to clean sport and camaraderie that Russia’s absence brought. But… they’re back, albeit in an extremely limited capacity, competing as Individual Neutral Athletes.

Russia’s Adeliia Petrosian is competing in the women’s event, and Petr Gumennik is competing in the men’s event. They’ve been vetted for displaying neutrality in the war. They’ll be entering the Games with the distinct disadvantage of being unranked and therefore skating early, but who knows what the two of them may achieve if others make mistakes?

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that there are plenty of Russian skaters to watch in the Olympic figure skating… they just don’t represent Russia. For example, the majority of Team Georgia were born in Russia. So you’ll get to see that special Russian blend of balletic beauty and absolute tackiness, like when Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina does a headstand on the ice for no discernible reason.

8. The women of the women’s event all love each other, but will love tear them apart? (Probably not.)

The last decade-plus has seen Olympic Gold in the women’s event passed between a series of Russian teen ingenues, each of whom has huge jumps and little personality. This Olympics is set to be different. Most of the women in the women’s event are actually WOMEN.

The rules change on age eligibility means that everyone in the women’s event is at least 18 (or turning 18 in 2026). And the favourite to win is a twenty-five-year-old from Japan named Kaori Sakamoto.

Kaori is pure sunshine, skating two highly-emotional programs designed to be her goodbye to skating after a long, illustrious career (she’s a three-time World Champion and grabbed Bronze at the 2022 Olympics). She’s the mama bear of the women’s event and, seemingly, a big part of the reason that women’s singles has become one big love fest.

If Kaori locks in, she’s unstoppable. If she wavers, the door is open for half a dozen other women. There are her Japanese teammates, Mone Chiba and Ami Nakai, as well as a stacked roster from the USA, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito.

This is a wide open field – and, if anyone pips Kaori, I’m hoping it’s the USA’s Alysa Liu, the reigning World and Grand Prix Champion. Alysa, who’s all San Francisco kookiness, may be only 20, but she’s packed in a hell of a career.

She was national champion at 13. She went to the Olympics at 16 and then promptly retired. She returned to competition at 18. Now, while her competitors frantically calculate points in their heads, her attitude seems to be “whatever, man”. She’s skating for the love of it – and she just might win, for the love of it.

Women’s podium prediction: (1) Kaori Sakamoto (JPN), (2) Alysa Liu (USA), Mone Chiba (JPN)

Other skaters to watch out for in the women’s event:

I have seen pure joy and it is the USA’s Isabeau Levito skating to Zou Bisou Bisou. *draws hearts around her*

If you’re looking for weird-girl energy in women’s skating, look no further than Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann. In the past, she’s skated to a Hitchcock medley and the music from Squid Game. This year, she’s skating to the Jaws theme. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

I love my Belgian girlies, Loena Hendrickx and Nina Pinzarrone, but both have been beset by injury this season and will struggle to crack the top 10. Still, look out for Pinzarrone’s Handmaid’s-Tale-themed long program. Where else but in figure skating do you see a teenage girl in a drop-dead red dress skating to a monologue about suicide? That’s skating!!!!

I hope you’ll enjoy the pageantry, the stories, and the pure skating of the Olympic events. In the UK, you can watch it all on BBC iPlayer or Discovery+. Dreams will be made, dreams will be dashed, and I’ll be on the edge of my sofa.