Isabeau Levito is famous for her balletic elegance on the ice. Her skating style is markedly lyrical; according to NBC's Olympics website, "Unlike many skaters who rely heavily on high-difficulty jumps, Levito balances technical ability with musical interpretation." She is known "for her ability to connect with audiences through subtle emotional storytelling." At only 18, 2026 marks Isabeau's first Olympic Games.
A record number of out athletes will compete in this year's Winter Games. And as Team LGBTQ heads to Milan, dozens of competitors are bringing us to tears with heartfelt posts on social media. For today, we will focus on some handsome figure skaters, who glide across the ice with grace... and make our collective hearts melt! Of the 44 members of Team LGBTQ, per Outsports, 11 are figure or speed skaters.
Even in sports that do not literally hand out points for style, the matter of aesthetic value is of discursive import. The most dominant athlete or team in the world can be taken down a peg or two on the moral underpinnings of play style. There are hoops (ethical) and hoops (unethical). You can win, but what is it worth if you do not win beautifully? You can lose, but at least you suffered beautifully when it counted.
📸: @tomwilson/Instagram Story Canada's Olympic hockey team spent more time bonding together ahead of their first game of the tournament on Thursday. Tuesday, the group of hockey players, which included Washington Capitals stars and Logan Thompson, attended the the speed-skating short track event at the Milan Ice Skating Arena. Wilson posted a photo of the group together and it's epic.
No athlete at this level is 100% fully healthy, Gretchen Mohney, the director of medical and performance services for U.S. Figure Skating, told The Associated Press from Milan. It's about managing whatever it is that may be breaking down. The key for Olympic skaters is getting quick treatment. If a knee swells, the back aches or a sharp blade leaves a gash, figure skaters at the Olympics have physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists to help.
Fifteen-year-old Kamila Valieva, the gold medal favorite, was caught taking a banned substance, but allowed to compete anyway, pending an investigation. Under immense scrutiny, Valieva had an uncharacteristic meltdown in her free skate, missing the podium altogether. Leaving the ice, she was berated by her coach, Eteri Tutberidze, who left her fellow student, Anna Shcherbakova, alone in the "kiss and cry" to celebrate with no one. It was a spectacle that I hated watching.
Jonathan Van Ness (he/they) is a beauty expert, the founder of , host of the podcast Getting Better With Jonathan Van Ness, a co-host of Queer Eye (the 10th and final season dropped on Netflix last month), and currently on tour with Hot and Heated, a comedy show. Below, Van Ness - a figure skating superfan - weighs in on which athletes to pay attention to at the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games.
"Wondering if I could get a short extension on this week's reflection," the email read. "I was competing in the Olympic Games yesterday and thought it was due on Sunday, not Friday."
he even wears matching blue overalls and a yellow T-shirt, cutting quite the Kevin-esque figure while landing those Axels - music of which he said was chosen to "bring joy and a playful style to the ice while still meeting every required element to show that skating as a male Olympic figure skater can be fun." (One extended step sequence features Guarino Sabaté bumping to EDM while "papaya" is repeated in Minionese.)
The Spanish figure skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate faces a last-minute scramble to redesign his Olympic short program after a copyright dispute blocked him from using music from the Minions franchise just days before competition begins at the Milano Cortina Winter Games. The six-time Spanish national champion from Barcelona, who is set to make his Olympic debut in the men's singles event, said he learned late last week that the routine he has performed throughout the 2025-26 season would not be cleared for Olympic use.
