Defending gold medal champions, Team USA entered the figure skating team competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics a favorite to win it all again — and that’s what they did.
Anchored by incredible performances from their biggest stars, the team event came down to the final skate as the U.S. and Japan were neck and neck heading into the men’s free skate.
Ilia Malinin, an American phenom known as the “quad god” who before Saturday seemed unbeatable, had the weight of team gold on his shoulders as he took the ice.
The performance wasn’t Malinin’s best, with one fall notched during the skate, but he continued to prove his legendary status.
“That was all he needed to do,” Olympian and commentator Johnny Weir said, noting that “no one in the world” can do what Malinin did.
Despite the fall, Malinin scored an exceptional 200.03, enough to lift the U.S. to the top of the podium.
“That was outrageous,” Olympic gold medalist and commentator Tara Lipinski said.
Japan’s Shun Sato followed it up with a near-perfect performance, but his 194.86 was not enough to bring Japan to gold.
Team USA’s gold medal came after Amber Glenn had earlier made her Milan Cortina debut, but fell short of the top spot in the women’s free skate with uncharacteristic errors in her skate. Chicago-area skater Danny O’Shea and his partner Ellie Kam became unexpected heroes in the team pairs event, skating their best performance ever.
Earlier performances by veteran ice dancers and gold medal favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates, as well as Alysa Liu also helped the team to their medal finish.
Team USA entered the Milan Cortina Games as the defending champions in the event. After they were denied a medal ceremony four years ago in Beijing because of a lengthy investigation into Russian doping, which kept them from receiving their gold medals until the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, a medal victory in Milan marks a particularly meaningful win.
The team has been widely considered one of the U.S.’ best, but the road to gold wasn’t as easy as many may have thought.
Japan got a surprising lift on Saturday night when Yuma Kagiyama upset the heavily favored Malinin in the short program, giving his team the maximum of 10 points. But the Japanese decided to swap Kagiyama out for the free skate for Sato, who finished behind his countryman at their national championships in December.
The U.S. was always going to give Malinin the opportunity to be its closer.
The two-time reigning world champion was mediocre only by his standards in his short program. But Malinin’s real strength comes in the free skate, where there are seven jumping passes and his incredible leaping ability gives him a tremendous advantage.
Malinin’s planned program called for seven quad jumps, including the quad axel, which nobody but him has landed in competition.
The medal marks the U.S.’ second medal of the Milan Cortina Games so far, following Breezy Johnson’s gold in women’s downhill skiing earlier Sunday.
The U.S. still has plenty of chances to medal again in figure skating with the individual events — and several skaters are favored to do just that.
Full figure skating schedule
Date/time (ET)EventStreamFriday, Feb. 6, 4-5:35 a.m.Team Event: Rhythm DancePeacock, NBCOlympics.comFriday, Feb. 6, 5:35-7:35 a.m.Team Event: Pairs Short ProgramPeacock, NBCOlympics.comFriday, Feb. 6, 7:35-8:55 a.m.Team Event: Women’s Short ProgramPeacock, NBCOlympics.comSaturday, Feb. 7, 1:45-3:15 p.m.Team Event: Men’s Short ProgramPeacock, NBCOlympics.comSaturday, Feb. 7, 4-5 p.m.Team Event: Free DancePeacock, NBCOlympics.comSunday, Feb. 8, 1:30-2:45 p.m.Team Event: Pairs Free SkatePeacock, NBCOlympics.comSunday, Feb. 8, 2:45-3:55 p.m.Team Event: Women’s Free SkatePeacock, NBCOlympics.comSunday, Feb. 8, 3:55-5 p.m.Team Event: Men’s Free SkatePeacock, NBCOlympics.comMonday, Feb. 9, 1:20-2:40 p.m.Rhythm Dance on USA:Groups 1 & 2 Peacock, NBCOlympics.comMonday, Feb. 9, 2:40-5 p.m.Rhythm Dance on NBC:Groups 3, 4 & 5Peacock, NBCOlympics.comTuesday, Feb. 10, 12:30-2:10 p.m.Men’s Short Program on USA:Groups 1 & 2Peacock, NBCOlympics.comTuesday, Feb. 10, 1:45-5 p.m.Men’s Short Program on NBC:Groups 3, 4 & 5Peacock, NBCOlympics.comWednesday, Feb. 11, 1:30-2:15 p.m.Free Dance on USA:Group 1Peacock, NBCOlympics.comWednesday, Feb. 11, 2:15-5 p.m.Free Dance on NBC: Groups 2, 3 & 4Peacock, NBCOlympics.comFriday, Feb. 13, 1-2:50 p.m.Men’s Free Skate on USA:Groups 1 & 2Peacock, NBCOlympics.comFriday, Feb. 13, 3-5 p.m.Men’s Free Skate on NBC:Groups 3 & 4Peacock, NBCOlympics.comSunday, Feb. 15, 1:45-3:10 p.m.Pairs Short on USA:Groups 1 &2Peacock, NBCOlympics.comSunday, Feb. 15, 3-5 p.m.Pairs Short on NBC:Groups 3, 4 & 5Peacock, NBCOlympics.comMonday, Feb. 16, 2-4:15 p.m.Pairs Free on USA:Groups 1 & 2Peacock, NBCOlympics.comMonday, Feb. 16, 3:55-5 p.m.Pairs Free on NBC:Groups 3 & 4Peacock, NBCOlympics.comTuesday, Feb. 17, 12:45-3:10 p.m.Women’s Short on USA:Groups 1 & 2Peacock, NBCOlympics.comTuesday, Feb. 17, 2:40-5 p.m.Women’s Short on NBC:Groups 3, 4 & 5Peacock, NBCOlympics.comThursday, Feb. 19, 1-5:10 p.m.Women’s Free Skate on NBCPeacock, NBCOlympics.comSaturday, Feb. 21, 2-4:30 p.m.Exhibition GalaPeacock, NBCOlympics.comHence then, the article about team usa defends gold medal in figure skating team competition in nail biting finish was published today ( ) and is available on NBC Chicago ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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