milan

MILAN — Milan’s two first-division soccer teams share a stadium, the majestic San Siro, and the top two spots in the Serie A standings. They each have American owners and fanatically loyal supporters. And both are among the most iconic and successful teams in history.

But that’s where the similarities wane. Because while Inter Milan believes it has a story to tell, AC Milan has locked the doors, drawn the drapes and taken the phone off the hook.

I know this because ahead of last month’s Milan-Cortina Winter Games I reached out to both clubs and asked if they might have some time to visit. AC Milan proved too busy to chat, but Inter Milan invited me to its training center, hidden among farm fields and quiet pastures 45 minutes from the city. Those humble surroundings proved to be at odds with the lofty global reach the team is trying to build.

“I would say it’s leveraging more around Italian history and then the history of the club,” Giorgio Ricci, Inter Milan’s chief revenue officer, said of the image the club is trying to market. “A city like Milano is now a real ambassador of that Italian culture, from lifestyle to design to food and whatever. But we [also] have the authentic history around the foundation of this club. It’s a story not of globalization but of internationalization.

“So there is always this dualism between being very strong[ly] rooted in the city of Milan, in the real core, and having this international attitude. It’s quite a unique and winning combination.”

The Inter in Inter Milan, after all, is short for Internazionale, Italian for international.

“It shall be called Internazionale, because we are brothers of the world,” said Giorgio Muggiani when he helped start the team in 1908. He later lent his talents as an artist and illustrator to the fascist movement of Benito Mussolini.

Inter Milan is in the fifth year of its latest and boldest transition, one that is taking it from being just a soccer club into being a lifestyle and fashion-focused brand, a transition that, as Ricci said, will trade on its history as an international club and its location in one of the fashion capitals of the world.

It’s a model that was pioneered by French club Paris Saint-Germain, which nine years ago began partnering with Dior, Jordan Brand, Levi Strauss and others. Inter has teamed with Italian menswear brand Canali, created a new digital ecosystem that has won it a significant increase in video views and user engagement and has launched non-sporting merchandise such as streetwear accessories to accompany the rebrand.

“We are a football club,” Ricci said. “But in order to grow, we need to become a global football brand.”

And it has begun to do that. Deloitte, the British professional services company which does an annual ranking of soccer club revenues, says Inter brought in more than $620 million in 2024-25, the most recent season for which figures are available. That’s 11th best in the world and a jump of about 70% and eight places from where the club was a decade ago, when it was just the fourth-most-profitable club in Italy.

Inter Milan’s Hakan Calhanoglu celebrates after scoring on a penalty shot against Genoa on Feb. 28.

(Marco Luzzani / Getty Images)

In an effort to tell that story and continue that growth, Inter collaborated with Spike Lee on a short film titled “My Name Is My Story,” in which Lee narrated the club’s history and identity, introducing it to a U.S. audience during last summer’s Club World Cup.

Inter isn’t going it alone though. All of Italian football is in the midst of a long-needed overhaul.

A generation ago, Serie A was the best soccer league in the world. It had players like Roberto Baggio, Jurgen Klinsmann, Alessandro Del Piero, Ronaldo, George Weah and Diego Maradona and its wealthy, deep-pocketed owners sent Italian teams to nine Champions League finals between 1989-99.

Since then the league has struggled to market its product globally, lost many of its top players to better pay in other European leagues, found potential revenue streams closed off by aging, crumbling infrastructure, and saw its reputation and credibility damaged by the 2006 Calciopoli scandal, which centered on the manipulation of referee appointments to favor certain clubs.

An influx of U.S.-based owners is helping turn that around. Eight of Serie A’s 20 teams have American owners and Ricci says they have not only brought much-needed investment to the league but they’ve brought ideas on how to market Italian soccer.

“Some are only bringing money, yeah. Others are bringing also a vision and an ambition,” Ricci said. “Our ownership is exactly bringing that. Bringing the North American culture of not seeing only constraints and barriers in the development of a project [but] having the ambition, far-sighted[ness] and working on building a dream.

“That is exactly what Serie A needs: a bit of a dream and a bit of a vision to dare a bit more and not be too conservative. We need a few leading and having vision and bringing that dream.”

A big part of that dream and vision in Milan is a new stadium, one that will replace the century-old San Siro with a 71,500-seat arena at the center of a $1.4-billion urban-regeneration plan funded primarily by RedBird Capital, AC Milan’s New York-based owner, and Oaktree Capital Management, the Los Angeles-based company that owns Inter Milan.

For Inter Milan that investment, the club hopes, will transform the game-day experience not just for well-heeled corporate types but for the team’s diehard fans. I’m still waiting to hear what AC Milan’s plans are.

“I’m not only talking about corporate clients and things like that,” Ricci said. “That, of course, will benefit from a new state-of-the-art venue with the facilities, restaurants, whatever. But also for general [admission]. As soon as they step into a new venue with better seats, in terms of sound, in terms of video, audio and all the entertainment, we are going to increase the perception of each kind of spectator you have in the venue.”

Is it a gamble? Sure, but then very few things in sports are a sure bet. Yet for Inter Milan, at least, that vision and the story behind it are worth telling.

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

A HOLLYWOOD beauty whose resurgent career saw her bag a Golden Globe last year looked unrecognisable at Milan Fashion Week today.

The 80s and 90s pin-up wowed in a sexy all-leather look with an on-trend short hairdo and oversized shades.

She sat on the front row of a star-studded Gucci show and held her tiny pet chihuahua on her lap.

On the catwalk itself, Kate Moss and Emily Ratajkowski led the glam, while Brit actor Bobby Brazier also modelled.

Joining the Hollywood star on the sidelines was Romeo Beckham, Donatella Versace and Paris Hilton.

So who is the rock chick turning heads in Italy?

LESS IS MOORE

Age-defying Demi Moore wows in plunging see-through playsuit at TV premiere

GIMME MOORE

Demi Moore’s X-rated sex confessions, from pre-wedding romp to celeb threesome

Well it’s age-defying Demi Moore, 63.

Just months ago, Demi capped off a stellar career comeback by being named Glamour’s Woman of the Year.

She was interviewed by her Substance co-star Margaret Qualley for the mag and said: “With everything I’ve been through, which has been a lot, I wouldn’t trade where I am today.”

She added a difference with her younger self is the “freedom to know I don’t have to have the answer, and life is not going to be completely stolen from me if I somehow don’t know”.

During Demi’s emotional Golden Globes acceptance speech last year, she spoke of having been at a “low point” and not thinking she was “enough”.

The actress has battled countless traumas and rejections during her life – including her biological dad leaving before she was born, saving her drug addicted mum from suicide, two spells in rehab and being raped aged 15. 

The star of Ghost, Indecent Proposal and A Few Good Men’s return to form in the satirical horror movie The Substance is one of the greatest Hollywood comebacks of all time.

Having struggled to land a hit movie over the past couple of decades, Demi thought “this was it.”

In her speech, Demi said: “In those moments when we don’t think we’re smart enough, or pretty enough, or skinny enough, or are basically just not enough, I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know you will never be enough but you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.’”

Demi didn’t follow up her win by bagging an Oscar, that award went to Mikey Madison, however she wasn’t upset by it.

She told Time: “I didn’t feel gutted.

“I didn’t feel any of those kinds of things.

“I just trusted, and am in trust of, whatever is going to unfold.”

She is set to present an award at this year’s ceremony on March 15 in LA, alongside other A-list talent lie Javier Bardem, Adrien Brody and Zoe Saldaña.

MAURA Higgins continued her fashion hot streak in a stunning designer dress in Milan.

The US Traitors star slipped into a £2,350 Roberto Cavalli number for Milan Fashion Week and cut a modelesque figure as she posed for photos.

The striking golden gown is described as “a tribute to the beauty and power of the sun” on the brand’s website.

Maura gave a glimpse into her hotel room, showing a Roberto Cavalli bag on her bed supplied especially for her by the brand.

The striking look comes hot on the heels of her head-turning appearance at the Baftas on Sunday.

At the Royal Festival Hall she wore a figure-hugging red satin gown with a silhouetted cape and a fan-like neckline for the ultimate sexy senorita look.

READ MORE ON MAURA HIGGINS

BAFTA GLAM

Maura Higgins and Sadie Sink leads stars at the Bafta film awards

A-MAUR-ICAN DREAM

Maura Higgins’ plan to turn heads in US – & controversy that sparked it

Maura’s career is on the up and she’s been making big waves in America.

The 35-year-old hosts the Love Island USA spin-off show Aftersun and is in the final of Celebrity Traitors, where she struck up a friendship with Real Housewife Lisa Rinna.

She recently attended an event celebrating Lisa’s new book, You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It.

The former reality TV bombshell, who shot to fame in 2019 with her razor-sharp one-liners and no-filter flirting, is fast becoming a US sensation. 

Back home, she has just bagged a six-figure deal with Victoria’s Secret — a major glow- up from her villa days. 

These days, Maura is living a jet-set life that would have felt a ­million miles away from her childhood in the town of Ballymahon, Co Longford. 

Of course, Maura’s American takeover didn’t come out of nowhere. 

In February last year, she found herself at the centre of a Brit Awards storm after being spotted by The Sun kissing married McFly singer Danny Jones.  

While his relationship drama played out publicly, trolls piled into Maura online, landing the blame firmly at her door. 

For a short while, she went quiet — but instead of retreating, she soon landed a spot on The Traitors US, which is hosted by actor Alan Cumming. 

And what looked like a ­reputational wobble in the UK has since become a full-blown American reinvention. 

A source said: “When the ­Traitors came knocking, she knew it could turn things around for her. Maura jumped straight into action. She was a woman who had something to prove.” 

After filming wrapped on the US series at Ardross Castle in Scotland last June, Maura walked away feeling confident that she had smashed it, according to pals. 

She has now signed up with top-tier agency Align PR, whose clients include Madonna and Hollywood stars Matthew McConaughey and Bryce Dallas Howard. 

She has even been doing some acting herself, landing a role in an Irish buddy movie, The Spin, due to be released later this month. 

England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek was carried off on a stretcher with a head injury during AC Milan’s 1-0 defeat by Parma.

He collided with Parma goalkeeper Edoardo Corvi when challenging for a cross early in the Serie A game at the San Siro on Sunday.

Loftus-Cheek’s head and neck were put in a brace before he was taken off.

Sky Italia reported that he broke his jaw and several teeth.

A significant injury could affect Loftus-Cheek’s chances of making England’s squad for the World Cup, which starts in June.

VERONA, Italy — In fair Verona, L.A., unofficially, takes the torch.

While the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France at Sunday’s closing ceremony, handing off the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will burn next in L.A.

In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is surging in popularity but unsteady in a changing world, as the Games return to Los Angeles for the third time.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to rake in record TV numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers took in the United States’ thrilling overtime win over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014 with an average of 26.7 million viewers who also watched U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal for women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.

The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan just as 41-year-old mother of two Elana Meyers Taylor did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first gold medal in bobsled, jumping into the arms of her nanny and, through tears, signing to her deaf children, “Mommy won.”

No matter protests, politics or planning hurdles, the Olympics sought to remain a stage for those athletes to shine.

“You showed us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said to the Olympians in her speech while standing on a platform in the stands placed in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”

After record numbers from the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, accounting for 80% of the expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations,” Milano Cortina 2026 chief executive officer Andrea Varnier said at a news conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, at 14%, bought the second-most tickets.

Fans filled arenas that were finished just in time in Milan. They withstood snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath while multiple skiers got airlifted off the downhill course in Cortina.

The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours on trains and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally united in a single city known for love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games represented seemingly every Shakespearean theme.

Athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which went through an average of 365 kilograms of pasta and 10,000 eggs a day. A cheating scandal rocked curling.

The closing ceremony set at the Roman amphitheater at the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But beneath the glittering gold medals, there was pain.

Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified when he refused to compete without his helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who’ve been killed in the war with Russia.

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.

(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

Already holding the weight of their personal dreams, U.S. athletes faced additional pressure answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess he said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States at the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old “a real loser” on social media.

Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” to his forehead after his first qualifying run.

Athletes pleaded for assistance navigating an onslaught of social media threats as the Olympic spotlight grows with every Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a safeguarding unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were taken down during the Paris Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games hadn’t been finalized.

With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second-most medals with 33, including 12 golds, the most Olympic titles for the country at any single Winter Games. The total gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.

After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice in the next eight years. L.A. will host the 2028 Games and Utah will have the 2034 Winter Games.

Approaching the final stretch of an 11-year planning period, the L.A. Games confronted another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman’s resignation after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files. After initial hesitation, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.

But LA28 doubled down on his role. The executive committee of the LA28 board stood by Wasserman after a review from an outside legal firm found that the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”

As with his 2026 organizing committee counterpart Giovanni Malago, Wasserman would be expected to deliver speeches in 2028.

The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

We grew up with that line from “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” show.

But really, it’s the spaces in between, that can resonate and bring a sense of mortality to these world-class athletes.

As I witnessed these memorable events in this year’s Winter Olympics, I tried to keep in mind the frail dynamics of our collective psyche while performing against a spectacular backdrop of the Dolemites, or walking the historic, ancient streets of Milan.

There are dozens of photographers working at each event. They, like the athletes on the field of play, are in a competition.

Competing with each other to make the best image. Competing with the elements at outdoor venues, like bitter cold, rain, wind and snow. And most of all, competing with themselves to rise above their personal standard of what constitutes an outstanding photograph.

Witnessing what is probably an athletes greatest moment is both a thrill and an honor.

Here are some of the visual surprises.

Mikhail Shaidorov shows his metal as he takes a bite of the gold medal he won in the Men’s Single Skating Final.

French skier Laura Gauche sails against the backdrop of the Dolomites on her way to the finish line in the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Figure skater Ilia Malinin feels the pain of a bad performance during the finals for Men’s Single Skating at Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Megan Keller is mobbed by teammates after scoring the winning goal to beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the Women’s ice hockey final.

Team USA are reflected in the ice during the Women’s Team Pursuit at Milano Speed Skate Stadium.

Swiss skier Melanie Meillard weeps in the arms of her teammate Janine Schmitt after missing a turn on her slalom run Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Lindsay Vonn is airlifted off the mountain after crashing during the Women’s downhill Alpine skiing event.

USA skier AJ Hurt wags her tongue after a successful slalom run at the Women’s Team Combined Slalom.

Gloves were flying when Tom Wilson, left, of Team Canada engaged with Pierre Crinon, of Team France, at Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates practice before competing in the ice dancing free skate competition.

USA skater Amber Glenn weeps after completing an imperfect routine in the single skating short program.

USA skaters Eunice Lee and Corinne Stonnard crash in the Women’s 3,000m short track speed skating.

French skater Adam Siao Him Fa performs a flip during the finals for Men’s Single Skating.

Medals and a selfie for Italy, Korea and Canada at the Women’s Team Short Track Speed Skating finals.

The Swiss Women’s ice hockey team leaves their equipment on the ice while celebrating an overtime win over Sweden in the bronze medal match.

When women take the ice for Thursday’s Olympic free skate in the global fashion capital of Milan, five skaters will compete in dresses made by Los Angeles-based designer Lisa McKinnon.

McKinnon has become the must-have name in figure skating couture, dressing the entirety of the U.S. and South Korea women’s teams. Americans Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito wore McKinnon’s designs in the short program and will do so again in the free skate.

And one of those dresses may be featured on the medal podium. Liu stands in third place after Tuesday’s short program, while Levito is in eighth and Glenn tumbled to 13th with the free skate still to come.

McKinnon knows exactly how clothing needs to fit on bodies moving across the ice — for spins, for jumps, for everything it takes to win. The fabric must be able to stretch in all directions, which necessitates a four-way stretch fabric. Design with a two-way stretch and a skater might not be able to lift their arm. Dress skaters in spandex, power mesh and stretch velvet, and they’ll move like they do in training.

American Amber Glenn competes in the figure skating short program at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Tuesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

McKinnon sources most of the fabric locally from the fashion district in downtown L.A.

“It’s really great to just go in person because sometimes it’s the fabric that can inspire you to create something with,” McKinnon said.

McKinnon’s time on the ice that taught her how to create fashion for an athlete tailored for movement and aesthetic appeal. She grew up as a competitive figure skater in Sweden, and she started making bodysuits and dresses — which she wore to practice — for herself at age 11 or 12. By 16, she was designing dresses for elite skaters in her hometown, Mariestad, Sweden, including a Swedish national champion. At the time, they shared a coach, and the coach asked McKinnon to design a dress for the skater.

“They had seen the dresses that I made for other skaters,” she said. “They were just — you know — putting their faith in my hands that I could do this.”

After high school, McKinnon skated in tours in Europe and then North America. In the United States, she first settled in Las Vegas, where she designed dresses for local skaters. When she moved to L.A., bigger name skaters started calling. She designed for Ashley Wagner, three-time U.S. champion, and Karen Chen, who competed in her dresses at the 2018 Olympic Games. McKinnon says they were the ones who “got her noticed.” Noticed to the point that Milan is by no means the designer’s Olympic debut. In 2018, she outfitted pairs gold medalists Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot from Germany.

Since then, McKinnon has become the go-to designer for elite women’s figure skaters in the United States. At U.S. nationals in St. Louis in January, eight of the 18 senior women competed in McKinnon’s dresses. In the final warm-up alone — composed of the six skaters leading after the short program — five wore McKinnon designs. There, Glenn, Liu and Levito stood on the podium in her dresses.

In St. Louis, McKinnon hand delivered a dress to Liu, the reigning world champion who debuted a long-awaited Lady Gaga free skate routine. Liu practiced in the dress and McKinnon was able to make on-the-spot adjustments.

Surprisingly, hand delivery isn’t the norm for the dresses that run from $3,000-$8,000, averaging around $5,000 (McKinnon charges by the hour). Because McKinnon designs for skaters who train all over the country — Liu in Oakland, Glenn in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Levito near Philadelphia in southern New Jersey — FedEx shepherds the dresses across the country. Skaters make sure the dresses fit OK before McKinnon and her four-person seamstress team add sparkle, which usually means a crystal count in the thousands. Beads, paillettes and pearls are often mixed into the shine. Each crystal is hand affixed with E6000 glue.

American Christina Carreira and partner Anthony Ponomarenko compete during the ice dancing free skate at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 11 in Milan.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

McKinnon affixed faux rose pedals to a dress for American ice dancer Christina Carreira to debut during the skater’s own Olympic debut. Midway through the skating season, Carreira and partner, Anthony Ponomarenko, returned to their free dance from two years ago, “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.” They needed new costumes to differentiate from their performances two years ago, and McKinnon had already designed costumes for the team’s rhythm dance to La Bouche’s “Sweet Dreams.” McKinnon made the new dress in a little over a week, and it was set to arrive three days before Carreira left her training base in London, Canada, for the Games.

Except the dress didn’t arrive.

McKinnon learned that the package was stuck at a FedEx facility in Memphis, Tenn., after Winter Storm Fern pummeled the region.

“We would call and sometimes they’d say it’s in L.A., sometimes they’d say it’s in Memphis, so we didn’t know where it was,” Carreira said. “We weren’t getting answers, but going on social media actually helped.”

Carreira woke up after her flight to Milan to find an Instagram message with a photo of her dress. A woman told Carreira that her husband had found the package and put it on the first plane to Detroit, where Carreira’s coach, Scott Moir, retrieved the package to bring to Milan.

Carreira first tried on the dress in Milan. “It fit perfectly,” she said. “Lisa has never met me. She’s only seen me over FaceTime, and the two dresses she’s made fit perfectly.”

Carreira and Ponomarenko placed 11th in their Olympic debut.

“I wanted a dress that made me feel special at the Olympics,” Carreira said. “And both of those dresses did that.”

Carreira came to McKinnon’s designs through Glenn, who skated her short program to Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” wearing a McKinnon design based on the 1989 music video. After admiring McKinnon’s designs, Carreira talked it over with Glenn at an early season competition in Oberstdorf, Germany.

“She said Lisa was super easy to work with,” Carreira said. “The dresses fit perfectly.”

McKinnon designs from her studio, which occupies the first floor of her apartment in West Hollywood. There, McKinnon and her team watch their dresses take the runway in Milan. Except the runway is made of ice and the skaters will do much more than walk.

MILAN — After a one-hour on-ice training session and on the way to yet another interview, Isabeau Levito has one big problem on her mind.

One of the plants in the U.S. figure skater’s room has started growing mold. She needs to figure out how to wrangle it.

“That’s our task of the day,” Levito said Monday.

Nevermind that the biggest competition of her life was starting in about 24 hours.

Isabeau Levito competes during the free skating competition at the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 9 in St. Louis.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

Levito and the United States’ “Blade Angels” are trying to stay calm under pressure at the Olympics, where chaos has reigned at Milano Ice Skating Arena.

The United States was expected to dominate figure skating in Milan, but has yet to win a gold medal in an individual event entering Tuesday’s women’s short program. A supposed sure-fire gold medal disappeared in stunning fashion with Ilia Malinin’s eighth-place collapse. Three-time reigning world ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates settled for a “bittersweet” silver that was marred by judging controversies.

But the talent and depth on what is likely the best U.S. women’s Olympic team in decades could help end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women’s singles skating. The last U.S. woman to stand on an Olympic podium for an individual event was Sasha Cohen in 2006. Sarah Hughes’ 2002 gold medal was the last for the United States in women’s singles.

Alysa Liu has already ended one skid. The reigning world champion was the first U.S. woman to win the world title since 2006. With blonde horizontal stripes dyed into her black hair and a piercing in her upper lip, the 20-year-old Liu is putting an alternative spin on figure skating.

Three-time national champion Amber Glenn combines power in her triple axel with emotion on the ice.

Levito, the 2024 world silver medalist, is the classic balletic skater who packs a humorous punch behind her teenage smile.

In a sport that once pitted young women against each other to fit a singular “ice princess” mold, the “Blade Angels” find their strength in their diversity.

“I really like that we’re all so different,” Levito said. “We have our own strengths and our own personalities and our own ways we want to look and appear. … We all have the same passion for the sport and have very aligned goals of wanting to do our best, and once we do that, we’re all happy, regardless of who beat who.”

NBC announcing team Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir dubbed the trio of medal contenders “the big three,” but the skaters workshopped their own nickname after nationals. They nixed “Babes of Glory” and “Powerpuff Girls” for copyright concerns. Their final choice was a mashup of “Blades of Glory” and “Charlie’s Angels.” If you like it, credit Liu.

“If people don’t like it,” Liu said, “don’t say I made it.”

Liu and Glenn have already won a gold medal in Milan, helping the United States win the team event in dramatic fashion. But with the two events spaced more than one week apart, “being in a high-pressure atmosphere for so long takes its toll,” Glenn said.

The 26-year-old has faced additional challenges on social media at the Games. She had to resolve potential copyright issues concerning her free skate music and received threats for comments she made during a news conference when asked about President Trump’s policies regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, encouraged people in the queer community to “stay strong during these hard times,” refusing to avoid political conversations because “politics affect us all.”

American Amber Glenn competes during the team skate at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Feb. 8.

(Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

While she said Monday she doesn’t regret the comments, she has also had to take a break from social media to focus on her remaining competitions at the Olympics.

“I’m happy to do what I do and stand for what I stand for,” Glenn said. “But it has been —”

She paused.

“Complicated.”

Not only are the Olympic Games the largest stage for many sports and a dream that begins from childhood, but the spotlight has only increased with social media in recent years, Glenn said. Amid the pressure, she tries to lean on her teammates and embody the advice of U.S. figure skating alumni who tell her simply “enjoy it.”

“Four years ago, I could never have imagined even making it here,” Glenn said. “To just be here is a privilege that I don’t take lightly, and I need to remind myself of that and to just really soak in the experience, not just the results.”

Isabeau Levito skates during the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 11 in St. Louis.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

To reset after the team competition, the “Angels” went with the pairs skaters — whose competition started one week after the team event wrapped — to train at a U.S. facility in Bergamo, about a 50-minute drive outside of Milan. The training sessions are longer than what’s available at the competition venue, said Levito, who only took two training sessions in Milan before Tuesday’s short program.

The last U.S. figure skater to take Olympic ice, Levito has passed her time at the Games in the Olympic village. After making the Olympic team, the New Jersey native was most excited about the village. To her, it was going to be like “a magic kingdom,” she said before the Games.

It’s lived up to every expectation. She walks by the Olympic rings every morning. She and her teammates lounged in front of the TV watching the pairs competition Sunday and Glenn ordered ramen. Levito and U.S. ice dancer Christina Carreira named the adopted plants in their shared room Christabeau and Isatina. Levito is loving the experience so much that she won’t even harp on the fact that she briefly battled food poisoning.

She felt “horrible” off the ice, but it didn’t affect her training.

“When I was skating,” Levito said, “I flipped a switch in my head.”

She’ll need to switch it again Tuesday.