Simone Biles on hand for epic Winter Olympics 2026 men’s free skate featuring Ilia Malinin, Kagiyama Yuma
Watching figure skating at Winter Olympics 2026 could feel like destiny.
Seven-time Olympic artistic gymnastics gold medallist Simone Biles of the United States knows a thing or two about throwing her body in the up in the air, spinning it around and landing gracefully.
Friday evening (13 February) at the Winter Olympics 2026 inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena, the 23-time world champion was on the other side of the Olympic magic, watching as figure skaters Ilia Malinin of the United States and Japan’s Kagiyama Yuma prepare to face off in the men’s free skate.
“There is a little bit of familiarity around [the sport] but I would never do it on ice,” Biles said during an in-arena interview. “I give them all the props, I’m rooting for them, I’m praying for them. I’m just super excited to watch today.”
But don’t expect to see Biles out on the ice – despite posting on social media late last year that she was taking skating lessons.
“I mean, I can skate,” she said. “But I cannot do anything that anything that these athletes can do out there tonight.”
The 28-year-old has competed at three Olympics – Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 – but these Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are her first purely as a spectator.
“Well, I’m super excited,” said Biles of her first Winter Games. “The biggest difference is the weather, the temperature. I’m used to hot, this is very cold.”
The gymnastics legend has not competed since Paris.
But Biles has kept busy as ever: from her nationwide U.S. arena tour in late 2024, to speaking gigs from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires and everything in between. She’s also embraced her role supporting husband Jonathan Owens, also here with her in Milano, throughout his NFL season as a member of the Chicago Bears.
With the LA28 Olympic Games some two-and-a-half years away, Biles has yet to declare whether she intends to compete or not, telling Olympics.com last year that no matter what she wanted to end her career on her terms.
“I think as athletes, you always want to end up on top and it be your choice when you end. Paris was such a special moment,” she said. “Of course, you have some that want to go back and repeat that success because you get really hungry for it, and you know what that feels like, and you know what you’re capable of.
“I’ve done so much, and I have had so much success in the sport, it’s like I want it to be my choice when I’m done. I don’t want the doctors to be like, ‘Hey. You can’t. Move on,” Biles continued. “I think for a lot of elite athletes, it’s never their choice when they get to be done.
“I’m grateful – if this was the end – that I got to choose my ending.”
