The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy might have unlocked a question for many figure skaters across the globe: is figure skating on the rise?
According to the International Olympic Committee, 24.3 million U.S. viewers watched figure skating from Feb. 6-19 as Team USA secured medal after medal in the sport. They watched the pair skating and marveled at the strength of the athletes. They saw Ilia Malanin land multiple backflips. They fell in love with Alysa Liu’s sparkling personality. They watched skater after skater. So, is the sport itself on the rise, or just the viewership because of the Winter Olympics?
“I think that the viewership of skating is becoming much more popular, thanks to social media and the Olympics and all that good stuff, but I do think that the sport itself is maybe not as popular as it used to be,” said Molly Weidman, a figure skating coach based at the Rinks of Exeter. “It’s such a complicated sport full of so many rules.”
On the other hand, Amelia Mills, a pre-juvenile level figure skater, thinks that the sport itself is becoming more popular.
“I definitely think it’s becoming a more popular sport and I think it’s because of people that are in it like Alysa Liu [who] is coming back after taking some time off and winning women’s, and then Ilia Malinian breaking the record with seven quads in a program,” said Mills.
Whether the sport is becoming more popular or not is still debatable, but the viewership has definitely gone up as of late. This is partly because of the Olympics, but also because “…all these record breakings and all these milestones are being hit, and it’s getting a lot of attention,” said Mills.
Ilia Malinin, a 21 year old Olympic gold medalist figure skater, has been breaking records people have only dreamed about. He is the only skater who has landed a quadruple axel in a competition, performs backflips in his programs, and has seven quad jumps in his free skate program, something no one has ever successfully completed before.
“I think that he’s paving a whole new way for the sport,” Weidman says.
Molly DePippo, a skater of nine years, agrees, adding that “he makes quad jumps look so easy and effortless,” which is something all figure skaters yearn to do.
Malinin is not the only person people watched in the Olympics. Alysa Liu was another fan favorite. She retired from ice skating in 2022, completely burnt out, but came back to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates are participating in the Olympics for the fourth time, in pairs skating, making them a must see. This is also their first Olympics as a married couple.
Amber Glenn, the first openly LGBTQ+ skater to participate in women’s singles, Isabeau Levitio, who has just recovered from an injury, and Maxim Naumov, was skating for his late parents, are some of the many talented skaters on Team USA.
“I would love to see figure skating become not only more popular, but more accessible,” Weidman says. Many rinks are focused more on hockey than figure skating, which shadows figure skating, making it less popular.
“I love that it’s getting more popular,” Mills agrees. She says that there has been a decrease in competition attendance, especially at the high-school level, and she hopes that it will go back up next season.
“I wouldn’t mind if the figure skating community got bigger,” DePippo states.
The International Skating Union (ISU) has been hoping for the same. Lately, they have been trying to make figure skating more popular, especially with the younger generation. They are introducing new elements, entertainment during ice cuts, having flashy lights, and using brands that the younger generation is into, to hopefully make figure skating more interesting and appealing to them.
If you are interested in learning more about skating, check out the U.S. Figure Skating or International Skating Union websites. If you want to start skating locally, you can check out The Rinks at Exeter, Dover Ice Arena, or even Strawberry Banke, which has a seasonal outdoor ice rink.
