The 21-year-old Ilia Malinin was heard on a hot mic lamenting his lack of Olympic experience and how it affected him at the 2026 Games.

Catch up on what’s changed in Olympic figure skating since Beijing—returning medalists, rising stars, major rule changes, and country-by-country developments.

U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin is looking to make amends in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Shiffrin failed to add to her medal tally in the Beijing Olympics four years ago. She entered the 2022 Winter Games with three medals — two gold and a silver — from her previous two Olympic appearances.

From post-run proposals (Breezy Johnson!) to co-competitor couples planning a walk down the aisle (Hilary Knight and Brittany Bowe!), the Milan Cortina Olympics have been a romantic backdrop for engagements.

Unfortunately for Olympic skier Eileen Gu, her rise to stardom has been anything but smooth. Back in 2019, Gu announced that she was going to represent China for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. That surprised plenty of people since she was born and raised in San Francisco,

At the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, the Russian Olympic Committee team was stripped of their gold medals after 15-year-old Kamila Valieva failed a drug test and was handed a four-year ban. Her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, has long served in the same role for Petrosian, who also shares the same choreographer and training site in Moscow as Valieva.

Olivia Smart and Jean-Luc Baker competed against each other at the 2022 Beijing Games

Eileen Gu entered the big air final of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics as the favorite to win the gold medal. Gu came into the event as the defending champion after winning gold at the 2022 Beijing Olympics four years ago.