{"id":9848,"date":"2026-03-01T20:21:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9848"},"modified":"2026-03-01T20:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T20:21:33","slug":"instead-of-becoming-rivals-u-s-figure-skaters-alysa-liu-amber-glenn-and-isabeau-levito-have-embraced-their-blade-angels-persona-delivering-a-spectacular-joint-performance-on-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/?p=9848","title":{"rendered":"Instead of becoming rivals, U.S. figure skaters Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito have embraced their \u201cBlade Angels\u201d persona, delivering a spectacular joint performance on the ice."},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.S. women\u2019s figure skaters could\u2019ve been rivals. Instead, they\u2019re the \u2018Blade Angels\u2019<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito are representing Team USA in women\u2019s figure skating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Jamie Squire\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

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MILAN \u2014 The \u201cBlade Angels\u201d are about to take off.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s the\u00a0official trio nickname\u00a0for Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Isabeau Levito, the figure skaters representing Team USA in the individual women\u2019s competition. They voted on the name last month (it was Liu\u2019s suggestion) and were re-introduced to the world this week\u00a0in a video\u00a0narrated by none other than Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n

Glenn, Liu and Levito are widely considered the country\u2019s strongest female field in decades: Any one of them \u2014 or potentially multiple \u2014 could become the first U.S. woman to win an individual figure skating medal since 2006 .<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is the first time in, I would say, about four Olympic cycles that we have three women who could realistically end up on the Olympic podium,\u201d three-time national champion and 2014 Olympic medalist Ashley Wagner told NPR in January.<\/p>\n

The trio \u2014 who\u00a0might have been dubbed\u00a0the \u201cPowerpuff Girls\u201d or \u201cBabes of Glory\u201d if not for copyright concerns \u2014 have an impressive array of accolades between them. Glenn is the three-time reigning U.S. champion, Liu is the reigning world champion and Levito is the 2024 world silver medalist.<\/p>\n

But what makes them even more notable is their fierce friendship, which many see as a refreshing change from the dynamic of Olympics past.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that [Liu has] been saying throughout all the press conferences and stuff is\u2026 \u2018Why is it so shocking that we\u2019re being friendly, that we\u2019re friends?\u2019 They obviously are much younger than I am,\u201d said Glenn, who is 26. \u201cSo they don\u2019t know what the atmosphere might have been like before. Not that it was all bad, but there was definitely some intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liu is 20 \u2014 returning to the sport after her teenage retirement \u2014 and Levito is 18.<\/p>\n

The three have talked about their friendship as a source of comfort and normalcy in such a high-stakes environment. They have showered praise on each other at every opportunity, including at a press conference at U.S. Figure Skating championships last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Isabeau\u2019s wittiness, I\u2019m sure everybody says this, but truly she\u2019s the funniest person I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Liu said. \u201cAnd then Amber \u2026 you have a lot of love and you give a lot of love. She just radiates that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Their support has shone through publicly on social media and in quieter moments. At nationals, Liu, the penultimate skater of the night, bucked tradition by\u00a0standing rinkside\u00a0to watch Glenn take the ice \u2014 and showered Glenn with hugs after she overtook her for gold. The three were then named to the Olympic team, and reflected on the dynamic they would bring to Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all three of us know, OK, yes, we\u2019re competing against each other, but we\u2019re competing to go and do our programs the best we possibly can,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cAnd wherever that lands us, whatever the judges do, that\u2019s none of our business. As long as we are happy with what we do, I think everyone will be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenn and Liu are already gold medalists, having contributed to the U.S.\u2019 win in the team event \u2014 before the week\u2019s series of podium disappointments in the ice dance and men\u2019s categories. The women will compete for the last figure skating medals of these Olympics on Tuesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n

Who are the Blade Angels?<\/h3>\n

Glenn is the three-time reigning U.S. champion, the first woman to hold that title since Michelle Kwan.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also an outspoken mental health and LGBTQ+ advocate. Glenn has been open about her struggles with an eating disorder, anxiety and depression, including the break she took from skating about a decade ago to navigate a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very outspoken about the ups and downs that I\u2019ve had in my career because I want people to know that that\u2019s okay,\u201d Glenn said last month.<\/p>\n

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The Texas native has been skating since age 5, but didn\u2019t win an international competition until she was 24. She reached her first Olympics two years later.<\/p>\n

Glenn\u2019s artistic power and technical skill \u2014 including her consistent triple Axel \u2014 make her both a threat and a delight on the ice. She has particularly won over fans with her \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d short program this season, which set a record score at the U.S. championships. Her mantra is \u201cbreathe and believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Amber Glenn, pictured on the ice in January, is skating at her first Olympics at age 26.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Off the ice, Glenn is credited with helping change the culture of the women\u2019s sport by fostering a culture of support and inclusivity, particularly as the first openly queer U.S. women\u2019s champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw some of the tension between some of those athletes that are a bit older than me and how it affected their relationship with the sport, with each other, with themselves particularly, and the comparison just got really out of hand,\u201d Glenn told reporters in December. \u201cAnd I just wanted to be able to feel comfortable in the locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The younger members of Team USA say they have benefitted from that shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re all so intelligent and mature. And I think it\u2019s also why everyone gets so along in the locker room, because we all realize it\u2019s not that deep,\u201d Levito said at nationals. \u201cAnd we\u2019re all doing something that we\u2019re passionate about and that we love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liu has also been a positive force for change in that regard.<\/p>\n

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Alysa Liu (R) takes a selfie at the team event earlier in the Olympics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The California native broke onto the scene with her technical prowess at age 12 in 2018, becoming the youngest skater to land a triple Axel in international competition. The following year, she became the youngest-ever U.S. women\u2019s champion. She made her Olympic debut in Beijing in 2022 \u2014 then abruptly retired from the sport at age 16, burnt out from years of nonstop training.<\/p>\n

Liu used her time away to do regular teenage things like get her driver\u2019s license, travel and enroll in college classes. But a ski trip in 2024 reminded her of what she loved about the sport, and she tentatively returned to the rink. But she hit a full-force comeback when she won the 2025\u00a0World Championships, the first American woman to do so since Kimmie Meissner in 2006.<\/p>\n

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\u201cQuitting was definitely still to this day, like one of my best decisions ever,\u201d Liu said in October. \u201cAnd coming back was also a really good decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liu has returned to competition with a renewed love of the sport and sense of self, taking more control over things like costumes and music. She\u2019s stayed true to her own personal style, rocking a smiley piercing and halo hair (\u201cI kind of want to be a tree, add a new ring every year\u201d). And she\u2019s spoken about newly enjoying competition as a chance to showcase her creative artistry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want [the audience] to see my hair, my dress, my makeup, the way I skate,\u201d Liu, now 20, said at the start of the Olympics. \u201cI want people to see everything about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Isabeau Levito channeled Audrey Hepburn\u2019s character in \u201cBreakfast at Tiffany\u2019s\u201d short program in the 2024-2025 season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Geoff Robins\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Levito, 18, is the youngest member of the team \u2014 though has said she feels wiser after a foot injury forced her to take a break in the 2024-2025 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just made me more grateful for every opportunity I have to skate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She is known for her poise and grace on the ice \u2014 earning her the name \u201cTinkerbeau\u201d from some fans and her sense of humor off of it.<\/p>\n

Levito, a New Jersey native whose mom hails from Milan, went viral just this week for her enthusiastic response to an\u00a0interviewer\u2019s question\u00a0about how much fun she\u2019s been having in the Olympic Village: \u201cYou can\u2019t evict me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is their biggest competition?<\/h3>\n

Japan has been the U.S.\u2019\u00a0closest challenger in the rink\u00a0this Olympics, and that is poised to be the case for the women\u2019s event too. The rivalry is a respectful one: Skaters from both countries have spoken highly of each other, and several Japanese skaters have gone viral for their\u00a0wordless tribute to Glenn\u2019s success at a 2024 competition.<\/p>\n

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Leading the Japanese trio is Kaori Sakamoto, looking to close out her career with Olympic gold. Sakamoto, 25, has said she will retire after these Games, and picked a fitting song for her short program: \u201cTime to Say Goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Silver medalist Mone Chiba, gold medalist Amber Glenn and bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto pose after the women\u2019s event at the 2024 ISU Grand Prix Finals.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Laurent Cipriani\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The three-time world champion and three-time Olympian won bronze in 2022, and helped Japan win silver in this year\u2019s team event.<\/p>\n

She is also seen as a \u201cbig sister\u201d to her younger Olympic teammates, 2025 world bronze medalist Mone Chiba and 2026 Four Continents silver medalist Ami Nakai \u2014 both of whom are also considered strong podium contenders.<\/p>\n

But if figure skating at these Olympics have shown us anything, it\u2019s to expect the unexpected. Potential wildcards include Russia\u2019s Adeliia Petrosian, who is competing as a neutral athlete.<\/p>\n

Due to Russia\u2019s exclusion from international competition over its war in the Ukraine, the three-time Russian champion has only taken the ice in one senior competition outside of her homeland: the qualifier that got her this spot in Milan.<\/p>\n

Petrosian is coached by Eteri Tutberidze, the controversial and prolific women\u2019s coach whose many former charges include Kamila Valieva \u2014 the Russian skater who was disqualified from the 2022 Olympics over a doping scandal.<\/p>\n