MILAN, Italy — The United States repeated as Olympic champions in the figure skating team event Sunday, edging Japan by one point for gold at the Milano Cortina Games, Reuters reported.
Ilia Malinin’s must-win free skate delivered 200.03 points and the decisive 10-point haul, lifting Team USA to 69 points overall, with Japan on 68 and host Italy on 60, USA TODAY wrote; the tense finish capped a two-day event in front of a packed Milan crowd, NBC News reported.
Final free skate decides it
The U.S. and Japan were tied at 59 points entering the men’s free skate, putting the gold medal squarely on Malinin’s shoulders; he attempted five quad jumps and topped Japan’s Shun Sato, who scored 194.86, CBS News reported.
Malinin steadied himself after an early stumble and still unleashed a backflip, a high-risk flourish that helped seal the result, NBC News wrote.
Team depth across events
The team event combines short and free programs across women’s singles, men’s singles, pairs and ice dance, with a maximum 80 points available; the U.S. entered Milan with world champions in three disciplines, Time reported.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered maximum points in ice dance, while pairs Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and women’s skaters Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn each contributed in their segments, with Glenn placing third in Sunday’s women’s free skate, CBS News reported.
Looking ahead
The team victory is the first figure skating medal awarded at these Games and continues a U.S. run that began in Beijing in 2022, NBC News reported.
With the team event complete, the Americans now shift focus to the individual competitions that begin this week in Milan, with Malinin, Liu, Glenn and others set to skate for more medals, CBS News reported.
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Image: “Figure skating at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Girls’ singles short program” by Christophe95, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Modifications: cropped to 16:9 and resized to 1920×1080.
