Some of the best stories in figure skating belong to skaters who came back after a long time away, broke through later than anyone expected or kept competing long past the usual age. Deanna Stellato-Dudek returned after 16 years off the ice, and Danny O'Shea came out of retirement to make his Olympic debut in 2026. Here are ten of them, from Olympic podiums to the U.S. Adult Championships.
Key takeaways
- Stellato-Dudek won a Grand Prix at 39 and skated at the Olympics at 42.
- Alysa Liu retired at 16, came back in 2024 and won Olympic gold in 2026.
- Amber Glenn won her first senior U.S. title ten years after her junior one.
- At the 2026 U.S. Adult Championships, the oldest competitor was 85 and skated at gold level.
If you started skating as an adult, or came back after a long break, it's easy to feel late. The sport tends to celebrate teenagers, so it helps to know how many of its stars took the long way round. Some came back after retiring, some broke through in their mid-twenties, and some are still on the podium well into their thirties.
This list covers eight elite skaters and teams, then two adults from the 2026 U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships, where about 490 skaters aged 21 to 85 took part. Every age and result here comes from an official biography, a results page or a federation or team story, listed at the end. If you're thinking about your own return, our guide to coming back to figure skating as an adult is a good next read.
1. Deanna Stellato-Dudek
Deanna Stellato-Dudek won World Junior silver in singles, then retired from skating because of injury. After 16 years off the ice, she came back in March 2016 and switched to pairs. She has skated with Maxime Deschamps for Canada since 2019, and Skate Canada calls her the pairs world champion.
At 39 she became the oldest skater to win a Grand Prix event, and at 42 she went to the Milano Cortina Olympics as the oldest female figure skater there in nearly a century. An injury in practice just before the Games kept the pair out of the team event, but she was cleared to compete days later. Our article on Deanna Stellato-Dudek tells the whole story.
2. Danny O'Shea
Danny O'Shea won the 2016 U.S. pairs title with Tarah Kayne, then retired from competitive skating. He came back briefly in 2021, retired again, and worked in real estate while helping out as a coaching assistant. In 2022 he stepped in as a practice partner for Ellie Kam, and they officially teamed up that September.
Kam and O'Shea were named to the 2026 Olympic team. Team USA's profile says that at 35 he became the oldest U.S. Olympic pairs skater since 1932 and the oldest figure skater from any country to make an Olympic debut since 1948. Our article on Danny O'Shea has more on his road back.
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Alysa Liu announced her retirement at 16, in April 2022, after winning bronze in her first world championships. She spent a year and a half off the ice, enrolled at UCLA and lived like a normal teenager. The ISU's biography says she decided to come back in 2024.
Team USA's site calls her the 2025 world champion, and at the 2026 Olympics she won the women's event. The ISU also lists her as an Olympic champion in the team event. Our article on Alysa Liu's comeback covers the rest.
4. Carolina Kostner
Carolina Kostner won Italy's first world women's title in 2012. After sitting out two seasons, she returned to competition in December 2016. Her ISU biography gives her birth date as February 8, 1987, so she was 29 when she came back. It's a good reminder that a couple of seasons away doesn't have to be the end.
5. Mariah Bell
Mariah Bell won her first U.S. title at 25, on her ninth try. Team USA's story on her starts by saying she never thought much about her age until that win. After it, her age was the first thing people wanted to talk about. Keep that in mind the next time a big day doesn't go your way.
6. Amber Glenn
Amber Glenn won the U.S. junior title in 2014, the same year the Sochi Olympic team was chosen. NBC Sports says she spent much of the next ten years facing adversities within the sport. Her first senior national title came in January 2024.
In 2026 she became the first woman to win three U.S. titles in a row since Michelle Kwan. She finished fifth at the Milano Cortina Olympics. Our article on Amber Glenn follows her season.
7. Madison Chock and Evan Bates
Madison Chock and Evan Bates teamed up in 2011, and Team USA describes Bates as known for his longevity. They won their first Olympic medal at their third Games, and then three world titles in a row from 2023 to 2025. In January 2026 they won a record seventh U.S. ice dance title.
At the Milano Cortina Olympics, they took silver in ice dance. They married in June 2024. That's a long time with one partner, and its own kind of lesson in patience.
8. Piper Gilles
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier missed the 2023 Canadian Championships while she recovered from surgery after a diagnosis of stage one ovarian cancer. They came back to win bronze at the 2023 World Championships. At Milano Cortina, their third Olympics together, they finally reached the podium with bronze. Our article on Piper Gilles tells her story.
9. Kristina Struthwolf-Leato
At the 2026 U.S. Adult Championships in Duluth, Georgia, Kristina Struthwolf-Leato won her fifth consecutive and sixth championship masters junior-senior women's title. She landed 10 double jumps, three in combination, skating to Les Miserables. She told U.S. Figure Skating she'd tweaked her back a few weeks before and wasn't sure she'd skate at all. Adult skaters will recognize that feeling.
10. Madeline Nasby
Madeline Nasby was 85 at the 2026 U.S. Adult Championships, where she received the Dowlen Trophy, awarded each year to the oldest competitor. U.S. Figure Skating says she was the first gold-level competitor to receive it since the award began in 2017. The same event had seven lifers, skaters who have attended all 31 U.S. Adult Championships. If you ever worry you're too old to start, think of her.
Sources
- ISU, Deanna Stellato-Dudek / Maxime Deschamps biography; NBC Sports on her Grand Prix France win; CP24 (The Canadian Press), Feb 10 2026; Skate Canada news release, Dec 11 2024.
- Team USA, Danny O'Shea profile.
- ISU, Alysa Liu biography; U.S. Figure Skating, Apr 19 2022 and Oct 7 2024 stories.
- ISU results, Olympic Winter Games 2026: women single skating, ice dance and pairs.
- ISU, Carolina Kostner biography.
- Team USA, Mariah Bell profile and the linked Team USA story.
- NBC Sports, Amber Glenn story (December 2024); U.S. Figure Skating, Glenn three-peat story (2026); Team USA, Amber Glenn profile.
- Team USA, Madison Chock and Evan Bates profiles.
- Team Canada (olympic.ca), Piper Gilles profile.
- U.S. Figure Skating, 2026 U.S. Adult Championships preview (Apr 3 2026) and recap (Apr 13 2026).
