"She doesn't want to be famous. She wants to be Alysa."

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"She doesn't want to be famous. She wants to be Alysa."

Alysa Liu won two Olympic gold medals by doing things her way.

And, her coach says, Liu hopes to keep doing that once she leaves Italy on Sunday.

That’s why it’s probably a good thing that she has skating commitments to keep her busy for the next two months, including a trip to Prague to defend her world title in late March.

“No press tour right away, no nothing,” coach Phillip DiGuglielmo said Saturday via telephone from Milan, not long before Liu closed down the exhibition gala’s solo performances.

“We have to figure out how we are going to train (for worlds). We may have to ask the rink management (in Oakland, Calif.) to close the rink when she trains because of the attention she has gotten. “Dealing with that kind of attention is not what she wants now. She doesn’t want to be famous. She wants to be Alysa.”

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Many questions, few answers for Malinin in Milan

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Many questions, few answers for Malinin in Milan

Ilia Malinin smiled broadly as he slapped hands with his father/coach, Roman Skorniakov, on the boards at the Milano Olympic Ice Center.

That was just before he skated to the center of the ice to begin his free skate Friday in the men’s singles event at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

No wonder he smiled. Malinin had a five-point lead over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama after the short program. And his path toward an Olympic gold medal was seemingly clear of any obstacles after Kagiyama, skating before Malinin, made mistakes big and small on three of his first five jumping passes.

Malinin figured to be smiling even more broadly soon.

But when Malinin finished his four-minute free, he first masked his reaction by covering his face with his gloved hands.

He shook his head, lowered his eyes, shook his head again as he skated off the ice toward his father. Still out of breath, his mouth was open in a narrow rectangle. He shook his head one last time, each shake signaling that Malinin’s incomprehension was complete, just as it was for everybody who had watched him come undone.

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Moving forward, Ilia Malinin intends to skate at world meet in March

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Moving forward, Ilia Malinin intends to skate at world meet in March

Ilia Malinin's agent, Ari Zakarian, confirmed in a text message on Sunday that Malinin "will do" the World Championships in Prague from March 26-29.

Malinin has won the last two world titles and was a huge favorite for Olympic gold, but finished 8th after being, in his words, "overwhelmed" by Olympic pressure in Friday's free skate.  He staggered to 15th in the free after having won the short program.

“I blew it,” he told NBC’s Andrea Joyce.

Malinin deserves props, however, for the way he handled the disappointment in facing multiple media interviews while the award ceremonies went on without him.

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With all eyes on him, Ilia Malinin masters performing under pressure

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With all eyes on him, Ilia Malinin masters performing under pressure

Athletes for whom an Olympic gold medal is the highest achievement in their sport often try to whistle past the graveyard by saying they intend to treat the Games as just another competition.

Those who are favored to win a gold medal usually double down on that mantra.

Figure skater Ilia Malinin, who came to the 2026 Winter Olympics as the overwhelming favorite to win the men’s singles gold, found out the another-day-at-the-office approach stopped working once he got into the atmosphere of the five-ring circus for the first time.

“I didn’t expect it to be that much,” he said.

And that showed in his unremarkable two performances in the team event, when he skated less impressively than expected but well enough to help his teammates win gold by one point over Japan. He was second in the short program and a shaky first in the free skate, when he needed a win to keep Team USA atop the podium Sunday.

Lesson learned, as was evident in Tuesday’s individual short program, which Malinin soared to victory at the Milan Ice Skating Arena on the strength of the huge quadruple jumps that are what separate him from every other skater in the world.

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Team USA's path to Olympic figure skating team gold was full of surprises

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Team USA's path to Olympic figure skating team gold was full of surprises

This time, the Olympic figure skating team event is over when it was over.

Team USA claimed a second straight gold, and the medals were hung around the necks of the seven U.S. skaters who took part in the team event barely 30 minutes after the competition ended at the Milan Ice Skating Arena.

And it wasn’t over until it was over, coming down to a thrilling head-to-head contest between the final two men’s singles skaters — Ilia Malinin of the U.S. and Shun Sato of Japan.

“I was more nervous watching Ilia than I was skating myself,” said U.S. captain and pairs skater Danny O'Shea.

Malinin had lost the short program decisively to Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who was replaced for the free skate by Sato, recently stronger in the longer phase of events than Kagiyama. That left some doubt about how the Quadg0d would handle the free.

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