Team Event After Day 3 - Final

(8 Feb 2026)  It was expected before the Games that the team competition would  a closely fought battle between Team USA and Team Japan - but not this close.  At one point Team Japan overtook Team USA, but ultimately it was Team USA that prevailed, winning the Team gold by one point.

Team USA started the night five points ahead of Team Japan, but as expected the US lost ground to Japan in the Pairs free skate, just as the night before Japan lost ground to the US in the free dance.  The teams were well matched, with each having strength in three of the four disciplines, while in one of the four, not so much.

In the Pairs free skate Japan closed the gap to two points, and when Amber Glenn faltered in the Women free skate, Team Japan move into first place, decided by a tie breaker.  It was then all on Ilia Malinin in the Men's free skate, who needed to place ahead of Shun Sato, which basically meant Malinin needed to win the free skate segment.  While not his best work, Malinin met the challenge and took Team USA home for the gold meal.

In the battle for third place, Team Italy held off a charge from Team Georgia, while Team Canada dropped to fifth place. It was Italy’s first medal in the Olympic Team Event and the third Olympic Figure Skating medal for Italy after Carolina Kostner's bronze in 2014 and Barbara Fusar Poli & Maurizio Margaglio's bronze in 2002.

Pairs Free Program

Two-time World Pairs Champions Riku Miura & Ryuichi Kihara won the Pairs free skatie with an outstanding performance to “Gladiator.” They set a new personal best with 155.55 points and by earning 10 team points close the gap with Team USA to two points.

Performing to “Caruso”, Sara Conti & Niccolo Macii ranked third in the free skate with a strong performance that earned 136.61 points, and eight team points.

Georgians Anastasiia Metelkina & Luka Berulava also delivered a solid  performance, despite a fall in the closing choreographic sequence.  Their result moved Team Georgia within striking distance of third place.

Ellie Kam & Danny O’Shea put out a personal best performance to “Sweet Dreams”, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” to come fourth in the Pairs Free Skating.  Given that they placed  fifth in the short program, by moving up one place in the free skate, that additional point was key to the US victor.  Without it, the point totals would have ended up tied, and the final result gone to tie breakers.

Women Free Program

Kaori Sakamoto turned in an outstanding performance to a medley of Edith Piaf songs, hitting five clean triples. She put Team Japan into the lead prior to the start of the Men’s free skate.

Kaori Sakamoto

Anastasii Gubanova placed second in the free skate and further advanced Team Georgia's chances for the bronze meal.  It was a strong performance, with but a q-call on double Axle.

Amber Glenn landed her triple Axel - barely - and came third in the free skating, costing Team USA two points in the team point total, an allowing Team Japan to move into first place.  Glenn looked tentative and unsure in the warm-up, as did her performance. Her first three jump elements were all scored negative, and triple Lutz received a q-call.

Amber Glenn in Team free skate

Italy's Lara Naki Gutmann place fourth in the free skate.

[We can't help but notice that for the five women there were seven q-calls.  The chance of a skater actually landing a jump at exactly the quarter is infinitesimally small.  To have seven in one event is absurd. Nothing says "indecisive technical panel" like seven q-calls in one event with just five skaters.  This same technical panel also had five q-calls in the short program.  In the Men's free skate there were three.  Not quite as egregious, but still absurd.]

Men's Free Program

The penultimate skater, Ilia Malinin, carried the weight of Team USA on his shoulders. With Team Japan in the lead at the time, he had to outperform the yet-to-skate Shun Sato by at least one place for Team USA to win the gold.

Landing four quadruple jumps and two triple Axel, Malinin met the challenge despite a poor landing on his second quad Lutz, which also receive a q-call.

“Honestly I felt really proud of that attention, that pressure, because seeing that it was going to be a tie right now, and that deciding factor was going to be my skate or not, I really went out there," Malinin said. “I just decided 'OK, let the nerves down, you just really need to get into that zone and just let things happen.' I'm proud of myself and proud of my team for all the work they've put into this, and without each other, we wouldn't have gotten this gold medal."

Shun Sato, last to skate, was outstanding in his “Firebird” routine. At 194.86 points, it was a new personal best score. 

“This time we were aiming for gold from the first day on,” team captain Masaya Morita said. “But it is not only the result that counts. When we look at the programs and performances, they were full of excellent moments. Not only gold or silver is valuable. It is especially important for us that we want to prove ourselves as a team for the next opportunity in four years. I hope we can keep this positive spirit in the future.” 

Matteo Rizzo was third in the free skate, with his performance to the “Interstellar” soundtrack.  Rizzo set a new season’s best of 179.62 points an secure Team Italy's bronze meal.

“I think I couldn't skate better than this, I could not enjoy it more,” Rizzo said. “I enjoyed every second on the ice.

"I think I will realize this only in a couple of weeks. But for now, I keep just touching it to feel that it's real. It's out of this world.”

Team Georgia ended in fourth place.  While they had a reasonable chance for the bronze medal, mediocre performances by Nika Egadze in both the short and the free sealed their fate.  In both performances he skated far below what he showed just two weeks earlier at the European championships.

Team Canada ended the team competition in fifth place.