Olympics stars Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito competing again after whirlwind month

PRAGUE — They’ve hardly been gone, yet now they’re already back. Amber Glenn marveled about that Wednesday as the 2026 world figure skating championships began. “Even though it’s been a month, it feels like it was yesterday,” she said.

Millions watched them at the Milan Olympics last month: Americans Glenn and Isabeau Levito and the three stellar Japanese skaters — Kaori Sakamoto, Ami Nakai and Mone Chiba. In the women’s short program on the first day of the world championships, the names were arranged a bit differently than they were at the Olympics, with three-time world champion and Olympic silver medalist Sakamoto first, Chiba second and Glenn third, in position to perhaps finally win a world medal after never finishing better than fifth. Levito, who upped the difficulty of her short program over the past month, is fourth.

The only one of the top bunch from Milan who isn’t here is the most famous of them all, the Olympic gold medalist, Alysa Liu , who has been everywhere over the past few weeks, including Academy Awards parties — everywhere but the one place she would need to be to prepare for the worlds. It’s possible the only ice she has seen recently was rattling around in a glass of Diet Coke. While some might wonder why she is not defending the world title she won last year, a simple glance at her social media posts illustrates how her life, and her earning potential, dramatically changed when she performed so exquisitely and so happily in Milan.

To not take advantage of the new career opportunities presenting themselves would be ridiculous, which is why she isn’t the first Olympic gold medalist to miss worlds and do exactly that. It’s actually a sign of respect for her sport that she knew she couldn’t devote the time necessary to prepare for the world championships, so she gave up her spot in plenty of time for a U. S.