The Winter Olympics may be over, but some athletes’ lives have yet to slow down.

In the first reunion of the entire U.S. figure skating team since Milan, Team USA participated in a “Toast to Milan” event at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Ent School for the Arts in front of a sold-out crowd in the Shockley-Zalabak Theater. The panel-style event Wednesday night was hosted by Olympic bronze medalist Adam Rippon and was filmed for a Peacock special to be released at an unknown date.

The unique event was a reprieve from the busy schedule of the 26-show Stars on Ice Tour, which several of the members of Team USA have been on since mid-April. While the travel can be exhausting, it’s brought the team closer together from being in a noncompetitive environment. 

“Everyone on tour has really bonded, more so than at competition,” Madison Chock said. “Now that we are on tour, we can have fun, let loose, and enjoy each other’s company. The whole team has come together in that bonding experience.”

Chock, who earned a silver medal in ice dance in Milan with partner Evan Bates, was one of 18 athletes at the event. In addition to Chock and Bates, Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Andrew Torgashev, Anthony Ponomarenko, Christina Carreira, Danny O’Shea, Ellie Kam, Emilea Zingas, Emily Chan, Isabeau Levito, Maxim Naumov, Spencer Akira Howe and Vadym Kolesnik were also present. 

“I think it’s very important for people to come in and hear our experiences or perspectives and show how we are as people as opposed to what people might see as just athletes,” gold medalist Malinin said.

For Liu, who used to train in Colorado Springs, it’s been a whirlwind since becoming the first American woman to earn an individual gold medal since 2002. From the Met Gala to acting in a music video for singer Laufey, it hasn’t slowed down for Liu, but she was more than ready to embrace the cheering crowd Wednesday. 

Several attendees chose Liu as their favorite skater, with several walking away with autographs from the Olympian.

The evening was a homecoming for several Colorado Springs-based athletes, including team gold medalist Amber Glenn, who has trained in the Springs for the past four years. She’s not a super outdoorsy person, but can be found in local staples like Iron Lion Collectibles and Dalez Kardz playing Gathering the Magic. 

The team gold-medal pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea were also ecstatic to return home, and hope to add Colorado Springs to the tour stop list one day. Kam learned to skate at the Air Force Academy and skates there sometimes to practice performing in large arenas. 

“It’s cool to train in the same city, it’s a full-circle moment,” Kam said. “My dad was an Air Force grad as well as my brothers. It’s a nice part of me I like to carry around.”

“Since we’ve been traveling so much, I recognize more how amazing it is here. Sometimes you have to leave to miss and appreciate it. Appreciate how beautiful it is.”

While not all the athletes have lived in the Springs, most have competed in it or trained at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center. The figure skating community is strong in Colorado Springs, especially with U.S. Figure Skating headquarters in town. 

“It’s a unique and special place,” Bates said. “I’ll always remember when I came here as a teen and how inspiring it was before I made it to an Olympic Games. Something about being here in this atmosphere made me want to achieve it even more.”

There are eight more stops on the tour, and then it’s a much-deserved rest for most of the athletes. While Wednesday allowed the figure skaters to connect with the Colorado Springs community in a final salute to Milan, it was also one more chance to salute each other. 

“Anything that brings light to the sport is exciting,” Carreira said of the event. “It’s a great opportunity to get everyone together one last time to say thank you and appreciate the last few months.”