You can basically set your watch to it — every four years there’s an outbreak of ice skating fever across the United States. At the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, the breakout star was the racoon-haired, gold medal-winning figure skater Alysa Liu, who won people over with her alternative style and casual, no-pressure demeanor. Capitalizing on the Olympic excitement, Liu and her fellow American figure skating team event gold medalists like Amber Glenn and “The Quad God” Ilia Malinin are now a part of the skating exhibition showcase tour Stars on Ice, which makes a stop at Numerica Veterans Arena on May 21.
Two of the skaters joining the festivities are the ice dancing team of Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, who made their Olympic debut in February as part of Team USA. The relatively young duo are back-to-back silver medalists at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships and finished 11th in the Olympic ice dancing competition.
Before the Olympians lace up their skates in Spokane, we caught up with Carreira and Ponomarenko to chat about what’s already been a whirlwind year…