Olympic Team Event Result Changed to Reflect Gold Medal Win

Special Series 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics The U.S. in the figure skating team event, Updated February PM ET Originally published February 6, 20264:07 AM ET By Rachel Treisman Team Images hide caption Want more Olympics updates? Get our behind-the-scenes newsletter for what it's like to be at these Games. MILAN — Team USA held lead the day of the event the to gold from The team event, which debuted in 2014, pits the world's 10 top-ranked countries against each other via representatives in each of the four skating disciplines: men's, women's, pairs and ice dance. Countries get points (1-10) depending on how they score in the first two events (short program and rhythm top five advance to the final round (free skate and free dance). the in the Yuma Kagiyama of Japan celebrates after his first-place finish in the men's short program of the team event. Jamie Squire/Getty Images hide caption of the had the first skater do in five decades (the move was banned in competition from 1977 to 2024). Malinin still scored high enough to keep the U.S. in by just a hair. the competition narrowed down to the U.S. and Japan — separated by a single point — followed by Italy, Canada and Georgia. But Team USA made up the difference and more in the rhythm dance, where ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates dominated the scoreboard with their flamenco-inspired program "Paint It Black" program. They came in first, followed by Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri and Canada's Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha. The U.S. with 44 points to Japan's 39 and Italy's 39. "I think our team is incredibly strong, arguably the strongest ever been and I have the utmost faith in them and I'll be proud of them no matter what the outcome is," Chock said the of the the Alysa Liu celebrates with other Team USA figure skaters after her performance in the team event on Friday. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Europe hide caption Team USA took the lead on Day One, thanks to strong performances by its only repeat Olympians. Chock and Bates claimed first and a world-best score of 91.06 in ice dance, followed by France's Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry at a close 89.98. 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics 19 Winter Olympic storylines we're watching (they're not just about sports) Coming in third was British duo Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who got the crowd clapping with their Spice Girls medley (this season's musical theme for rhythm dance is the '90s, so the morning's soundtrack was dominated by girl groups and boy bands). Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished fourth. In the pairs short program, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea of the U.S. made their Olympic debut to a crowd so encouraging — many wearing USA logos and flags — that Kam later said she could barely hear their music over the applause at one point. Kam fell on a throw early in the program, but the duo recovered quickly and finished in fifth place. "It's disappointing whenever you make a mistake, but I think we did an amazing job of picking ourselves back into the program and really finishing with some really strong elements as well," said 34-year-old O'Shea, who came out of retirement to pair up with Kam in 2022. "So the next thing is just put it behind us, keep cheering on our team … and get ready for our long program." 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics For U.S. figure skating, grief over the D.C. crash makes for a bittersweet Olympics Japan's Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi, two-time Olympians and two-time world champions, placed first in pairs by a wide margin. Luka Berulava and Anastasiia Metelkina of Georgia — a growing skating powerhouse thanks to its many Russian-born recruits — placed second, followed by Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, who had a heroes' welcome on their home turf. "We knew there would be such a [big] audience, but you don't understand it until you go through it," Conti said. Italy also placed third in the women's short program, after reigning European bronze medalist Lara Naki Gutmann earned her season's best score. Alysa Liu, turning heads with her signature striped hair and palpable joy, finished in first place — later bumped down to second — to put the U.S. back on top. "We're not there very long, so I try to savor every moment," said Liu, who competed in the 2022 Olympics but was not part of the team event. Kaori Sakamoto — who won bronze in 2022 in addition to helping Japan medal in the team event — skated last, to an emotional rendition of "Time to Say Goodbye" in honor of her upcoming retirement. She earned her own season-best score to knock Liu out of the top individual spot, but didn't quite close the gap between the two countries on the scoreboard. U.S. pairs skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea made their Olympic debut on Friday. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Europe hide caption The U.S. only one the women's free skate instead of Liu. The U.S. has an advantage, in part because of the sheer size of its team: 16 people, having secured maximum quota spots in men's, women's and ice dance. The next biggest teams, Japan and Canada, have 12 people each. And several U.S. athletes have downplayed the stress of participating in the team event, instead embracing it as more time on Olympic ice. Pairs skater O'Shea is one of them. "You might think that there's extra pressure, but at the end of the day, it's another performance and you feel the honor to be on the team," he said. Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor