By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer

MILAN (AP) — Alysa Liu is left to bear the ambitions of the American figure skating team on Thursday night, when the last of the “Blade Angels” with a legitimate shot at the Olympic gold medal tries to catch Japanese teammates Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto during the women’s free skate at the Milan Cortina Games.

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Nakai, Sakamoto and Mone Chiba give Japan the chance for the first-ever women’s podium sweep.

Then there is Adeliia Petrosian, the young Russian sprite competing as a neutral athlete, and the only one of the contenders who has the ability to land a quad jump. She could shake up the entire competition with one big performance.

Those are the key players as the final night of figure skating drama unfolds at the Winter Games.

“Of course I want a medal. It would be very nice,” said Sakamoto, the bronze medalist from the 2022 Beijing Games, who trails Nakai by just a point in what is likely her final Olympics. “But I want to let everybody know what I’ve done over my career. I want people to know that there was a skater of this kind in Japan who had performed for a long period.”

Indeed, the Olympic gold medal is just about the only thing the 25-year-old Sakamoto has yet to win in her career.

At the opposite end of the longevity spectrum is Nakai, the 17-year-old inspired by the great Mao Asada. She will be the final skater on the ice after a brilliant performance Tuesday night, when she landed one of two triple axels in the entire women’s short program.

Chiba trails both of her Japanese teammates along with Liu, but the world bronze medalist is firmly in the mix.

“Being in Italy, with the music ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ I hope to skate as well as possible,” Chiba said, “and see how things are.”

Liu, who is two points out of first place, was the only skater to wedge herself among the Japanese trio.

The 20-year-old from the San Francisco Bay area has been on a dream ride ever since her two-year retirement, which had allowed her to reprioritize the things in her life and rediscover her love for skating. Liu became the first American world champion since Kimmie Meissner in 2006 last year in Boston, and now she could end an even longer U.S. drought for women at the Olympics.

“The Star-Spangled Banner” has not played for a podium ceremony since Sarah Hughes triumphed at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

“I don’t think about stuff like that,” said the carefree Liu, who finished sixth at the Beijing Games, shortly before walking away from the sport. “My goal is just to do my program and share my story.”

Petrosian is the wildcard in the competition simply because she is so largely unknown.

The 18-year-old from Moscow has been unable to compete on a global stage because Russia remains banned from international events following its invasion of Ukraine. The few glimpses that people have seen have come from domestic events, where scores are typically inflated, and where the competition is far different from what Petrosian is experiencing at the Olympics.

Yet the latest pupil of controversial coach Eteri Tutberidze, Petrosian has proven in Milan that she could well become her nation’s next gold medalist, following in the footsteps of compatriots Adelina Sotnikova, Alina Zagitova and Anna Shcherbakova.

The last non-Russian to win the Olympic gold medal was South Korea’s Yuna Kim at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

“At first I was worried, not about my skate, but about my (emotional) state. This was the most important start of my life,” Petrosian said following her short program Tuesday night. “I hope this will help me with my free skate.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

By STEPHEN WADE

The figure skaters at the Winter Olympics make it look easy; sheer elegance on hard ice.

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But elite skaters also fight injuries, much like the rest of us who work out, go to the gym or swim to stay fit.

“No athlete at this level is 100% fully healthy,” Gretchen Mohney, the director of medical and performance services for U.S. Figure Skating, told The Associated Press from Milan. “It’s about managing whatever it is that may be breaking down.”

The key for Olympic skaters is getting quick treatment. If a knee swells, the back aches or a sharp blade leaves a gash, figure skaters at the Olympics have physicians, athletic trainers and physical therapists to help.

Mohney, who holds a doctorate in interdisciplinary health sciences, listed several red flags that skaters and staff watch for, and wellness tips for weekend athletes.

Some warning flags

Treat acute injuries immediately. “Recognizing and responding to acute injury is huge and what we are going to do about it versus ignoring it, because it usually gets worse,” Mohney said. “You have to get rid of the old-school philosophy of just suck it up and don’t do anything about it.”
Treatment of chronic injuries. Elite figure skaters can’t take six weeks off, and at the Olympics, it’s perform now or never. “We don’t say rest for two weeks, we say let’s get you to perform as safely as possible … without causing further injury,” Mohney said. Some interventions are simple, like adding padding to the feet to offset small friction inside the skate.
Loss of mobility and compensation. Stretching and warmups are critical. “When we lose mobility or flexibility our bodies start to compensate and the stress is put on another part,” Mohney explained. For figure skaters that could mean “the difference between doing a double jump and a quadruple jump.”
Dealing with overuse. Mohney says vary the volume and intensity of training. Skaters compete year round. She used the example of skaters arching their back repeatedly to do layback spins. “You are going to have back pain no matter who you are,” she said. “All of our athletes vary their training. You want to make sure you are changing your load so the body can recover.”

‘The hard ice always wins’

Dr. Fred Workman has been a team physician for U.S. Figure Skating for 25 years, and lately he’s treating more concussions. This might surprise some who see only the elegance, but figure skating has been pushing the limits of performance, and there’s fallout.

Other frequent injuries include lacerations from knife-edge skates, or hip, knee, ankle and foot injuries — and shoulder injuries for men lifting partners overhead in the pairs event.

FILE -Maxim Naumov of the United States competes during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

“They’re doing overhead lifts, spinning around on the ice — and smiling,” Workman said. “Skaters are doing much more demanding and aggressive — risky if you will — maneuvers. The hard ice always wins. When you fall on the ice, something is going to give.”

Part of Workman’s job is diagnosis and treatment. The other is a holistic approach to guiding young athletes. This also includes managing stress and mental health.

“Life doesn’t always go your way,” Workman said. “We’re in a judged sport. You may not always get the scores you think you deserve. But how do you handle it? You have to get yourself mentally focused and be ready to perform.”

Ilia Malinin’s two falls last week in Milan remind of the pressure elite skaters face. Malinin described feeling overwhelmed. “I just felt like I had no control,” he said.

FILE – Aleksandr Selevko, of Estonia, competes during the men’s figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Away from competition, Workman asks skaters to add variety to their training — and to their life.

“Not only cross-train in your sport, but cross-train as a human,” he said. “Diversify your interests. A very common mistake is spending all of your time on the ice and less time in off-the-ice training.”

Workman suggested a wider view, even for elite athletes at the Olympic level. He referenced a television ad the NCAA ran several years ago, which reminded college athletes that their life is now sports — but it won’t always be.

“At the end of the day, competitive careers end,” Workman said. “Why do we even have sport? It’s to build resilience, to build the life skills you need.”

Concussions, comebacks

The American pairs team of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea knows about injury. Last year, Kam was out for a month with a concussion and O’Shea needed foot surgery.

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada compete during the pairs figure skating short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Unexpectedly, they put on one of the best performances of their lives to help the United States win its second straight Olympic gold medal in the team event.

“We just wanted to kind of give it our all, and I feel like that’s part of the reason why Danny and I have been able to work through so much of what people would see as obstacles,” Kam said. “I think in the obstacles we found a way to connect better and be a stronger team.”

Deanna Stellato-Dudek, an American-born Canadian pairs skater at the Olympics, hit her head on the ice in a training session on Jan. 30. The 42-year-old Stellato-Dudek and partner Maxime Deschamps had to withdraw from the team event during the first week of the Olympics.

“You have to take extremely specific care of your body,” she told The AP. “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I’m extremely healthy. And I do think being able to treat my body like that for the last decade has helped me to heal very quickly.”

AP sportswriter Dave Skretta contributed from Milan.

Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on all aspects of wellness, at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

By AUDREY McAVOY

U.S. immigration authorities deported a 2-month-old baby with bronchitis to Mexico along with his family, a U.S. representative from Texas said.

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The child was so sick he had been unresponsive “in the last several hours” but was discharged from the hospital anyway, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said Tuesday in an X post.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported the baby along with his 16-month-old sister, his mother and his father, Castro said. The Democratic lawmaker said he confirmed this with the family’s attorney.

“To unnecessarily deport a sick baby and his entire family is heinous,” Castro said.

He vowed to “hold ICE accountable for this monstrous action.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said Wednesday that the child was in “stable condition and medically cleared for removal” and that pediatricians gave the parents a nasal saline spray with a nasal bulb syringe to continue care.

McLaughlin said Border Patrol apprehended the child’s mother, Mireya Stefani Lopez-Sanchez, crossing the border illegally near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 21.

Lopez-Sanchez chose to take her child with her when Border Patrol transferred her to ICE custody, McLaughlin said.

“All of her claims were heard by a judge and found not to be valid,” McLaughlin said.

A judge issued Lopez-Sanchez a final order of removal on Feb. 8, and she was removed from the U.S. with her child on Tuesday, McLaughlin said.

“She received full due process,” McLaughlin said.

The detention of children by U.S. immigration authorities has come under heightened scrutiny since President Donald Trump’s administration began its immigration enforcement crackdown.

Images of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and being surrounded by ICE officers in Minnesota last month sparked an outcry. The boy and his father were released shortly after on a judge’s orders.

The father and son were held at a family detention center in Dilley, Texas, which is where Castro said Lopez-Sanchez and her baby were held.

Last year, court filings said families and monitors at federal facilities reported contaminated food and a lack of access to medical care or sufficient legal counsel. The filings said hundreds of immigrant children also lingered in federal detention beyond a court-mandated limit, including some who were held more than five months.

Bronchitis is a condition that develops when airways in the lungs become inflamed and cause coughing, the National Institute of Health said on its website.

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped this week to its lowest level in more than three years, but remains around 6% in the same narrow range it has been in this year.

The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate fell to 6.01% from 6.09% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.85%.

The modest pullback brings the average rate to its lowest level since Sept. 8, 2022, when it was 5.89%. That was the last time the average rate was below 6%.

The recent decline in rates is a favorable lead in to the annual spring homebuying season — good news for home shoppers who can afford to buy at current rates.

Meanwhile, borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also edged lower this week. That average rate fell to 5.35% from 5.44% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.04%, Freddie Mac said.

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