Six Women Who Will Own the Ice at the 2026 Olympics

Women’s figure skating is the only Olympic event where you can look like a dream while living inside a storm. It’s lashes, laces, and legacy — where a teenager can become a nation’s hope in one night, where a single jump can rewrite history, and where the prettiest sport in the world is also the most psychologically violent. Milan 2026 isn’t just a competition. It’s a runway of pressure, politics, and main-character moments waiting to happen.

Kaori Sakamoto during the women's free skate at Skate Canada 2023

“The prettiest sport in the Olympics is also the most unforgiving.”

There are two kinds of Olympic sports: the loud ones, where you hear the collision, the chaos, the brute force…

And then there’s women’s figure skating.

The sport where everything looks soft — until you realize it might be the hardest event in the Winter Games.

One missed edge can erase four years. One under-rotated jump can become a headline. One perfect free skate can turn a skater into history overnight.

With the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics arriving in February 2026, the women’s field feels wide open in a way it hasn’t been in years. The usual hierarchy has shifted. The margins are razor-thin.

And the energy is giving: main character season.

These are the six women you need on your radar before the first Olympic blade hits the ice.

Kaori Sakamoto (Japan)

Kaori Sakamoto performs during the women's free skate at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.

Kaori Sakamoto enters this Olympic cycle like the woman who already knows what the room feels like when everyone is watching. She’s been the most consistent champion in the sport — powerful, fast, and completely unshaken by the noise. Kaori doesn’t skate like she’s asking for permission. She skates like she owns the ice.

But here’s the real tension: Japan’s women’s field is so deep that even the queen is never fully safe. In another country, she’d be untouchable. What makes her Olympic story so delicious isn’t just that the world wants her crown. It’s that Japan does too. Because in Japan, you’re never just the champion… you’re the champion for now.

The next girl is always right there, landing triples in the same rink, smiling politely while quietly applying pressure. Mone Chiba has been rising with that soft, dangerous momentum — the kind of teammate who doesn’t have to say a word for you to feel her coming. And behind her, the teenage prodigies are already being discussed like the future is inevitable. Kaori isn’t skating against strangers. She’s skating against the next version of Japan, against the idea that women’s skating always belongs to whoever is newest. Milan won’t just be about winning gold. It’ll be about proving she’s still the standard

Kaori? Can she keep holding the door closed?

“In Japan, making the Olympic team can feel harder than winning the medal.”

Mone Chiba (Japan)

Mone Chiba performing her short program at the 2024-25 Grand Prix Final

Mone Chiba is the kind of skater who doesn’t announce herself — she accumulates. While the spotlight stays fixed on Kaori, Mone has been gliding closer with that slow-burn inevitability that feels almost more dangerous than hype. Not because she lacks presence — because she doesn’t perform desperation. She performs control. . She’s just… getting better. And in Japan, that’s the most terrifying thing a teammate can be. Because Japanese women’s skating is basically couture-level excellence with survival rules underneath: one mistake at Nationals and your Olympic dream can evaporate in real time. Mone isn’t just fighting the rest of the world for a medal — she’s fighting her own country’s depth chart for permission to even be there.  Her rise has been quiet, elegant, and dangerous in that very Japanese way: polished, precise, always improving. That’s what makes her so compelling. She’s skating with the soft pressure of someone who knows she has to be perfect, not just brilliant. Milan could be her arrival… or the moment Japan reminds her how unforgiving “next in line” can be.

One slip at Nationals and Milan disappears.

She isn’t just skating for gold.

She’s skating for survival.

“Sometimes the biggest pressure isn’t rivals — it’s your own federation.”

Alysa Liu (USA)

Alysa Liu of the United States performs in the women’s long program at Skate Canada 2024 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Then there’s Alysa Liu, whose story already feels like a documentary Netflix is waiting to buy. Alysa Liu’s Olympic storyline already feels like something you’d binge in one night and then immediately text your group chat about. She was the prodigy, the headline, the U.S. golden girl before she was even old enough to fully understand what that kind of attention costs. And then, at just 16 years old, in a sport that loves to consume young women whole, she did something almost unheard of: she walked away. No scandal, no implosion — just a quiet exit that felt like reclaiming her own life.

But what makes her so compelling now is that she returned different. Freer. Older. Sharper. Alysa isn’t skating like a teenager chasing approval anymore. She’s skating like a woman who chose herself first, and came back sharper because of it. There’s something dangerously freeing about an athlete who’s already left once — because she’s not trapped by the moment. And if America is looking for its next Olympic champion, Alysa is the kind of skater who could do it not with desperation… but with ownership. Milan won’t just test her jumps. It’ll test whether freedom is the most powerful edge of all.

She isn’t skating like a girl chasing approval. She’s skating like an athlete who finally owns her career.

“Comeback athletes don’t skate with fear. They skate with nothing left to prove.”

Let’s also mention, that America hasn’t had a women’s Olympic champion since 2002.

That kind of hunger changes the air.

Amber Glenn (USA)

Amber Glenn during the gala exhibition at the 2019 Challenge Cup

Amber Glenn is where the adrenaline lives. Amber Glenn is the kind of skater who makes figure skating feel like a thriller. You’re not watching her because it’s safe — you’re watching because anything could happen. On the right night, she’s electric: huge jumps, fearless attack, the kind of performance that makes an arena wake up. She is one of the most high-risk, high-reward skaters in the field — the kind of athlete who can either blow the roof off the arena or leave you holding your breath.

But Amber’s story has always lived in that space between potential and arrival, because women’s skating is ruthless about timing. It’s not enough to be talented — you have to be perfect on the exact night the world is paying attention. Amber has spent years carrying that high-risk, high-reward reputation, the one that can either turn into a medal or a heartbreak in the span of one landing.  But the Olympics don’t care about almost. They reward nerve. If Amber Glenn hits in Italy, she won’t just surprise people… she’ll blow the entire event open.

“Amber Glenn doesn’t bring safe. She brings possibility.”

Isabeau Levito (USA)

Isabeau Levito dazzles in a graceful performance during the women's free skate at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships.

Isabeau Levito is skating under a very specific kind of spotlight — the kind reserved for girls America decides to call the future before they’ve even had time to just be the present. She’s elegance personified: long lines, soft landings, that floating quality that makes people lean forward like they’re watching something rare. And yes, she has real podium potential — the kind of skater who can absolutely medal if she’s clean and the night breaks her way. But being the “beautiful hope” comes with its own pressure, because U.S. women’s skating loves to crown young stars early… and then question them relentlessly. Is she technical enough? Tough enough? Ready enough? Isabeau isn’t just skating programs — she’s skating expectations. Milan won’t simply test her jumps. It will test whether she can stay mentally free inside the loudest room in the world, and whether grace can still be dangerous when medals are on the line.

“Being called ‘America’s next star’ is pressure in mascara.”

And Milan will reveal whether she can stay free inside the noise.

Loena Hendrickx (Belgium)

Loena Hendrickx is the veteran bombshell of this Olympic field — the woman who has been too good for too long to still be treated like an afterthought. She’s a European champion, a world-level podium threat, and the kind of skater who performs with the confidence of someone who has already survived the sport’s hardest years. But the real drama with Loena is time. Figure skating doesn’t give women endless Olympic windows, and Milan feels like her now-or-never season — the moment where experience can either become pressure… or become power. Loena isn’t skating for potential. She’s skating for legacy. And that’s what makes her so dangerous: veterans don’t show up hoping. They show up knowing exactly what it costs. If the favorites wobble even slightly, Loena is the kind of woman who will glide right through the opening and take what she’s earned.

“Veterans don’t skate with nerves. They skate with receipts.”

Loena is not here to be invited into the conversation.

She’s here to take it.

Women’s figure skating has always been more than sport.

It’s performance under surveillance. It’s politics wrapped in music. It’s grace carrying unbearable weight.

And in this new era — with the global balance shifting and no single unbeatable machine — the 2026 Olympics could crown a queen…

Or crack a favorite.

“Milan will crown a queen… or break a favorite’s heart.”

Either way, we’ll be watching.

When Is Women’s Figure Skating at the 2026 Olympics?

The Winter Olympics take place February 6–22, 2026, in Milan–Cortina, Italy.

Women’s singles will unfold across two essential nights:

• Short Program

• Free Skate (Medal Night)

Exact dates drop closer to the Games — and trust, BLS will have you covered.

How to Watch

In the U.S., Olympic coverage will be available on:

• NBC

• Peacock

• Olympics.com highlights and international broadcast partners

Wine optional. Screaming encouraged.

BLS Predictions — Who Leaves Italy With Gold?

So who’s actually leaving Italy with the crown?

If we’re talking pure steadiness, championship calm, and the ability to hit when the world goes silent, Kaori Sakamoto feels like the safest gold-energy in the field. She’s been the standard, and Milan rewards women who don’t blink.

But the Olympics are never just about the favorite.

The most dangerous woman in this event might be Alysa Liu, because comeback athletes don’t skate with fear — they skate with freedom. And freedom, in a sport built on tightness, is lethal.

Then there’s the spoiler factor: Amber Glenn landing the night of her life… Loena Hendrickx skating like it’s now-or-never… Mone Chiba surviving Japan’s internal war and arriving unstoppable.

That’s the truth about women’s figure skating heading into 2026:

There is no easy podium.

Only women bold enough to take it.

And here at Brunch League Sports, we’ll be watching every blade mark, every upset, every moment that turns into Olympic folklore.

Because Milan isn’t just coming.

It’s about to glitter.