Watching the Olympic events this past February which took place at Milan Cortina was super exciting. Seeing the best athletes from around the world competing for gold made me feel inspired to do more outdoor winter activities. For example, while I was visiting Lake Placid in upstate NY on a recent ski vacation, my family and I decided to try cross country skiing. It was a ton of fun and I would definitely do it again. But the main thing that the Olympics had me wondering, where are those athletes headed next? Their social media followers skyrocketed after the Olympics were over, so people are definitely curious to see how far they get with their careers.

Figure skating was one of the most intriguing sports to watch at the Olympics mainly because of how emotional the athletes would get. Of course the costumes and the routines were phenomenal but seeing the athletes break down or scream with excitement after their performances made the audience mirror their reactions. Alyssa Liu was one of the figure skaters who soared in popularity after the games. She gained a lot of sponsorships and followers since people really liked her personality and style (especially her striped hair). Going from 300,000 to 5.3 million followers showed how much the audience really loved her and how many people want to see what she does next. Although she just won gold at the Olympics she is not currently training or practicing much now and she withdrew from the world championships. She’s focused on taking a break from the Olympic pressure and pursuing the things she loves now like drawing, gaming, and watching anime. However, she’s waiting for next season to come and compete in more events.

Ilia Malinin, aka “The Quadgod” is also a competitive figure skater and has big plans coming up. Even though he had some ups and downs at Milan Cortina, he just recently claimed another world title in Prague which was definitely a huge accomplishment for him. He’s also gotten sponsorships with top brands like Google, Coca Cola, and Samsung. To add on to his greatness, he is the first person to successfully land a quadruple axel in the history of figure skating (hence the name “Quadgod”). Illia has accomplished so much with this sport and he mainly gets that from his parents, who were both excellent figure skaters and also competed in the Olympics. But he still has so many more opportunities coming up for him in the near future. As of right now, he is training at his home rink in Virginia getting ready for his next event called Stars on Ice. This event is more of a live performance tour that goes to different cities, featuring top skaters. The athletes are not judged and instead they come up with group numbers and individual routines that include creative storytelling. Each show also has a unique theme that everything follows. Most of the athletes like this event more because there’s not as much pressure on them, plus it’s super fun and engaging to the audience. Looking more into the future, Ilia Malinin plans to keep competing in these worldwide events and hopes to win gold at all of them. His main goal is to keep pushing this sport forward and to make it more modern. He wants to keep setting new records and do more things that no one in this sport has ever done before.

The halfpipe event is also entertaining especially since there’s a youth explosion in this sport. Chloe Kim is one of the greatest female snowboarders of all time and she has competed/medaled in the last 3 Olympics. She’s known for crazy 1080 spins, huge amplitude, and consistent runs. She started from a very young age like most athletes and earned a silver medal in the Superpipe at the 2014 Winter X Games when she was only 13 years old. Since then she has attended all of the major championships and has done very well. As far as her future aspirations go, she hopes to keep competing and attend the future Olympic games. But since she is a global sports star, Chloe Kim is very marketable, and she gets a lot of sponsorships. So she really wants to keep on building her personal brand as well. Even though she is an amazing athlete, Chloe is worried about burnout since there is a lot of pressure on her from fame. She still wants to continue snowboarding, but she also wants to start prioritizing her mental health more and find another career that she can step away to when needed.

Many Olympic athletes that are successful are able to obtain a wide variety of endorsements. However, this creates something called the “Olympic pressure” which makes them always feel the need to win every single event since they are the face of many different brands. This can often lead to burnout which many of them have or will experience. This is why some athletes may take mental breaks and find other hobbies they like to do. Finding that balance is so important as a high achieving athlete.