It's been a year since the U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team competed in Beijing. After the Games, they all took their own path. Some have continued to compete, some went back to school, some have gone into coaching or taken advantage of other opportunities.
Here's a look at what each member of the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Olympic Team has been up to since returning home from China.
Jason Brown takes a selfie with the 2022 Stars on Ice cast.
Women
Mariah Bell: While she now identifies as a "full-time dog and bunny mom," Bell has plenty on her plate. After Beijing, Bell finished just off the podium at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2023 and announced her retirement in October. She toured with Stars on Ice; moved to Fort Worth, Texas; and bought a condo, which is within walking distance of NYTEX Sports Centre where her sister, Morgan, coaches. Bell has dipped her toes into coaching herself, giving lessons at the rink. The 2022 U.S. champion is taking classes at University of Northern Texas, majoring in psychology and minoring in business.
Karen Chen: Chen finished the 2021-22 season at the World Championships, then joined the Stars on Ice cast, touring the United States, before returning to school at Cornell University. She is a sophomore human development major. On the pre-med track, her goal is to be a pediatrician.
Alysa Liu: Liu returned to compete one more time and secured the bronze medal at the World Championships.
Weeks later, she announced her retirement, but didn't stay off the ice for long as she toured with Stars on Ice in both the United States and Japan. When she retired, one of her goals was obtaining her driver's license, and she admitted she's a great driver now. Liu is also enjoying spending time with her friends and siblings.
Men
Jason Brown: Brown has kept busy pursuing his many interests. He took two trips to Peru to teach a seminar and help choreograph for their athletes as the Peruvian federation is just starting up. He performed in Stars on Ice and other shows and helped with Team USA's social media at Skate America. He also took time to be with his family. Then, Brown decided he wasn't quite done with competitive skating and made his return at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, earning the silver medal and qualifying for the World Team.
Nathan Chen on the set of Celebrity Family Feud
Nathan Chen: Chen is back on campus at Yale University, where he is a junior majoring in statistics and data science. After the Olympic Games, he toured with Stars on Ice, both in Japan and the United States, and made special appearances on shows such as Celebrity Family Feud with his siblings and Secret Celebrity Renovation, in which he helped with the renovation of a Salt Lake City skating rink. Chen has released two books — his memoir,
One Jump at a Time, and a children's picture book,
Wei Skates On. He also participated in the White House Lunar New Year celebration, meeting the president. And he became an uncle for the first time.
Vincent Zhou: Zhou returned to competition at the World Championships, where he earned bronze. The Stars on Ice Tour in Japan and the United States followed. Zhou enjoyed the shared experiences and how close the cast became, calling them family; he added that he made some of the best memories of his life that summer. In the fall, Zhou returned to school at Brown University, where he studies economics. He ended the year at home in Palo Alto, California, doing a venture capital internship and going skiing with his family.
Pairs
Ashley Cain and Timothy LeDuc: Both Cain and LeDuc remain involved in the sport, just not competitively. Cain is currently traveling around the world with Disney on Ice, playing the part of Elsa from
Frozen. She has traveled to Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Egypt and leaves for countries in Asia and South America next month. While at home, she coaches in Texas, serves on the Athletes Advisory Committee for U.S. Figure Skating and has been a part of starting an athlete mentorship program. LeDuc is also coaching, with his home base in Chicago.
Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier: Knierim and Frazier have been busy rewriting the record books. At the 2022 World Championships, they became the first U.S. pairs team to be crowned World champions since 1979. Following their time with Stars on Ice in the United States and Japan, they became the first U.S. pairs team to win multiple ISU Grand Prix events in one season with golds at Skate America and MK John Wilson Trophy. They earned silver at the 2022 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, making them first U.S. pairs team to win a medal at the event. Most recently, the pair clinched their second U.S. title in San Jose, California, and then traveled to Switzerland to take part in the ISU Art on Ice Show.
Ice Dance
Madison Hubbell and Zach Donohue and Madison Chock and Evan Bates both stood ont he podium at the World Championships
Madison Chock and Evan Bates: Chock and Bates finished their 2021-22 season with bronze finish at the World Championships, the third of their career. They then traveled across the United States and Japan with Stars on Ice before announcing their engagement on June 11. Once returning to competitive ice, Chock and Bates picked up right where they left off, claiming gold and silver at their two Grand Prix assignments and finished up 2022 with silver at the Grand Prix Final. Two weeks after winning their fourth U.S. title in San Jose, they returned to Four Continents to claim their third gold medal at that event.
Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker: Hawayek and Baker have been on the road since Beijing. They traveled to France for the World Championships, then Japan for Stars on Ice. When the 2022-23 season began, Hawayek and Baker added two more Grand Prix silver medals to their collection, qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. Most recently, they were selected to the 2023 U.S. World Team. Hawayek also continued DJing over the summer, and was part of the lineup at the Formula 1 grand prix event in Montreal.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue: Hubbell and Donohue gave their final bows at the World Championships, capping off their competitive careers with the silver medal. They also both skated in Stars on Ice, touring the United States, and have been plenty busy since arriving home. Hubbell, who gets married in Barcelona in June, is in the midst of wedding planning, although she calls herself a "pretty hands-off bride." She also dove straight into coaching, working full time at the I.AM. London campus with Scott Moir in London, Ontario. Meanwhile, Donohue, got engaged last June and married in September. While they figure out where their home base will be, he's working on his business plan to open a school and enjoying working with as many coaches as he can.