How is Olympic figure skating different from ice skating? Of course it’s music. Music is the backbone of every Olympic performance and the basis for every gorgeous choreography. But suddenly, with just days left before the Olympics kick off in Cortina, Milan, music has become the first focus of controversy for figure skating at the 2026 Olympics.
Just days before the Olympics, Spain’s Tomas-Lorens Guarino Sabat announced via Instagram that the short program music he had been skating to for months would no longer be available due to “copyright licensing issues.” This was a huge blow to Guarino Sabat’s dreams, as he apparently needed to come up with a completely new routine for a song that had taken several days to prepare. But it also illustrates the fragile and complex state of musical licensing for skating performances.
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“It was incredibly disappointing to find out this news last Friday, so close to the most important game of my life,” Guarino Sabat wrote. “Nonetheless, I will face this challenge head on and do my best to make the best of the situation.”
Licensing issues in figure skating are a relatively new phenomenon, as most competitions before the mid-2010s used instrumental, classical, copyright-free public domain music. In 2014, the International Skating Union (ISU) allowed skaters to use songs with lyrics during competitions as part of an overall effort to help skating appeal to a wider audience.
For example, Team USA’s Amber Glenn will skate to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” during her short program, while ice dancers Madison Chalk and Evan Bates will perform rhythmic dances to songs selected by Lenny Kravitz. Ilia Malinin skated to music by Ed Sheeran, while Maxim Naumov performed routines to songs by artists such as Frank Sinatra and Queen. Familiar, relatable music can help audiences develop deeper, more personal connections with skaters; ISU’s decision to allow lyrics in songs paid off in some spectacular, moving performances.
Spain’s Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate competes in the men’s free skate during the 2026 ISU European Figure Skating Championships. (Photo: Yuan Tian/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But copyrighted music also comes with the added burden of legality for public performance. After the 2022 Beijing Olympics, American pairs skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier were hit with a lawsuit for allegedly using Heavy Young Heathens’ “House of the Rising Sun” without approval during competition. The lawsuit also named NBC for broadcasting the show, and it was settled for an undisclosed amount later that year.
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In response, the skating community has tried to calm similar issues before they reach the litigation stage. U.S. Figure Skating is partnering with music performance rights organizations ASCAP and BMI to help coaches, choreographers and skaters clear barriers to musical performance.
The 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Memorandum lays out the obligations of performers and their teams to clear public performance music in strict legal terms: “In order to comply with applicable copyright laws, it is strongly recommended that all music used in competitions, performances, drills, and other background or intermission music during U.S. Figure Skating sanctioned or sanctioned events, programs, or activities be 100% cleared by BMI, ASCAP, or a combination of both,” the memo reads. “Additionally, coaches, choreographers, athletes and/or parents/guardians are strongly encouraged to compete using only 100% approved music as described above.”
The result is that while skaters can now use a wide variety of songs without fear of lawsuits, not every song is feasible. For example, Alysa Liu, one of the U.S. medal hopefuls, started arranging an orchestral cover of a Lady Gaga song she found on YouTube—”A random guy on YouTube made it probably 10 years ago,” she said recently—but gave up after learning that using the song would violate copyright.
“Originally my idea was to make an orchestral version, but, they were just YouTube versions,” Liu said. “We were actually arranging an orchestral version. Competition ensued, (her team said) No, we can’t risk it“.
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A bigger challenge is that music licensing is complex, depending on whether the music is performed in a public venue, broadcast or live-streamed, or used as the basis for a choreography. All of these elements may require separate licenses, each potentially giving rise to litigation if the appropriate rights are not obtained.
Katherine Hill, Glenn’s free skate choreographer, noted that copyright issues are usually handled “early in the process” after a potential song is chosen. “We’re doing our best to secure approval,” she told Yahoo Sports. “You want to make sure you check those boxes. It’s definitely part of the conversation.”
ISU asked skaters to clear their songs through multiple means, including music licensor ClicknClear. This is where the question of Guarino Sabat comes into play. “I followed all necessary procedures and submitted my music through the ISU ClicknClear system in August and have been participating in the program throughout the season,” he wrote. (Yahoo Sports has reached out to ClicknClear for comment.)
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The challenge for Guarino Sabaté is that skaters spend months honing and perfecting their choreography to fit a specific song. “Figure skating is unique in that skaters are not only judged on athletic ability but also on intangibles,” Hill said. “How can I make the audience feel? What do I want them to feel? How can I express emotion non-verbally, how can I interpret this music?”
Music remains a key element of any figure skating program, but copyright laws can be as tricky as the obstacles skaters face on the ice.
