USA Edges Japan by One Point for Team Figure Skating Gold

The United States defended its Olympic team figure skating title in the most dramatic way possible, beating Japan 69-68 in a showdown that came down to the very last skater.

Ilia Malinin, known as the "Quad God," delivered when it mattered most. The 21-year-old landed five quadruple jumps in his free skate Sunday night in Milan, scoring 200.03 points to edge out Japan's Shun Sato, who earned 194.86 points with a nearly flawless but slightly easier program.

The Americans had built a comfortable five-point lead after two days of competition. But Japan stormed back Sunday evening when world champion pairs team Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won their event, followed by Kaori Sakamoto claiming the women's free skate.

That left the teams deadlocked heading into the men's free skate, the final event of the competition. Sato skated first, delivering a clean performance from his opening quad lutz to his finishing triple lutz, pumping his fist as the music ended.

Then Malinin took the ice with America's gold medal hopes on his shoulders. He opened strong with a big quad flip, navigated through a couple of mistakes, and finished with back-to-back combination jumps that left the crowd of American and Japanese fans roaring.

Why This Inspires

This competition showcased something beautiful about Olympic sports. Both teams pushed each other to career-best performances under immense pressure.

Pairs skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea delivered the best free skate of their careers for Team USA, with 34-year-old O'Shea making his Olympic debut after being an alternate in 2018. Japan's Miura and Kihara responded with their own career-best score of 155.55 points.

Even when American skater Amber Glenn stumbled in the women's event, falling to third place and allowing Japan to tie the score, her teammates rallied around her. "The adrenaline was really up and I think I just crashed a little bit," Glenn said afterward.

Malinin made sure her mistake wouldn't define the team's Olympics. Italy claimed bronze with 60 points, thrilling the home crowd as Matteo Rizzo delivered one of his career-best performances.

In a sport often decided by tenths of points, this one-point margin proved that every skater, every jump, and every moment mattered equally.