Stars on Ice 2026 Brings Olympic Skaters to Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - The 2026 Stifel Stars on Ice tour arrived in the Emerald City tonight, bringing a gem-filled cast of Olympic-level skaters to Climate Pledge Arena. On Saturday, May 23rd, at the Queen Anne venue, skaters such as Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, Madison Chock, Evan Bates, and Ilia Malinin captivated those in attendance with their routines.
“There’s a lot more fun, in my opinion. We’re really connecting more with the crowd; we’re doing whatever music we want to skate to; nothing is being judged; we’re not competing against each other; we’re part of a really special team, which is something really special.”
There are many recognizable names that skated in this event in Seattle, as the United States returned from this year’s Winter Games with one of the most decorated American teams in the history of the Winter Olympics.
(Photos by Aimee Arnold for Circling Seattle Sports)
The tour will make stops in Spokane, Wenatchee, and Seattle in Washington, and in Portland, Oregon, to wrap up the Pacific Northwest portion when all is said and done. The 2025 tour, then referred to as “Rock Stars on Ice,” took place on May 15th and was headlined by reigning World Champions Ilia Malinin and Madison Chock & Evan Bates, as well as the legendary Elvis Stojko. The goal at the time was to prepare for the 2025 World Championships in Boston and the 2026 Winter Olympics.
At the time of the 2015 tour, Isabeau Levito was a World Silver Medalist and U.S. Champion, Amber Glenn was a two-time and reigning U.S. Champion, and Alysa Liu was a Bronze Medalist and two-time U.S. Champion. Those stars were joined by Olympic Bronze Medalist and U.S. Champion Jason Brown; Olympian and two-time Canadian Champion Keegan Messing; two-time World Medalist and four-time Japanese Champion Satoko Miyahara during that 2025 tour stop. The tour has made stops in Seattle dating back to 2022.
The ice at Climate Pledge Arena is normally the home of the NHL’s Kraken and PWHL’s Torrent, boasting stars of their own such as Olympians Hilary Knight, Hannah Bilka, Cayla Barnes, Julia Gosling, and Aneta Tejralová on the Torrent side, while Philipp Grubauer, Eeli Tolvanen, Kaapo Kakko, and Oscar Fisker Mølgaard were at the Winter Games this year on the Kraken side.
(Photos by Aimee Arnold for Circling Seattle Sports)
Continuing with Kraken-related items, Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Ellie Kam, Jason Brown, Christina Carreira, Isabeau Levito, Madison Chock, Evan Bates, Andrew Torgashev, Jacob Sanchez, Anthony Ponomarenko, and Danny O'Shea were all seen in customized Seattle Kraken jerseys after the show. A group of skaters, including Liu and Glenn, posted on social media that they’d been exploring the Space Needle prior to the show.
“It is so much fun; it is all about enjoying skating, not about trying to win. It’s about doing what we really love, connecting with the audience and music. I think, for a lot of us, it’s the purest form of skating. it’s what we grew up loving to do.”
U.S. Figure Skating owned the ice for a night, fresh off its strong campaign at Milano Cortina, with tickets starting as low as $29 to see Olympic and World Champion-level talent in Seattle. Additionally, fans could pay for tickets to meet and greet with skaters before and after the show. Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, Ilia Malinin, Andrew Torgashev, and Jacob Sanchez were seen participating in one of those meet-and-greets.
(Photos by Aimee Arnold for Circling Seattle Sports)
Performances of the songs “Too Darn Hot” by Cole Porter for his musical Kiss Me, Kate (1948) and “I Just Might” by Bruno Mars (2026) were shared by the group on hand for the event. The show kicks off with a large number of the cast skating to “Brink of Annihilation/Fearless” by Tommee Profitt, emerging in black hooded costumes, then removing them to reveal orange and green costumes, after which they’re all introduced.
Our photographer was only allowed to capture the first few sets on the night, which included the aforementioned opening performance, Andrew Torgashev’s session to the song “Out of Time” by Bradley Cooper, and Isabeau Levito’s skate to “Material Girl” by Madonna.
The trio of Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, and Isabeau Levito, known as the “Blade Angels,” performed to the song “Golden,” a song performed by Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami as the fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in the 2025 animated musical urban fantasy film KPop Demon Hunters.
During her solo sessions, Gleen Amber Glenn performed to the song “Like a Prayer” by Lady Gaga (Not the Madonna version), “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra, and a mashup of the songs “I Will Find You” and “The Return”
(Photos by Aimee Arnold for Circling Seattle Sports)
Ilia Malinin’s solo sessions included performances to the songs "I Was Made for Lovin' You" by Kiss (1979), “A Voice,” and a mashup of the songs “Lose Yourself” by Eminem (2002) and “Jump Around” by House of Pain (1992).
(Photos by Aimee Arnold for Circling Seattle Sports)
A practice session at the arena prior to the event provided some fun moments for the skaters, in addition to practice for the night of, including Amber Glenn lifting Isabeau Levito around and skating with her. Additionally, Ilia Malinin performed a backflip over Jacob Sanchez and, funny enough, actually performed a blade-grabbing backflip during the finale of the show. Glenn was gifted a Funko Pop during that practice session, while multiple skaters received specialized gifts during the aforementioned meet-and-greets.
Please note that we weren’t able to have a writer on hand at the event, so this write-up isn’t as detailed as we’d like.
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Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our Stars on Ice articles here.
Check out our previous articles written by Charles Hamaker here.
Check out our previous articles with photos by Aimee Arnold here, and her Instagram account here.
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