MILAN – The Blade Angels have arrived in Milan.
Alysa Liu leads Team USA’s acclaimed women’s skating trio in Tuesday night’s short program. The two-time Olympian and reigning world champion skated an elegant, near-flawless routine on Laufey’s “Promise” to score 76.59 points and receive a standing ovation from the Assago rink crowd as she left the ice, finishing second.
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“I kind of like it,” she said as she skated on the ice.
Only a minor issue with her triple spin kept her from the top of the leaderboard.
Glenn, Liu and Levito — collectively known as the “Blade Angels” — enter the Milan Cortina Games with as much star power and medal pedigree as any U.S. female figure skater in recent memory.
No American woman has won an individual medal in figure skating since Sasha Cohen won silver in 2006. Four years ago, Sarah Hughes won gold and Michelle Kwan took bronze. The Blade Angels have only competed in one Olympics, in 2022, but they have amassed an impressive string of world and national championships.
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“It’s very special to have a woman from figure skating representing every part of the country,” said Olympian and NBC commentator Johnny Weir. “Isabeau Levito is from south New Jersey to south Philadelphia. Amber Glenn is from Texas, Alysa Liu is from California, and I think it’s cool that all three women have these three different perspectives and three different styles.”
At the Olympics, they have a lot of rest between games — or, in Levito’s case, before skating. Liu Xiang participated in the short program of the team competition where the U.S. won the gold medal, while Glenn participated in the free skate. But that game ended just over a week ago, meaning they’ve been riding the roller coaster of Olympic excitement and decline.
They have been preparing for this moment, individually and collectively, for years. They know what needs to be said and they know what needs to be done.
“As long as we execute the plan to the best of our ability, we can’t control the outcome,” Glenn said recently. “But I think the American ladies have accomplished so much over the last two decades that if we were in Milan doing our job… there’s a good chance someone would be there.”
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Now that the women’s tournament has begun, the Blade Angels face a battle. The event will continue with the free skate on Thursday, with the top 24 women competing in Tuesday night’s competition, starting at 1 p.m. ET. The stakes are: gold medals and the immortality of the sport.
