Alysa Liu won gold and everyone Googled 'figure skating lessons' See the data.

No matter how you slice it, U.S. figure skating had a successful 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. First, the United States won team figure skating gold. Then, Alysa Liu secured the first Olympic gold medal in singles for an American woman since 2002.

It turns out, figure skating also had a successful Olympics back home in the United States.

The phrase "figure skating lessons" spiked to new highs in the United States during February, a USA TODAY Sports analysis of Google Trends data showed. While Olympic years often bring a bump in interest, February 2026 at least doubled any previous Olympic year since 2009.

Google Trends uses a 0-to-100 relative scale rather than raw data, with 100 marking the term's peak in popularity in the selected period. By that measure, "figure skating lessons" reached its high point, or 100, in February 2026. That beats out all other Olympic bumps in the past 18 years, including the 50 that Sochi in 2014 scored. Non-Olympic years averaged a score of 24.2 between 2009 and 2026.

Search interest in February also far outpaced interest from December 2023, the second-highest peak during that time, when Ilia Malinin and ice dance pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the Grand Prix Final.

"When Alysa won, it was like twice as much acclaim and twice as much interest in participation,” said Audrey Weisiger, a U.S. figure skating team coach at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics. "In America, figure skating is predominantly a female registration, so I think a lot more girls are like, 'Hey, I want to be the next Alysa Liu.’”

She added: "Every time we have a girl Olympic gold medalist in the United States, skating really spikes. Way more so than when we have a male.”

The United States did win men’s individual gold in Beijing in 2022 with Nathan Chen. But this year — alongside Liu’s gold medal — had a much greater surge in search interest.

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Liu herself generated incredible metrics on social media. Prior to the Olympics, she had just north of 300,000 followers on Instagram, per Social Blade. Now she has over eight million.

But Liu’s success may not have been the sole instigator behind the spike in figure skating interest. The entire figure skating team drew fans far and wide, including stars Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, Malinin, Chock and Bates, Danny O'Shea and Ellie Kam, among others.

"We had a really interesting blend of personalities and styles of performance that there was something for everyone,” Weisiger said. “All the girls skated really well.”

And Malinin, the "Quad God," provided a massive spark despite stumbling during his men’s singles free skate to finish eighth.

"He was such a good sport about it and maintained his online positive presence,” Weisiger said. “He immediately had what I would call a sportsmanship recovery where he shook it off. So, we have two major figures that are U.S. people.”

The trick will be for the sport to turn that interest into sustained success for the next generation of skaters.

“If you sign your child up for figure skating, you need to know that this is a hard sport,” Weisiger said. "It’s a very, very small chance of success at that level. But I do think that kids like it. If you were to walk into a rink and ask the kids why they’re skating, they’re inspired by Ilia, and they’re inspired by Alysa and Amber.”