Ilia Malinin’s Stunning Free Skate Earns Gold for Team USA in Figure Skating
After an underwhelming short program that placed Ilia Malinin in an unexpected second position, the Quad God rebounded with an impressive free skate, leading Team USA to a gold medal in the figure skating team event competition.
Heading into the men’s long program on Sunday, Team USA and Team Japan were locked in a tie for gold, each with 59 points. This came after three-time U.S. national champion Amber Glenn surprised observers by finishing in third place, following Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova. Despite some shaky landings, Glenn persevered, successfully landing a triple axel—an accomplishment uniquely hers in this competition.
Malinin opted not to attempt his signature quad axel, a jump that remains untried by any other male figure skater. Nonetheless, his strong technical foundation surpassed the planned elements of Japan’s Shun Sato. Although Sato delivered a commendable performance with textbook jumps, it did not meet the scoring of the 21-year-old American. Malinin earned over 200 points, contributing 10 points to Team USA’s total, though he remained below his personal best of over 228. Team Japan secured second place with 68 points, while Team Italy took bronze with a total of 60 points.
Sato expressed disappointment with the second-place finish despite achieving a personal best of 194.86, surpassing his previous record of 194.02. His teammates, including Sakamoto and Yuma Kagiyama—who excelled in the men’s short program—offered support, praising his strong performance. Following the competition, skaters from both Team USA and Team Japan engaged in congratulatory handshakes and friendly exchanges beyond the kiss-and-cry area.
Italian skater Matteo Rizzo also drew attention with an emotional skate to an *Interstellar* medley, culminating in a spirited display that included fist pumps and a knee-slide as he exited the ice.
The team event, a relatively new addition to competitive figure skating, first took place during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Team USA has now become repeat champions, while Team Japan fine-tunes its status as consistent silver medalists, as seen with Sakamoto, Kagiyama, and Miura/Kihara’s performances in 2022.
Looking ahead, figure skating fans can anticipate continued competition with the ice dancing qualifiers scheduled for tomorrow morning, where the U.S. duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates is favored to contend for gold.
