Mariah Bell exclusive: On using the tools that got her to the Olympics in ‘everyday life:’ ‘I’m lucky for those experiences’

Mariah Bell, at the age of 27, is in her freshman year at university.

You can excuse her delay in starting toward a college degree: She had an Olympic Games to qualify for at Beijing 2022.

“My skating journey gave me so many things beyond medals or on-ice experiences,” Bell told Olympics.com recently. “I learned so much... from time management to perseverance to work ethic.”

“I'm really realising that everything - all the tools that I use that helped me get to the Olympics – [they’re] helping me in my everyday life, which is really cool.”

As Bell reflects on what figure skating has given to her as a person, that “everyday life” is still beyond busy, with school mixed in among skating shows, her dog - and attending U.S. skating events as a roving reporter of sorts.

So busy in fact that she won't be in attendance at the U.S. Championships this coming weekend (25-28 January) in Columbus, Ohio, but will be watching from afar. Bell has been keeping an eye on 16-year-old Isabeau Levito, the woman who has taken over the top spot in American skating when Mariah retired last year.

“Isabeau is putting on performances that are very artistically challenging,” said Bell, who was known for artistry herself. “And she has great line and everything, but she's also really into her character.”

“I feel like at a younger age for athletes in skating, maybe you don't see that as much.”

Mariah Bell: Sakamoto Kaori is 'perfect mix of athleticism, artistry'

After stepping away from the sport for most of last season, Bell has re-engaged in 2023/24, and while she’s had a careful eye on the teen Levito, her favourite programs to watch are the ones by more experienced athletes – including the likes of two-time and reigning world champion Sakamoto Kaori.

“I would say that Kaori is the perfect mix of athleticism and artistry: She's powerful, she's fast, she tells a story... she's very sophisticated,” Bell said of the Olympic bronze medallist, who is now 23.

“Another thing that's really amazing about her is she has such a great arsenal of what she can do in terms of choreography. We've seen kind of all sorts of programs from her. It's like there doesn't really seem like there's something - in terms of artistry - she can't do and she packages that so well with her technical elements, especially putting in a triple-triple at the end of a long program or the second half of a long program; that's so challenging.”

In December, Sakamoto continued what has been a golden season: Winning both the Grand Prix Final (for a first time) and Japanese nationals (for a fourth time).

She’ll head to March’s World Championships in Montreal as the favourite.

Bell said she’s enjoyed watching the continued success of another 20-something in Loena Hendrickx of Belgium, who is likely to contend with Sakamoto for a podium spot at Worlds.

Ilia Malinin's quad Axel: 'More people have been to the moon'

Bell was coached in the latter part of her career by Rafael Arutunian, the same coach who helped Nathan Chen to an Olympic gold in 2022 – and who also works as part of the team around Ilia Malinin, the quadruple Axel-jumping American teen.

Bell and Malinin would cross paths when Ilia visited Arutunian’s Irvine, Calif.-based rink from Virginia to work on jumps with Raf.

"I think the interesting thing about Ilia is that he sort of made this name for himself before he really stepped into who he was as a skater," Bell said, smiling. "He would introduce himself as like, 'I'm the 'Quad God.' And we were like, okay, cool. And then he literally backs it up and [now] he's doing something that is so incredible."

"I was talking to my sister the other day and she's like, 'There's more people that have been to the moon and the bottom of the ocean than done a quad Axel.' To have that be a U.S. skater is so exciting. And what's really exciting for me, I just watched his short program yesterday [at Skate America in October] and obviously he's so technically strong, but he's really improved his artistry as well. He's just such a well-rounded skater and and also a really, really cool kid to talk to. So I'm excited for him. I think he's going to continue to do some amazing things."

Both Malinin and Levito are expected to successfully defend their national titles in Columbus, Ohio, which would mark the first time two teens have won parallel back-to-back championships in the event’s 100 year-plus history.

On Deanna Stellato-Dudek: 'I hope she... skates forever'

When Bell qualified for the Winter Games in 2022 with a national title of her own, she became the oldest American woman to qualify for the Olympics in singles in 94 years.

She was 25. While she has continued to appreciate the likes of Sakamoto and Hendrickx, there is another skater she continues to be wowed by even more: Former U.S. teammate Deanna Stellato-Dudek, the 40-year-old pair skater who now competes for Canada.

"Deanna is so incredible," Bell said. "To see somebody who is doing, I mean... singles is hard, but I think I don't even know anything about pairs. I can't imagine being lifted up into the air or thrown into the air [like that]. And so the bravery and athleticism you have to have to do that, I think is just incredible. And the fact that she's doing it at 40 is so inspiring.

"We were talking about my age being 25 at the Olympics, which, you know, shouldn't be a topic of conversation," she continued. "I hope that people understand that and then look at somebody like Deanna and see that it's something that is also possible for you."

Stellato was a successful junior skater in singles, but stepped away from the sport as a 17-year-old due to injury. After a work retreat spurred a zest to make a return to competition, she did so at age 33 in 2016.

Seven years later she and Maxime Deschamps are one of the best teams in the world.

“She's so passionate about skating, and we can see that in how she performs and she's just enjoying herself,” Bell said. “The fact that she's showing that you can do that, I think I showed that you can do that [too]... but I hope that people understand skating is not just for a certain age group.

“But she is truly something really, really incredible. I'm such a fan of hers. I think that she's so awesome and I hope that she... just continues to skate forever. There's something about her that is so special, and I think that's why she is competing in pairs at 40. I mean, it's amazing.”