MILAN — The battle for Olympic figure skating team gold has reached a dramatic climax at the Milan Cortina Games, with the United States and Japan deadlocked at 59 points heading into Monday’s decisive men’s free skate. The championship will ultimately be determined by the performances of American phenom Ilia Malinin and Japan’s Shun Sato in what promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the three-day team competition.
The tiebreaker scenario emerged following Sunday’s women’s free skate, where American champion Amber Glenn delivered a disappointing performance that left the defending champion U.S. team level with their Japanese rivals. Glenn, who attempted the challenging triple axel that no other woman in the competition dared, faltered on her opening jump and made several subsequent errors throughout her routine. Her score of 138.62 points placed her third in the segment behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (148.62) and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova.
Sakamoto, the individual bronze medalist from the Beijing Games, overcame her own technical mistakes to secure a segment victory for Japan. Her triumphant scream upon seeing her scores reflected the intense pressure of the team event.
Earlier in the competition, American pairs team Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea delivered a career-best performance when their team needed it most. Their emotionally charged program, set to a medley of 80s hits including ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ earned 135.36 points and temporarily maintained the American advantage. However, Japanese pairs Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara responded with their own career-best score of 155.55 points, narrowing the gap and setting up the final showdown.
The men’s competition features intriguing strategic decisions from both teams. Japan surprisingly substituted Yuma Kagiyama, who upset Malinin in Saturday’s short program, with Shun Sato for the free skate. The United States will rely on two-time world champion Malinin, whose planned program includes an unprecedented seven quad jumps—including his signature quad axel that no other skater has successfully landed in competition.
In the race for bronze, Italy holds third place with 52 points, maintaining a narrow two-point advantage over Georgia with only the men’s free skate remaining.