From Tiny Blades to World Champions: The 2018 Moment No One Noticed — Until Now
Long before podium lights, national anthems, and the weight of global expectation, there were just two kids sharing the ice.
As Olympic fans grow increasingly sentimental this season, a resurfaced set of childhood photos — and a quietly powerful video from 2018 — is striking an emotional chord across the skating world. In it, Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin, now the 2025 women’s and men’s World Champions, can be seen skating side by side as children, years before anyone could imagine what they would become.
They are small. Focused. Unaware.
No titles. No pressure. Just blades carving the ice and dreams forming in real time.
The images — baby photos, early competition snapshots, grainy practice clips — feel almost surreal in hindsight. Back then, they were just young skaters chasing edges and balance. Today, they stand at the very top of the sport, symbols of a new American era in figure skating.
What makes the 2018 video especially moving is what it doesn’t show:
No hints of future dominance. No prophecy. Just two kids sharing space, unknowingly sharing history.
Fans watching now aren’t just seeing champions — they’re watching dreams come true in reverse. Every stumble, every awkward spin, every earnest glide suddenly matters. The Olympics and Worlds haven’t just crowned winners; they’ve turned childhood effort into legacy.
As one fan put it: “We didn’t just watch them win. We watched them grow.”
