Olympic gold medalists bring Stars on Ice to Greensboro Thursday

Greensboro landed another national-stage event Thursday when Stars on Ice brought Olympic champions and medalists to First Horizon Coliseum at 7 p.m., giving the city a marquee show at the center of its event economy. With tickets on sale, group discounts for parties of 10 or more and limited meet-and-greet passes, the booking had the kind of pull that sends families, skating fans and visitors through the Greensboro Complex and into the businesses that feed off big nights like this.

Shannon Smith spoke with Daniel O’Shea and Ellie Kam about the show, which featured a stacked lineup headed by Alysa Liu, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, Isabeau Levito, Jason Brown, Andrew Torgashev, and Emily Chan and Spencer Howe. For local fans, that meant a chance to see some of the sport’s biggest names in person, not just in Olympic broadcasts.

The Greensboro stop also carried the weight of a long-running touring brand. Stars on Ice said the show was founded in 1986 by Scott Hamilton, has staged more than 1,500 performances and has won three Emmy Awards and one ACE Cable Award. The 2026 U.S. tour, sponsored by Stifel, was scheduled to visit 28 cities from April 16 through May 31, putting Greensboro on a national route that stretched well beyond the Piedmont Triad.

The Olympic backdrop sharpened the appeal. U.S. Figure Skating said Alysa Liu’s gold medal in Milan was the first U.S. women’s Olympic gold since Sarah Hughes won in 2002. Team USA sent 16 figure skaters to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina, and several of those names were on the Greensboro bill. That gave Thursday’s show a different kind of draw from a routine ice performance: it was a chance to see athletes whose recent Olympic results made them recognizable far beyond the rink.

For Greensboro, the value was bigger than one night of entertainment. First Horizon Coliseum again showed it could host nationally recognizable events with names local readers know, and Stars on Ice turned that into a direct test of the city’s ability to attract both marquee talent and the crowds that follow it.