Penn Ice Rink set to host American Gold Live featuring world champion figure skaters Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu
The road to the Olympics passes through Penn.
Ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, the top figure skaters in the world will visit the Class of 1923 Ice Skating Rink to participate in the holiday figure-skating show, American Gold Live, on Dec. 13 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. The stars of the show include the reigning world champions Ilia Malinin and Alysa Liu, as well as reigning world silver medalist Isabeau Levito. More stars are set to be announced, according to the event’s website. 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano is set to host.
“It [will] be my first time skating at that rink. … Overall, I’m really excited for that event. I think it’s going to be such a fun event.” Malinin told The Daily Pennsylvanian about American Gold.
The show precedes the United States Figure Skating National Championships, held from Jan. 4-11, 2026, which serve as part of the selection process for the team representing the United States at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics beginning in February 2026. The confirmed headliners of American Gold are currently strong contenders for the U.S team.
Malinin, also known as “the Quad God,” is a two-time world champion and a force in the sport. At 21, he has two world championship titles and three U.S. titles and is the only skater to successfully execute the quadruple Axel — the sport’s most difficult jump — in the competition.
Last week, the “Quad God” became the first person to land seven quads in competition en route to his third career title at the crowning event of figure skating’s season, the Grand Prix Final. With that performance, he also set the world record in the free skate portion at the competition held in Japan.
When he takes the ice in West Philadelphia, Malinin will have a self-curated program in store that serves as a way for him to “have more freedom and express [himself] more on the ice.”
Similarly, Liu is planning to use the freedom of a show to do spins not allowed in competition and to try new things. Liu, a 2022 Olympian, also competed at last week’s Grand Prix Final and took home her second career title at the competition.
Regarding the event, Malinin is excited for audiences to get to see skating live and in-person.
“It’s so completely different than if you were to watch online. A lot of the time, people don’t understand or can’t really see how difficult it is, unless they go in person and see it,” Malinin told the DP. “What I like to do is show that difficulty and how difficult it is and try to convert it into something that people understand.”
Tickets for the show can be found on the American Gold website. There are four types of tickets, including an on-ice VIP experience and a Penn community tier. For the latter, students, faculty, staff, and alumni can access a limited number of tickets at a discount.
