MILAN — Team USA captured the gold medal in the team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics after Ilia Malinin delivered a must-win free skate Sunday, breaking a tie with Japan and propelling the Americans to repeat as Olympic champions.
The 21-year-old ‘Quad God’ pulled out his signature quad axel and landed a backflip on one leg, his program earning a score of 200.03 and giving the U.S. the maximum 10 points to bring their winning total to 69 points.
“This definitely is one of the happiest days of my life, and really just sets me up in the right mood and mindset for the next days to come,’ Malinin told USA TODAY Sports exclusively after the medal ceremony.
Japan earned silver (68 points), and Italy won bronze (60 points). The team event debuted at the 2014 Winter Games, and this year’s competition was by far the closest the field has ever been.
“Tonight was an action movie because it feels so scripted the fact that we were tied with Japan, it was so cool in my opinion. I love a close event,’ said Alysia Liu, who finished second in the women’s short program on Friday. ‘I love that everybody did well because that’s what it’s all about.”
The Americans jumped for joy on the podium as they were announced the Olympic champions and received their gold medals. The crowd roars for every name, with a big ovation for Malinin. Ellie Kam, who alongside Danny O’Shea finished fourth in the pairs’ free skate, became emotional as the national anthem played during the medal ceremony, crying as the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ filled the arena.
With American flags draped over their shoulders, Malinin, Liu, Kam, O’Shea, Amber Glenn, Madison Chock and Evan Bates took a lap on their skates around the ice, waving to fans, taking photos together and soaking in the moment. A short while later, some remaining fans in the arena started chanting ‘U-S-A! U-S-A!’ as the skaters joined in.
‘It’s amazing that every one of us got the opportunity to get it out here with the team event, and we all held each other’s back and got it done,’ O’Shea said.
“I’m proud of myself and proud of my team for all the work they’ve put into this,’ Malinin said. ‘Without each other we wouldn’t have gotten this gold medal.’
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Ilia Malinin’s free skate wins USA gold medal
Ilia Malinin didn’t want to skate the long program in the Olympic figure skating team competition. He wanted to rest up for the more important individual men’s event beginning Tuesday. His coaches felt the same way. It was a definite no.
But when U.S. Figure Skating called upon him late Saturday night, saying the event was going to be too close and potentially lost without him, he had no choice but to say yes.
It turned out to be the best decision of his young career.
“Absolutely, this is definitely the smartest decision I’ve made,” Malinin told USA Today Sports during an exclusive interview after the medal ceremony. “I got a chance to just really feel the ice, feel the environment, just feel the atmosphere. I’m just so proud of everyone and myself for what we put out there tonight.’
Amber Glenn on her ‘lackluster’ Olympics performance
Amber Glenn considered her Winter Olympics debut ‘lackluster.’ She was shaky on her first two elements in triple Axel and the triple flip-triple toeloop combination, which made for a concerning start to the program. However, she regained control after that and landed her jumps, notably hitting the sequence of the triple loop-double Axel-double Axel.
Glen held on the rest of the way, but didn’t get a great score, earning a 138.62, with 70.91 technical score and 67.71 in the components category. She dropped to third overall after Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto scored a 148.62 for first place. Second place went to Anastasiia Gubanova 140.17.
‘I just did not feel wonderful, like even in the warm ups,’ Glenn said. ‘My leg was just sore, and it’s not an injury, it’s nothing that we need to worry about. It’s just something that I need that rest and recovery time.’
There was a noticeable sense of disappointment from Glenn as she left the ice and heard her score. She knew it was a battle going against Sakamoto, but Gubanova’s exceptional performance put her in a great spot.
‘I feel guilty,’ she said. ‘My team has done so well, and my performance was lackluster. I scored lower than my median and what they were counting on, and I placed lower than what would have been expected.’
Danny O’Shea, Ellie Kam’s free skate earns USA 7 points
The U.S. needed a big showing from its pairs, and did it absolutely get it.
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea redeemed themselves in the free skate with a clean performance. There were no falls like in the short program, and by the time they were done, they each knew they executed everything they wanted to do. O’Shea let out a yell right as it ended and Kam was emotional as the crowd serenaded them.
The scores proved it. Kam and O’Shea earned a season-best score of 135.36, adding seven points to USA’s team total.
Olympics figure skating schedule
Figure skating at the Olympics rolls on Monday with the start of the ice dance competition. The men’s singles event starts Feb. 10 with the short program and concludes on Feb. 13 with the free skate. The pairs competition is Feb. 15-16. The women’s singles opens Feb. 17 with the short program and wraps Feb. 19 with the free skate.
Figure skating team event results
Here are the final standings in the team competition.
United States: 69 points
Japan: 68 points
Italy: 60 points
Georgia: 56 points
Canada: 54 points
Men’s free skate results
Here are final standings for the men’s free skate in the team competition.
Ilia Malinin (United States): 200.03 total segment score, 110.32 technical elements score, 89.71 program components score.
Shun Sato (Japan): 194.86 total segment score, 106.49 technical elements score, 88.37 program components score.
Matteo Rizzo (Italy): 179.62 total segment score, 92.57 technical elements score, 87.05 program components score.
Stephen Gogolev (Canada): 171.93 total segment score, 92.37 technical elements score, 79.56 program components score.
Nika Egadze (Georgia): 154.79 total segment score, 78.33 technical elements score, 76.46 program components score.
Kaori Sakamoto’s free skate earns first place
Kaori Sakamoto (Japan): 148.62 total segment score, 72.93 technical elements score, 75.69 program components score.
Anastasiia Gubanova (Georgia): 140.17 total segment score, 73.24 technical elements score, 66.93 program components score.
Amber Glenn (United States): 138.62 total segment score, 70.91 technical elements score, 67.71 program components score.
Lara Maki Gutmann (Italy): 126.94 total segment score, 61.16 technical elements score, 65.78 program components score.
Madeline Schizas (Canada): 125.00 total segment score, 65.44 technical elements score, 60.56 program components score.
Japan pairs skaters Riku Miura, Ryuichi Kihara top free skate
Here are the final standings for the pairs’ free skate in the team event.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan): 155.55 total segment score, 80.88 technical elements score, 74.67 program components score.
Anastassiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (Georgia): 139.70 total segment score, 72.80 technical elements score, 67.90 program components score.
Sara Conti and Macii Niccolo (Italy): 136.61 total segment score, 67.85 technical elements score, 68.76 program components score.
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (United States): 135.36 total segment score, 69.65 technical elements score, 65.71 program components score.
Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (Canada): 134.42 total segment score, 69.19 technical elements score, 65.23 program components score.
Are backflips allowed in figure skating?
They now are. For nearly 50 years, the backflip was banned in figure skating, after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first one to execute it at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. French skater Surya Bonaly did it at the 1998 Winter Olympics, landing it on one blade, but the move was illegal and she was deducted for it.
The International Skating Union reversed course and made the move legal in 2024, paving the way for it to be done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, 50 years after it was first done.
Figure skating jumps explained
Toe jump: A skater drives the toe pick of their non-takeoff foot into the ice to launch themselves into the air and generate momentum into the jump.
Toe loop: A skater takes off backward and lands on the same back edge of their blade.
Lutz: A skater moving backward jumps off the back outside edge of their skate and uses the toe-pick of their other skate to catapult into the air in the opposite direction and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
Flip: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of the other skate.
Edge jump: A skater takes off not with their toe pick but off the edge of their skate.
Salchow: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of their other skate.
Axel: The only forward-facing jump, a skater lands on the back outside edge of their non-takeoff foot while traveling backward. The axel is the hardest jump because of the extra half-revolution that comes with a forward takeoff and a backward landing.
Loop: The skater jumps off a back outside edge of their skate and lands on the same edge.
When does Ilia Malinin skate next?
The 21-year-old will compete in the men’s individual competition, which includes the short program on Feb. 10 and the free skate on Feb. 13.
What is difference between ice dancing and figure skating?
Ice dancing does not feature jumps or lifts, like you see figure skating pairs execute. Ice dancing is made up of two segments, the rhythm dance and the free dance.
Why Alysa Liu at Olympics feels good after debut
When Alysa Liu finished her short program in the team event, the crowd showered her with cheers and her teammates, including Amber Glenn, Ilia Malinin and Andrew Torgashev, waved their American flags and they rooted her on.
“I feel hype. Listen, I feel really good right now,” Liu said about her initial reaction to the performance, although she said she’ll have to watch it to get her true feelings.
It helps when it’s a program to a song that is so personal to Liu. She mentioned it always “does something to me” and helps her dive deep into the emotions she portrays on the ice.
How is figure skating scored?
A figure skating routine is made up of two scores: Technical elements score and program components score. The technical elements score is exactly what it sounds like: It’s for the jumps, spins and step sequences in a performance. The program components score is made of up composition, presentation and skating skills.
When does Amber Glenn skate in Olympics?
The U.S. national champion competed in the women’s free skate of the team event, and takes the ice for the women’s singles competition on Feb. 17 (short program) and Feb. 19 (free skate).
Quad God figure skater: Ilia Malinin’s nickname
Simply put, Ilia Malinin has the greatest array of jumps any figure skater in history has ever possessed. He’s launched himself into the air for seven quadruple jumps in a single long program at last month’s Grand Prix Final and was the first skater to land a quad Axel.
Malinin’s username used to be Lutz God, but he changed it to Quad God after landing his first quad jump.
“i didn’t think much about it … Days go by and people started asking, ‘Why’d you name yourself Quad God, you only landed one jump,’’ he said on Milan Magic, USA TODAY’s new Olympics podcast that drops its first episode Saturday. ‘And then I was like, ‘Oh, OK maybe I should be come a Quad God.’ From there I found my rhythm of landing quad after quad after quad and then of course landing the first quad axel.”
“In the most humble way possible, I think it’s definitely helped my confidence in not only to skating in general but just feeling like I deserve to be recognized as who I am.”
Listen to ‘Milan Magic’ on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch full episodes on YouTube or on USA TODAY.
Quad Axel in figure skating: How Ilia Malinin trains for it
Malinin shared with Christine Brennan and Brian Boitano on Milan Magic, USA TODAY’s new Olympics podcast that drops its first episode Saturday, that he likes to skate a full program at least once a day, but that doesn’t mean every jump in that practice session must be a quad. It depends on how his body feels.
“For me, at least the standard base can be all triple jumps, just to keep that stamina, just to keep that stamina in there. But then, of course, depending on how I feel or how the training is going, then I can say, ‘Maybe tomorrow I can go for a full quad layout or maybe do a full quad and the rest can be triples.’
“I think the main focus for me is just running the whole program in itself with all the jumps, all the spins and really just getting that muscle memory in your head because I think a lot of the times, especially with me, if I do a certain amount of triple jumps and I feel comfortable with it, then I can go and the quad jumps will get a little easier for me because I’ve been practicing that muscle memory for a while.”
Milan Magic: Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Why Madison Chock and Evan Bates face greatest challenge yet
Chock and Bates by far have the most challenging schedule of any figure skaters in the Games: Four programs in six days, including back-to-back duty in the team event on Feb. 6 and 7. Now, they have 48 hours until the ice dance competition opens Feb. 9 with the rhythm dance and concludes on Feb. 11 with the free dance. Their performances in the team event set up Team USA for its second straight gold medal.
But the most decorated ice dance pair in U.S. figure skating history wants more than a team medal in Milan — they want the ice dance gold medal, the one achievement they’ve been chasing for years. But while they did so much heavy lifting for their team, their competition got extra rest.
Team USA figure skating roster
Men: Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov, Andrew Torgashev
Women:Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, Isabeau Levito
Pairs: Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea; Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe
Ice dance: Madison Chock and Evan Bates; Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik; Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
What to know about Ellie Kam, Daniel O’Shea
Age: Kam is 21, O’Shea is 34
Height: Kam is 5-0, O’Shea is 6-0
Hometown: They are both from Colorado Springs, Colorado
Olympic experience: First
Event: Pairs
What to know: A partnership that began in 2022 lands its first Olympic appearance. Kam and O’Shea were the 2024 U.S. champions and have been trying to get back to that spot since then. They got bronze at the 2025 U.S. championships and landed two more third place finishes at two Grand Prix events since then, but had their best finish of the season this year with a second place finish that gave them a great boost to secure the Olympic spot.
Ilia Malinin’s parents
Malinin was born into figure skating. His mother, Tatiana Malinina, is from the Soviet Union, Siberia specifically, and competed at 10 consecutive world figure skating championships for Uzbekistan. She finished eighth at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, the competition in which Tara Lipinski won the gold medal and Michelle Kwan the silver. Malinina finished fourth at the 1999 world championships as well, and she also competed at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, but withdrew after the short program with the flu.
Malinin’s father, Roman Skorniakov, represented Uzbekistan at the same two Olympics, 1998 and 2002, finishing 19th both times. He and Malinina were married in 2000 and became skating coaches in the United States, moving to the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., where, in December 2004, Ilia was born. He took the Russian masculine form of his mother’s last name because his parents were concerned that Skorniakov was too difficult to pronounce.
