EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsMILAN -- After three days of dramatic, and often surprising, competition, the United States claimed the Olympic gold medal in the figure skating team competition on Sunday night.It wasn't easy.After carrying a five-point lead into the final day of the event, the Americans found themselves locked in a tie with Japan entering the men's free skate, the last segment of the competition.It would all come down to Ilia Malinin, the two-time reigning world champion in his debut Olympics. The 21-year-old had struggled with nerves during his short program Saturday and stepped out of his triple axel and then under-rotated his quad lutz, finishing in a staggering second-place -- a rarity for him and more than 10 points out of first.The stakes Sunday couldn't have been higher as his teammates anxiously watched on as he took the ice with their fate on his blades."I was more nervous watching Ilia than I was [skating] myself," team captain and pairs skater Danny O'Shea said.Malinin wasn't perfect Sunday, nor did he attempt the quadruple axel he's become famous for -- he remains the only skater in history to land the jump in competition -- but it was more than enough. Nicknamed the "Quad God," he executed five quadruple jumps, as his spoken voice blared over the loudspeaker as part of his "The Voice" music, and electrified the crowd.By the time he performed his now-signature backflip late in his program -- prompting 24-time major tennis champion Novak Djokovic to jump to his feet in the stands and exclaim, "What?" with his head in his hands -- it was all but a punctuation mark. He ultimately earned a 200.03 as his teammates flocked him on the kiss-and-cry podium.It wasn't over, though. Not officially anyway.Japan's Shun Sato then took the ice to close out the competition. While he landed three quad jumps of his own and executed a clean skate, it was only good enough for 194.86 points. His teammates consoled him as his score was announced. Some 50 feet away, the Americans jumped up and down and embraced.The final score: United States 69, Japan 68."We came here to do one job and we achieved it," Malinin said.Italy earned the bronze medal with 60 points following an emotional and nearly perfect, although less difficult, program from Matteo Rizzo. Many of his teammates were near tears by the end of the program, well before his score was even announced, knowing he had done enough to secure just the third-ever Olympic medal for the Italians in figure skating.It marked the second Olympic gold for the Americans in the team event, but the first in which the contingent was able to celebrate with a podium ceremony. The competition in 2022 was initially won by the athletes representing the Russian Olympic Committee before they were disqualified for a positive drug test. The Americans received their medals more than two years later in Paris in 2024.Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the three-time reigning ice dance world champions, were the only members of both teams in 2022 and 2026. They won the short program on Friday and the free dance on Saturday to contribute a crucial 20 points to the Americans.While nowhere near as dominant, Ellie Kam and O'Shea were the unlikely heroes for the team Sunday. Having finished in fifth place in the pairs short program two days prior, they knew they would have to do better than that to ensure the Japanese team didn't almost completely erase the existing lead. While the Japanese pair of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara did win the segment, Kam and O'Shea performed one of the best programs of their career. They ultimately finished in fourth and kept the Japanese two points back."That [was] our goal, maybe taking one or two points of pressure off the rest of Team USA, and being able to contribute our part and help out," O'Shea said. "And we did a little bit more for that today."That made all the difference.The pairs program was followed by the women's free skate. It marked the Olympic debut of three-time reigning national champion Amber Glenn. Alysa Liu had competed in the short program, and the team used one of its two-allowed substitutions to make the swap. Glenn was shaky at the program's start, spinning out of her triple axel and then struggling with another jumping combination.Glenn rallied during the second half of her program, but she appeared devastated at the end. She received 138.62 points, which eventually landed her in a surprising third place."I did not feel or perform the way I wanted to," Glenn said. "I physically didn't feel great. My legs were feeling heavy, I was tired, I just didn't feel my best, and I've been practicing here incredibly."She chalked it up to "first-time Olympian" nerves, but said she was proud of her mental strength for completing the program. Kaori Sakamoto finished in first place with 148.62 points, vaulting Japan into a tie with the United States atop the leaderboard.Speaking to reporters before the event was over, she said she was proud of her team, regardless of the final outcome."In my eyes, everybody has done a gold-medal performance, and so it really doesn't matter what color medal we get," Sakamoto said.
