"When U.S. Figure Skating (USFS) selected perhaps its deepest team ever for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, they sent World Champions and medal favorites Ilia Malinin, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and Alysa Liu off to Italy with something special: custom portraits commissioned from their fellow figure skater, Sonja Hilmer. The elegant line drawings hang above each figure skater's bed in the Olympic Village. And the team has been bringing home the hardware. The U.S. edged out Japan for gold in the team event, Chock and Bates won the silver medal in ice dance, and Malinin is in first in the men's competition going into today's final."
"At the suggestion of team leader and former ice dancer Tiffany Hayden, Hilmer spent six months on the commission-but she had to scramble to do much of the work on the 16 posters the week after the team was named. Many of the skaters had long been near locks to make the team, but others, like Andrew Torgashev, Max Naumov, and pairs team Emily Chan and Spencer Howe, were harder to predict."
Sonja Hilmer produced 16 custom portraits for U.S. Figure Skating athletes at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, with each drawing displayed above a skater's bed in the Olympic Village. The portraits are Italian fashion–inspired line drawings executed in black and gold ink from Bortoletti Fonderia on watercolor paper. The U.S. team won the Olympic team gold, Chock and Bates took silver in ice dance, and Ilia Malinin led the men's event heading into the final. Hilmer spent six months on the commission and completed much of the posters the week after the team was named. Hilmer funds part of her skating career through her art.
Read at Artnet News
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