LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Winter Olympics start in just over three weeks in Italy, and we now know who is on the American team for the most-watched Olympic sport - figure skating. The announcement came after the U.S. figure skating national championships in St. Louis. NPR's Rachel Treisman and Oregon Public Broadcasting's Lillian Karabaic join us now from St. Louis, where they've been watching the competition. Good morning to you both.
LILLIAN KARABAIC, BYLINE: Hi.
RACHEL TREISMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: Hi. So, Rachel, let's start with you. What was it like in St. Louis?
TREISMAN: Oh, there was tons of excitement. There were posters all over town. The Enterprise Center was packed, and the crowd was truly feeling it. They were cheering and gasping throughout routines, getting on their feet and tossing all kinds of stuffed animals onto the ice after each performance. And that's a tradition in figure skating because flowers are just too messy.
FADEL: Oh, I didn't know that about flowers. OK. So, Lillian, who made the U.S. team?
KARABAIC: Oh, well, it's really no surprise that 21-year-old Ilia Malinin leads the men's team. His nickname is Quad God. He was practically a lock because he's been the world's most dominant men's skater. He's gone undefeated in every major competition since 2023. Pretty much the only gold medal that Malinin doesn't have is an Olympic gold. And if he keeps skating the way he has the past few years, he will have it next month - especially if he does the quadruple Axel, which is a jump that people thought was physically impossible until he did it.
FADEL: Wow.
KARABAIC: And Andrew Torgashev was also named to the team. He had a rough start to the season, but he delivered a clean free skate at nationals that had the sold-out crowd on their feet. Here's a fun fact about Torgashev - he once only ate pizza for 54 days. He called it the pizza diet, and he said it made him start landing his quadruple toe loop jump. He was actually handed a pizza box in the kiss and cry after he finished his skate.
FADEL: OK. The - so that is not the impact pizza has on me. What about on the women's side?
KARABAIC: Well, this is a truly great group of women skaters. It has been 20 years since the U.S. won an Olympic medal in women's figure skating. But really, any of these three women have a shot at the podium. Alysa Liu is on her second trip to the Olympics after coming back stronger than ever after a teenage retirement. She has, like, a super gorgeous, joyful skating style, and it will be really easy to spot her 'cause she has striped hair.
TREISMAN: And joining Liu is 26-year-old three-time reigning U.S. champion Amber Glenn. She's known for her triple Axel and, off the ice, her mental health and LGBTQ+ advocacy. And then rounding out the women's team is 18-year-old Isabeau Levito. Her mom is actually from Milan, and she still has some family there, which she says will make her first Olympics even more special.
FADEL: You know, it was just a year ago this month that 28 figure skating coaches, athletes, parents were killed in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. Rachel, how were they honored in St. Louis?
TREISMAN: There were a lot of tributes, including from several of the skaters who lost their friends and coaches. And everyone was rooting for Maxim Naumov, who ended up winning bronze and making the team. Naumov lost both of his parents, who were Olympians themselves, in that plane crash, which killed a total of 67 people. And he talked about how proud his parents, who were also his coaches, would have been this weekend.
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MAXIM NAUMOV: It means absolutely everything to me, fulfilling the dream that we collectively had as a family since I first was on the ice at 5 years old. So it means absolutely everything. And I know they're looking down, smiling and proud.
FADEL: So moving. Lillian, you've been a - you have a background as a competitive figure skater yourself. Any tips on what to watch for during the Olympics?
KARABAIC: You know, it's so great to see everyone get excited about my sport for about two weeks every four years. Really big thing to know is that the skaters that are most exciting to watch are not always the ones that are going to win because our scoring is pretty complicated. For example, the backflip, which is a crowd pleaser, is actually worth zero points. But you don't need to know everything to appreciate the performances and the athleticism. And the team event is a really great way to get acquainted with the skaters before the rest of the Olympic events later on.
TREISMAN: And that starts February 6, which is the very day of the opening ceremony.
FADEL: That's Lillian Karabaic and Rachel Treisman. Thank you both.
KARABAIC: Thank you.
TREISMAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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