Ilia Malinin once again displayed the grit of a champion, winning the men's free skate en route to helping Team USA repeat as Olympic team event gold medalists.
The United States becomes the first team to win consecutive Olympic golds in the team event and is the only country to have medaled in every Olympic team event since its debut in 2014.
"All of us put our heart and soul into this and without each other we wouldn't have done it. I went in there knowing it was going to be a tiebreaker in the men's event. I went straight into this, and it went exactly as planned. I'm so thankful for that. It came down to the energy, the support and passion from my whole team." — Ilia Malinin
With the score tied at 59 between the U.S. and Japan, it all came down to Malinin and Japan's Shun Sato. Playing things a bit conservative, Malinin, the two-time and reigning World champion, elected not to risk his quadruple Axel, opening instead with a superb quad flip and solid quad Lutz and triple Axel. Things got a bit dicey when Malinin turned out of his second quad Lutz and failed to complete a combination, but Malinin fought back with other weapons in his vast arsenal, including a quad Salchow-triple Axel sequence that notched 21.41 points. His free skate total of 200.03 broke the tie decisively in Team USA's favor.
Along with Malinin, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, and Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and Madison Chock and Evan Bates stood on the podium for Team USA after competing earlier in the team event. For Chock and Bates, this marks their second Olympic team event gold medal after they secured gold at the 2022 Games. Malinin, Glenn, Liu, and Kam and O'Shea also took home gold in their Olympic team event debut.
Glenn Makes Olympic Debut
In the women's free skate, Glenn was called upon to substitute for Liu, making her Olympic debut in the most pressure-packed of circumstances. The three-time U.S. champion delivered, fighting through her program with the mental toughness she has built throughout her career.
"I'm happy I was able to fight through the program and stay committed to everything. But overall, there were many, many points left on the table, and I did not perform the way I wanted to. I'm proud of the mental strength I've built over the years to get through mistakes at the beginning and really fight in the second half." — Amber Glenn
Kam and O'Shea Deliver in Pairs
Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, competing in their first Olympic Games together, delivered a clean free skate to earn 135.36 points, a personal best. The Colorado Springs-based team earned six points in the short program and built on that with their free skate performance, helping secure Team USA's gold.
For full results, visit the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Competition Central.
