There is a huge amount of astonishing camera work being undertaken at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but one of the absolute standouts is Jordan Cowan’s shots of figure skaters just as they’ve finished their routines.
The 2026 Winter Olympic figure skating program has not exactly been short of drama, and has provided some of the most emotional television of the competition. From the highs of Ilia Malinin’s long program in the team competition, to Amber Glenn’s crushing disappointment following missing the mandatory triple in her short program, it’s been quite the rollercoaster even for the casual fan of the sport. And former US competitive ice dancer Jordan Cowan has been the one to capture it all.
“This will be the first time a camera operator has been on the ice for figure skating at an Olympic Games, and to me that carries a huge responsibility,” he told the Associated Press. “I get to help set a standard for Olympics to come, and I hope this becomes something that continues in future events.”
Style being a pre-requisite of the sport, Cowan wears a white tux while on the ice. He uses a self-designed rig with an electronically stabilised gimbal to capture the skate-on and skate-off moments during competition, which helps keep everything level even while skating backwards. There are no published details of what that rig comprises, but our best guess is that it has at least some DJI components and that looks like a Sony FX6 in the middle of it to our eyes.
Anyone with any other opinions, please let us know.
Cowan is also on the ice for the medals ceremonies and will be there for the closing gala when the top competitors perform their crowd-pleasing signature moves, which should be something to see close-up and will let him show off his skating moves. That though is the last thing on his mind.
“The perfect compliment I get is when the skaters say they didn’t even realize I was out there,” he told NBC.
This is an impressive achievement given that he can be a lot more present on the ice than he is at the Olympics. Check out this video filmed back in August last year that previews Malinin’s medal-winning short program and was filmed out on the ice beside him.
Even just capturing the skaters as they come off the ice though is something new.
“For that brief window at the end of the program, when you get to take in the audience by yourself, by having this silent camera slowly available to you, it gives a special moment that we have never been able to capture before,' he said.
More astonishing camera work at his company On Ice Perspectives’ YouTube channel.
H/t to Peta Pixel.