How An Olympic Figure Skater Spends Her Days At Montclair State University​

Press release from Montclair State University:

Olga Mikutina carves deep edges into the ice at the Montclair State University Ice Arena, building the speed and rotation that turns heads. Austria’s Olympic figure skater is a Business Administration major at Montclair, working shifts at the campus IT Service Desk, and as she balanced classes with training, she closed out the year by winning her fifth national title at the Austrian Championships, setting up a run to the European Championships and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.

“A lot of people were surprised when I decided to leave Austria and study outside the country, but it was my dream to go to the U.S., to be in a new environment close to New York and to meet new people,” she says.

Originally from Ukraine, Olga moved to Austria at age 12 to train with a renowned coach, later gaining Austrian citizenship and an invitation from the national federation to represent the country in international competition.

By the time she applied to Montclair, Olga, 22, had already competed at the Beijing Olympics and was debating whether to keep skating competitively while pursuing a degree. “I was still skating, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue doing it full time,” she says. Montclair’s on-campus ice rink and access to elite coaches helped tip the balance.

“I found an amazing coaching team here (at both Montclair and the Ice House in Hackensack, where many Olympians train). They saw potential in me and believed I could achieve much more. They gave me the belief that I should keep going.”

On the Ice: Training for Milan 2026

Olga spends about 15 hours a week training on the ice, usually in two one-hour sessions. She qualified for the 2026 Winter Olympics at last season’s World Figure Skating Championships and has had a packed competition schedule, including the Austrian national, where she defended her title in December, and the upcoming European championships.

“Each training session is very focused and straight to the point,” she says. “My first practice, I work on my short program routine, second practice on my long program routine.”

She sometimes skates the full programs; other days she and her coaches break them into shorter sections, repeating difficult jumps or footwork several times with and without music to build stamina and precision.

For the spring semester, she plans to take a mix of online and in-person courses to better align her class schedule with the Olympic figure skating events. She’ll watch the opening ceremonies from Montclair, where she’ll remain preparing and taking classes, before arriving in Milan a few days before her own competition begins.

When war broke out in Ukraine, Olga’s birthplace of Kharkiv was among the sites of some of the heaviest fighting. She has said that when she steps onto the ice, she can imagine herself in another world, away from worries about the war. Even today, when she skates, she focuses on difficult jumps, choreography and how her body moves, trying to shut out everything else – schoolwork, news and personal worries – and concentrate only on the work in front of her.

“At the Olympics, I will try to surprise the judges with my charisma. I want the judges to fall in love with my energy and to feel the power of me skating,” she says.

Staying Connected to Home and Coaches

Finding Her Place on Campus

As told to Marilyn Joyce Lehren, University Communications and Marketing

Photography by University Photographer Mike Peters

Through this photo essay, part of an ongoing series, we highlight how Montclair students, faculty and staff embody the University’s mission in the classroom, on campus and beyond – empowering a diverse community by providing broad access to rigorous learning, advancing research and creativity, and forming partnerships for the common good.

View more photos for a complete look at Olga’s day as an elite athlete, student and friend.

This press release was produced by Montclair State University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.