Jonathan Van Ness's Guide To Olympic Figure Skating

Jonathan Van Ness (he/they) is a beauty expert, the founder of JVN Hair, host of the podcast Getting Better With Jonathan Van Ness, a co-host of Queer Eye (the 10th and final season dropped on Netflix last month), and currently on tour with Hot and Heated, a comedy show. Below, Van Ness — a figure skating superfan — weighs in on which athletes to pay attention to at the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games.

I first saw figure skating on TV in 1992, when I was 4 years old. I fell crazy in love with Kristi Yamaguchi. The Albertville Olympic Games were in ’92 — it was the last time they did the Winter and Summer Games in the same year, and then they did Winter again in ’94 so that it could syncopate. So I fell in love with Kristi Yamaguchi in ’92, then Tonya Harding in ’94. And between that and Brian Boitano coming back, and Viktor Petrenko coming back, and Katarina Vitt coming back for the ’94 Games in Lillehammer, I was beside myself.

So I've been a mega, mega, mega, mega fan since then. My first foray onto the ice was when I was 6, and in my mind, I was Kristi Yamaguchi. This boy came up to me and body-checked me as hard as he could while I was trying to skate. I got a fat lip; there was blood everywhere. And then I was scared to skate.

I didn’t get a second chance to go back onto the ice until I was, like, 30. I happened to meet this incredible queen, this amazing figure skating coach. Her name is Eliot Halverson. I started taking lessons, and I’ve been skating ever since. My fandom is all-encompassing.

Skating is scary — you’re using muscles in ways that you never would use them in any other time in your life because of the physics of ice. You’re like 6 or 7 inches up off the ground because of the blade, so it feels a lot taller than what you would think.

Doing my podcast is so fun because I get to fuse my day job with my love of figure skating. I got to interview Mirai Nagasu, Adam Rippon, Michelle Kwan, and my coach, Eliot. It’s so incredible, and there are so many other skaters who I would love to get to interview.

Who To Watch

At the Olympics, often you know who’s going to get first and second place, but usually the bronze medal is a really big conversation because there’s usually like two or three, maybe four, people who could reasonably — based off of international scores — get third. This year, we literally have like eight women who could be vying for first. So really, first through third are truly up for grabs this time, and I can’t remember an Olympic field that was like that. I really do think it’s anyone’s guess.

I feel like the gold could go to Amber Glenn. Or it could totally be Alysa Liu, but then it could be any three of the Japanese girls — Mone Chiba, Ami Nakai, or Kaori Sakamoto. They are skating lights out right now; they’re skating so, so well. But then you have Adeliia Petrosian, the neutral athlete from Russia. She’s a big question mark because we just haven’t seen her compete that much internationally, and she does have some ultra-C elements, meaning like a triple axel or a quad, but we haven’t seen her compete those in a while because she’s had some injuries.

The other highlight of figure skating that I’m especially excited for is pairs. There’s this Canadian pair who I’m obsessed with, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps. She won a world title at age 40 in 2024 after she returned to the sport in 2016 following a 16-year hiatus. She’s 42 now, and they’re really contenders for getting on the podium, possibly winning, in pairs. I’m really rooting for them.

I think that it’ll be a tight competition on the men’s side, obviously, I think Ilia Malinin (who’s American), is obviously a lock on gold, barring an injury. I think second and third are going to be a really exciting competition. And then a lot is happening in ice dance this year. Now, not to name drop, but Madison Chock (also American) is one of the most supportive people on my whole Instagram — I feel like she likes my stuff more than my mom — and I love her. She’s obviously the ice dancing queen of our heart with her partner, Evan Bates. I really want to see them win.

I really just want to haul up and go to Italy, but I feel like I might have a nervous breakdown given the traveling schedule with the rest of my tour. Maybe if I try to, like, squeeze it in?

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.