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Team USA strengthened their lead over Japan in the Olympic Team event on Saturday, the second day of the Figure Skating competition at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. 

However, the battle is not over yet and the medals will be decided on Sunday with three more events to come. The USA now has 44 points and Japan has 39. Italy remain in third place on 37 points. 

Chock & Bates, Malinin keep team USA in the lead

Team USA widened the gap to five points over Japan and head confidently into the final day.

Three-time ISU World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates were the top scorers for their team again with 10 points. The ISU Grand Prix Final Champions delivered a passionate Flamenco to “Paint It Black” to win the Free Dance with a new season’s best score of 133.23 points.

“I think our team is incredibly strong, arguably as strong as it's ever been and I have the utmost faith in them,” said Madison Chock.

“I'll be proud of them no matter what the outcome is.

“We're really excited to cheer on our team and we just want them to feel good and skate how they want to skate and we'll be supporting them the whole way,” she noted.

Reigning ISU World Champion Ilia Malinin, pictured top, put out a solid performance to “Dies Irae” and “Lost Crown” that was highlighted by quad flip and expressive footwork including a backflip. However, the triple Axel was somewhat shaky and he lost some points by under-rotating his quad Lutz-triple toe combination. Malinin was second in the Short Program at 98.00 points and picked up nine points for his team. 

Ilia Malinin (USA) gave a solid performance which earned second place in the Men's Short Program segment of the Team Event © Getty Images

“Of course it wasn't the perfect, ideal, 100% skate that I would want it to have been, but for the standard I set myself today, I think I have achieved that,” Malinin commented.

“I presume to come into this team competition with only 50% of my full potential,” he added.

“That's what I felt like here today and that's the way I pace myself leading up to the individual to make sure that I have enough energy.”

Team Japan five points behind

Team Japan is currently five points behind the USA but still can fight back to take gold. 

“I think today’s performances were not only strong and beautiful from Japan, but from all countries,” team captain Masaya Morita commented. 

“Looking ahead to tomorrow’s performances, the Japanese skaters are all strong both technically and mentally, so I want to support them in any way I can and help energize the arena,” he added.

Yuma Kagiyama excited the crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena as well as his teammates with his playful performance to “I Wish” to bring home the maximum of 10 team points for his first place. 

The 2022 Olympic silver medalist nailed perfect jumps – a quad toe-triple toe, quad Salchow and triple Axel – as well as excellent spins to score 108.67 point, just below his personal best. 

Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) took first place in the Men's Short Program to keep Japan in the hunt for gold © Getty Images

“The US team was only two points ahead, so when I thought about how we could close that gap, I knew my role in the short program was especially important,” Kagiyama noted.

“It was a key responsibility for me, so I definitely felt nervous about that. But all of that nervousness was blown away by the support from the Milan crowd, everyone watching, and the cheers from Team Japan. 

“That support really gave me strength, and I think I was able to truly enjoy the moment and skate freely."

Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morito came fifth in the Free Dance to pick up six team points. 

Italy in medal position but Canada catching up

Italy remain in medal position two points ahead of Canada. 

Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri put out an emotional performance to “Diamanti” and had the capacity crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena behind each step and each turn they did on the ice. The two-time ISU World medalists were second in the Free Dance segment with 124.22 points and got nine team points.

Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri (ITA) had the home crowd behind them as they came second in the Free Dance © Getty Images

“We placed two points ahead of Canada, so of course it's possible [to win a medal]”, Fabbri said.

“Then it's such a difficult sport, where mistakes are so easy to make that it's unpredictable. But we're confident for tomorrow.”

“We feel happy, proud, relieved, tired, a lot of mixed emotions, of course,” Fabbri added. “It was not an easy day for us, because you never know what happens in figure skating in general. 

“In the men's event, even if Italy had a good position after the first three events, we didn't take for granted that we would have skated tonight [in the Free Dance]. We came here and we had to follow the Men's event during our warm-up, watch Daniel [Grassl] and think ‘What are the others doing?'"

Earlier, Daniel Grassl did not disappoint and added six points to the Italian team score by coming fifth in the Short Program, seeing the hosts safely through into the final five. Skating to “Tango per la liberta”, the Italian Champion went for a quad Lutz-double toe combination and the quad loop but under-rotated both jumps. He scored 87.54 points.

Canada moved up from fifth to fourth place with 35 points. Stephen Gogolev and Ice Dancers Marjorie Lajoie & Zachary Lagha contributed eight points each as they ranked third in the Men’s Short Program and Free Dance respectively. 

Georgia fell a bit behind when 2026 ISU European Champion Nika Egadze finished sixth in the Short Program after his quads were a bit wobbly (five team points). Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin placed fourth with their Free Dance (seven team points). The Georgians have now 32 points and face an uphill battle on the last day to reach the podium.

The bottom five teams left the competition after the Men’s Short Program. France came sixth and were the first team to miss out on the Final. The Republic of Korea, China, Great Britain and Poland ranked seventh to 10th. 

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