The first figure skating medals of the 2026 Winter Olympics land on Sunday, Feb. 8, when the team event closes with three straight free skates. This year marks the fourth Games to feature the team event, and the format is its own kind of stress test. One country goes up at a time, the points lock in immediately, and there is no second leg to talk your way out of a mistake.
Only the top five countries move on to the free skates. So far, the United States looks strong. It advanced with 44 points, along with Japan (39), Italy (37), Canada (35) and Georgia (32).
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The United States is in the lead after ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered a world-best 91.06 in the rhythm dance Friday and then wowed again with 133.23 points in the free dance Saturday. Also on Friday, Alysa Liu (74.90) placed second in the women’s short behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto (78.88). That is the cleanest kind of early work in this event: first-place points in dance, near-top points in women’s and a cushion that matters later only because it can disappear fast.
The surprise came on Saturday, when four-time U.S. champion Ilia Malinin gave an uncharacteristically uneven performance in the men’s short program and finished in second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. The “Quad God” will get a chance of redemption in the men’s free skate, the final event of the team portion.
Sunday is when the oxygen gets expensive. Pairs free is the table-setter. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, who placed fifth in the pairs short program, will start things off for Team USA.
Amber Glenn, making her Olympic debut, is up next in the women’s free, an event that brings the big base value with more high-value jump content.
Then men’s free has the widest swing potential, because one layout choice can turn “safe” into “sorry” in about 12 seconds. In this event, standings change when a skater goes for a higher-value plan and executes: fully rotated jumps, controlled landings, no edge calls, no pops.
The U.S. has medaled in each of the previous team events. It earned bronze in 2014 and 2018, and gold in 2022.
All times below are ET.
Pairs, women’s and men’s free skate will also re-air on USA at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
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