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Olympic figure skaters will feel the eyes of the world on them when they take to the ice for their programs at the 2026 Cortina Olympics in Milan this month, but there is extra pressure on their shoulders heading into the Winter Games.
Hitting the right notes.
It’s not so much whether the figure skaters will be able to move to the right rhythm and beats blasting through the speakers, but whether there will be music at all.
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Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate of Spain competes in the Men’s Short Program during the 2026 ISU European Figure Skating Championships at the Utilita Arena Sheffield in Sheffield, Britain on January 15, 2026. (Yuan Tian/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Spanish skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate has been trying to get permission to use music from the “Minions” movie, as his short program is a medley of four different songs from the franchise. He has three of the four songs cleared as of Wednesday and is working on getting a fourth song from Pharrell Williams passed, according to American Champion Amber Glenn.
Guarino Sabate has yet to win an Olympic medal in his career.
Glenn said she has told family and friends there will be “Minions” at the Olympics and doesn’t “want to be a liar.”
“We’ve tried our best to get everything clear, do what we can, and honestly, a producer could just decide, ‘Hey, never mind, no,'” she said.
“I can honestly just see from the avenues available to me that it’s clear, and then I’m just hoping and praying that I don’t get an email that says, ‘By the way, they reached out and they said they don’t want you to use it’. So I think it’s been a very trying process for a lot of us.”
Amber Glenn performs at the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at the Enterprise Center on January 11, 2026. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
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Glenn skates her short program to Madonna’s “Like A Prayer,” but even though the pop legend protested, she’ll take it as a victory.
“If I get a message from Madonna that she doesn’t want me to skate to her music, I’ll just be excited to get a message from Madonna,” she said. “But let’s hope that doesn’t happen.”
American star Ilia Malinin said he tries to give his routine a personal touch.
“It’s something we all care about, and especially for me, I like to make completely unique pieces of music that I skate to,” Malinin said. “I like to reach out to the artist directly and try it as an option. Most of the time it works in my favor. Especially this year, everyone was so hopeful and so supportive.”
Ilia Malinin of the United States trains during a figure skating training session ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
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Glenn and Malinin skate in the singles competitions. None of the competitors have Olympic medals yet.
