Stars on Ice bring Olympic gold medalists Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea to Spokane Arena

They didn’t know it at the time, but figure skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea struck gold when they became partners in 2022.

The pair took first in their international debut, the 2022 Ice Challenge, and then placed second at the CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, their debut competition as part of the International Skating Union’s Challengers series, and third in the 2023 national championships.

The next few years brought more accolades but also injuries for the pair. They still earned a spot on the U.S. Winter Olympic team and made their way to the Milan Cortina Games earlier this year.

Kam and O’Shea placed fifth in the short program and fourth in the free skate, helping earn enough points for the U.S. figure skating team to take home the gold medal.

As the cherry on top of their Olympic success, Kam and O’Shea are touring with other Olympians on the Stars on Ice tour, which stops at the Numerica Veterans Arena on Thursday.

Joining Kam and O’Shea are Alysa Liu, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Isabeau Levito, Jason Brown, Andrew Torgashev, and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Jacob Sanchez, Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik will perform in select cities. Liam Kapeikis will only perform Friday at the Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee.

This tour marks the pair’s first time skating with the Stars on Ice tour, but not their first time skating in Spokane. Kam skated in a competition here when she was younger, while O’Shea visited Spokane to participate in his first U.S. championships.

The pair are excited to return to Spokane. Kam attended Stars on Ice shows growing up and said it was always a goal of hers to join the tour.

“Only the stars get to be a part of Stars on Ice, right?” she said. “I almost felt more excited to be invited to join the show than when I found out we were going to the Olympics.”

Since the tour launched in April, the Olympic hype hasn’t died down for the cast of skaters, with O’Shea saying the cast feel like rock stars when they take the ice each night. A majority of the shows on the tour have sold out or are close to selling out, which the pair said is a great sign for the sport.

Their participation in Stars on Ice feels like a continuation of their Olympic celebrations without the stress of the Olympics. There, Kam said, it can be hard to enjoy the moment because you’re so worried about the competitive aspect.

“When it comes to skating in shows, we really get to do it for the enjoyment and the artistry part of it,” she said. “We get to do literally whatever we want on the ice, have fun with our friends, and we get to interact with them way more.”

O’Shea finds himself looking at the crowds more during the shows.

“There’s not the pressure of ultimate focus in every moment,” O’Shea said. “The energy you’re getting from the crowd is amazing. It’s been so cool to see how much joy people have in the audience.”

During Stars on Ice, Kam and O’Shea skate both as a pair and with the rest of the cast. Learning group numbers in just two days was stressful but an overall fun experience, they said.

Along with the group numbers, Kam and O’Shea will perform as a pair three times during the show. One set gives audiences a taste of their Olympics performance while the others feature a few moves that aren’t allowed in competition.

The pair is especially excited to bring a little of the Olympic spirit to audiences across the country after representing America in Italy.

“We don’t really get to see all the fans all the time,” Kam said. “We see them sometimes at competitions, and then other times people are watching on TV. Because of the tour, it’s so widespread across the country, there’s been so many brand new fans that have never watched skating before, or people who have been coming to Stars for many years and getting to see you and interact with everybody, that’s been so much fun.”

With the Stars on Ice tour coming so quickly after their Olympic success, Kam and O’Shea said they haven’t had a lot of time to take a step back and see all that they’ve accomplished in a relatively short partnership.

Some pairs skaters work for more than a decade without achieving all of the accolades Kam and O’Shea have in four years.

“Four years can be either an eye blink or a marathon,” O’Shea said. “There were moments that we trudged through the marathon and then looking back at it, it feels like an eye blink. It’s been amazing to accomplish in what is a short time compared to almost everyone else.”

“It’s been such a whirlwind that it hasn’t really felt like such an accomplishment,” Kam added. “But after the show, and when things calm down, we’re going to go on vacation and take a breath, it’s all gonna sink in.”