Ilia Malinin puts Olympics behind him with historic World Championships short program

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Ilia Malinin puts Olympics behind him with historic World Championships short program

This was the Ilia Malinin everyone had expected to see on that fateful night at last month’s Winter Olympics in Milan.

The one who Thursday did a program with easily the hardest jumps of anyone in the field at the World Championships in Prague.

The one who nailed them all — quadruple flip, then triple Axel, then quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination — to command the short program and build a lead of nearly 10 points in his bid for a third straight world title in men’s singles.

Or maybe not quite that Ilia.

“This is another version of me, another part of me that just appeared out of nowhere, the person not trying to put so much expectations on me,” Malinin said Thursday. “This is me just wanting to enjoy doing what I love.”

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Emilea Zingas, Vadym Kolesnik eager to carry on U.S. ice dance tradition

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Emilea Zingas, Vadym Kolesnik eager to carry on U.S. ice dance tradition

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik went into the Olympics with no expectations.

Barely a month later, as Zingas and Kolesnik ready to compete in their first World Championships together this week in Prague, they have become the standard bearer for U.S. ice dancing, which over the past 22 seasons has flown its flag in awards ceremonies at six straight Olympics and 19 of the last 21 worlds.

This has happened so fast for Zingas and Kolesnik.

The 2026 Winter Games in Milan were the first global championship appearance for them as a couple (Zingas also finished 36th in singles at 2021 Worlds for Cyprus).

She had taken up ice dance only four years ago after having spent more than a decade in singles. All the Olympic attention and pressure was on their U.S. teammates, three-time reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

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Alysa Liu's new reality: fame, fashion and the fast lane

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Alysa Liu's new reality: fame, fashion and the fast lane

Phillip DiGuglielmo began to see the handwriting on the wall not long after murals of Alysa Liu went up in Oakland and suburban Los Angeles.

For two weeks after Liu won the Olympic women’s singles title Feb. 19 in Milan, she and DiGuglielmo, her coach, still planned on going to Prague later this month so she could defend her world title.

“I knew her training wouldn’t be optimal, but we’re used to that,” DiGuglielmo said by telephone. “But this was going to be far from optimal.”

He understood that it was time for Liu to optimize the things coming her way since she became a sensation at the Olympics.

“She is just exploding,” he said. “Even her agents are overwhelmed. You have to balance what is her opportunity to build her brand versus going to worlds.”

By last Friday, she and her team agreed it was best for Liu to withdraw from the World Championships.

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A thank you to all those who helped me do what I love: write about figure skating (and the Olympics)

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A thank you to all those who helped me do what I love: write about figure skating (and the Olympics)

And, now that I have finished posting the last few stories to my Blog, I can close the books on the 2026 Winter Olympics. (You can find all the stories here.)
I want to thank NBC Olympics & Paralympics for letting me be part of its coverage team for the second straight Olympics - and to thank in particular the tireless crew of editors and writers at the NBC Olympics web site. It was a privilege to work with you.

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With four Olympic medals, Kaori Sakamoto didn't need gold to cement her legacy

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With four Olympic medals, Kaori Sakamoto didn't need gold to cement her legacy

Kaori Sakamoto knew well before the scores were announced. She skated off the ice Thursday night at the Milano Ice Skating Arena with a glum expression on her face. She could sense that the one jump she couldn’t pull off in her free skate was going to keep her from the gold medal.

Alysa Liu, the soon-to-be champion, got up from the leader’s chair as soon as Sakamoto left the ice surface. Liu hugged Sakamoto tight and long. A tear worked its way slowly down Sakamoto’s right cheek. More tears would flow later from the most decorated women’s figure skater in Japanese history.

“I really wanted to skate perfectly here,” Sakamoto said via an interpreter. “Knowing that I couldn’t, and it was the difference for the gold, was painful. I couldn’t stop the tears.”

This was her third and last Winter Olympics. The second, four years ago, had also ended in tears so strong her body shook as she wept. Those tears looked like a mixture of happiness over winning what she calls “a miracle” bronze medal and relief over simply surviving the chaos surrounding the women’s singles event in Beijing.

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