MILAN— A gold medal will be coming home to Virginia as Team USA’s Ilia Malinin secured the top spot for Figure Skating in the team event on Sunday.
The team figure skating event is a combined competition that showcases a country’s overall depth in the sport, rather than just individual stars. Instead of skaters competing only for themselves, they earn points for their nation across multiple disciplines.
Each team is made up of skaters in men’s singles, women’s singles, pairs, and ice dance. During the first ice dance round of competition, the top five teams advance to the medal rounds.
After each round of competition, final places are converted to points, with first place earning 10 points for their team. Team USA earned 10 points in the rhythm ice dance, men’s free skate, and free dance programs. The women contributed 8 and 9 points respectively, while Malinin’s short program earned 9 points. Team USA’s pairs team earned 6 points in qualification and 7 in the final.
Coming down to the men’s free program, Japan and the US were tied for the top team spot with 59 points. Malinin skated first, earning a 200.03 for his efforts, but had to wait for Japan’s Shun Sato to skate before Team USA would find out if it was going to be gold or silver.
Sato ended up earning a 194.86 which was not enough to take the top spot. The U.S. clinched the top spot with 69 total team points, edging out Japan by one.
Malinin, who was shocked by Japan in the short program when he was beat by Yuma Kagiyama, hails from Vienna. It is his first Olympic Games.
The figure skating team gold medal is the second gold medal of the Games for the U.S.
The Olympics will continue in Milan until Feb. 22, with Malinin competing in the men’s individual events which begin on Feb. 10.
For more information, visit olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026.