The “Blade Angels” trio of U.S. figure skaters start their charge Tuesday for the women’s medals at the Olympics.
Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito are American skating stars for a new era, with a tongue-in-cheek nickname that is a nod to “Charlie’s Angels.” Rivals from Japan and Russia are sure to challenge.
The medals won’t be won Tuesday, but medal hopes can be dashed in the short program. Watch out for Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, a three-time world champion, and her teammate, Ami Nakai.
Then there’s Adeliia Petrosian, who has barely skated outside Russia but could shake up the whole competition. Competing as a neutral athlete, Petrosian has big jumps and a controversial coach, and seems to have shaken off injury concerns.
Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito are all in the mix for the podium. The “Blade Angels” as they’ve called themselves, are considered one of the strongest collections of U.S. female skaters in many years.
Which begs the question: has the U.S. ever had three figure skaters on the Olympic medal podium?
If you look back through the 106-year history of the Winter Olympics, Team USA has brought home hardware every time. Some years certainly more than others.
The most medals ever won by the U.S. figure skating team happened all the way back in 1956 at the Cortina d’Ampezzo Olympics. That’s right. Team USA brought home five figure skating medals the first time the Winter Olympics were held in Italy.
That rare achievement was won by the men: Hayes Allen Jenkins won gold, Ronald Robertson won silver and David Jenkins won bronze.
The women almost matched the podium finish. Tenley Albright won gold and Carol Heiss claimed silver. An Austrian took home the bronze that year.
At these Winter Olympics, U.S. figure skaters defended gold in the team event and Madison Chock and Evan Bates won silver in ice dance. If all three members of the “Blade Angels” managed to earn a podium placement, Team USA would tie their record for most figure skating medals in a single Olympics.
Here’s the remaining Olympic figure skating schedule
Monday, Feb. 16:
Pair skating-free skate — 2 p.m. ET/ 11 a.m PT 🥇
Tuesday, Feb 17:
Women’s single skating-short program — 12:45 p.m. ET/ 9:45 a.m. PT
Thursday, Feb. 19:
Women’s single skating-free skate — 1 p.m. ET/ 10 a.m. PT 🥇
Saturday, Feb. 21:
Exhibition Gala: The exhibition gala (a non-medal event) begins at 2 p.m. ET/ 11 a.m. PT
Where and how to watch figure skating
Individual and team gymnastics events at the 2026 Olympics will air on NBC New York and USA Network. Streaming will be available on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC Olympics app and the NBC app.