Here’s what top Team USA skaters just said about Utah’s 2034 Winter Games

American figure skater Ilia Malinin practices a quadruple Axel for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

The arena built nearly three decades ago should be fine for the Olympics, he said.

“I like this. I generally think this is pretty cool,” Malinin said. “I already envision how everything is going to look in 2034. I mean, again, I don’t know if I’ll be skating then or just here representing but either way, I’ll really be excited and looking forward to how that’s going to look.”

His advice about transforming the former longtime home of the Utah Grizzlies minor league hockey team into the venue for what’s expected to be the most watched events at the 2034 Winter Games?

“I think it really just comes down to what the whole vibe around it is going to be, the whole theme of what Utah is going to bring, and the atmosphere that they want to show to the world,” Malinin said.

For figure skating events in 2034, “it makes sense to just have it be as packed as possible and really make it engaging for the audience to enjoy,” he said, while ensuring “it also (works) really well for the skaters, because in the end, we’re the ones on the ice. This event is around us.”

American figure skater Ilia Malinin practices for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Finding a balance for athletes in 2034

The pressure that can create is something Malinin experienced at his first Olympics, the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy. He had been widely seen as a favorite for an individual gold medal, but after falling during the men’s free skate, finished in eighth place.

How skaters competing at the Maverik Center in 2034 are affected depends on “how the environment of the arena is going to be,” Malinin said, as well as whether the media is able “to get in our face as fast as possible” before and after a performance.

“Sometimes, I think it’s good to find a balance where we feel comfortable enough to be able to open up,” he said, adding athletes have prepared for years for what is “one of the biggest accomplishments of our careers.”

Another Team USA skater at this year’s Olympics, Amber Glenn, agreed there’s a need for what she termed “a healthier and safer environment in figure skating and I’m hoping we can do that in 2034.”

Both Glenn and Malinin were nominated for the international award honoring the best example of fair play at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, for their efforts to look out for their competitors. Malinin won for offering words of encouragement to gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan.

Glenn, also a team gold medalist, finished fifth in the women’s individual competition in Milan. During the finals, Glenn stepped between a TV camera and Japanese silver medalist Sakamoto Kaori, who was crying over her performance.

“A lot of the times, the cameras, the fanfare, it can get a bit extreme. We saw that get to some of the athletes in Milan. I think we really need to consider athletes’ mental health before the whole spectacle of the Olympic Games,” she said.

Athletes need to be able to “just go out there and skate our best and meet our goals. Which is tough at such an elite type of competition. But we need to stop treating it as if it’s life or death. Because it made it feel like it was.”

Glenn noted the Maverik Center, which can seat about 12,000, might be small for an Olympic venue but “will be intimate.” Her career, she said, was inspired by watching U.S. skater Sarah Hughes win gold in Salt Lake City’s larger Delta Center at the 2002 Winter Games.

The 2026 women’s gold medalist Alysa Liu, wearing a Yungblud “Don’t Forget to Live” tour T-shirt for the rehearsal, was surprised to hear the Maverik Center would be an Olympic figure skating venue in 2034.

“Really? I had no idea. ... I mean, it’s fire. I love arenas. I like the seat colors,” she said, nodding toward the bright red seats already filling up with VIP fans. Liu said Milan’s figure skating venue, which seated less than 10,000, “wasn’t too big either.”

Liu said she’s not thinking yet about an Olympics so far away, and had no suggestions for Utah organizers.

“I can skate on pretty much any ice,” she said, smiling broadly.

Utah’s Olympic venue switch

The city-owned Maverik Center hosted Olympic and Paralympic hockey matches during Utah’s first Winter Games, in 2002.

American figure skater Alysa Liu practices for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

Figure skating was held at the Delta Center in downtown Salt Lake City, now undergoing a massive makeover to accommodate a new National Hockey League team, the Utah Mammoth. It was team owner Ryan Smith who announced Olympic hockey would be held there in 2034.

That meant moving figure skating to the Maverik Center. West Valley City Mayor Karen Lang said earlier this year there are plans to upgrade the arena, although the price tag and funding sources are still being worked out.

Utah’s Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games privately funded $4 billion budget likely won’t be the source. Most of less than $40 million set aside for venues is for temporary venues, like the big air jump planned in Salt Lake City.

U.S. Figure Skating’s vice president of communications, Isabelle McLemore, said so far, there’s been “really great collaboration” with Utah organizers, including about attracting more skating events to the state.

In January, the U.S. Figure Skating Championships will return to Utah for the first time since 1999. McLemore said that event, being held at the Maverik Center, won’t be the last major figure skating competition in the state before 2034.

“The more we can get our athletes into the venue, into the market, we’re getting that home court advantage, if you will,” she said. “So we’re going to look down the road over the next eight years of what kind of events we would bring to the city.”

The Maverik Center is likely to change over that time, she said.

“When you look at the Maverik Center today, I think everybody is saying eight years from now, it probably won’t look like this,” McLemore said. “Everything that goes into making an Olympic venue is incredible. They make it look completely different.”

She, too, said the Milan venue “didn’t look very different from this one.”

For Julia Toomey, who’d come from Orem to watch the Stars on Ice show, having Olympic figure skating in West Valley City in 2034 will make it that much easier to get to events, as a spectator or even as a volunteer.

“I think it will be nice to have it close, have it where we can come see and support Olympians, people who work their whole life. I’m excited to have the Olympics in Utah,” Toomey said, adding that this year’s Winter Games made her a figure skating fan.

“It was fun just to see how supportive they are of each other and how much they focus on mental health. ... Being an athlete, but being healthy about it. Not having to torture yourself just to succeed,” she said, showing that “it’s OK to be who you are.”

American figure skater Isabeau Levito practices for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

American figure skater Alysa Liu speaks to reporters at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

American figure skater Ilia Malinin speaks to reporters before practicing for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5-10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

American figure skater Amber Glenn speaks to reporters at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News

American figure skaters practice for Stifel Stars on Ice at the Maverik Center in West Valley on Thursday, May 14, 2026. Utah will serve as host of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships for the first time since 1999, with championship-level competition taking place Jan. 5–10, 2027, at the Maverik Center, the site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and the upcoming 2034 Olympic Winter Games. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News