Overview
- Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama topped the men’s team short program with 108.67, outscoring Ilia Malinin’s 98.00 by more than 10 points.
- Malinin reduced his planned difficulty, landing two quads after swapping a planned quad axel combination and underrotating a quad lutz, and he performed a backflip reported as the first in official Olympic competition.
- Team USA leads the figure skating team event with 44 points to Japan’s 39 after Madison Chock and Evan Bates won the free dance to extend the advantage.
- After saying he skated at “50%” to pace himself, Malinin’s agent clarified he was not suggesting reduced effort but describing energy management for the week.
- Team USA has selected Malinin for Sunday’s men’s free skate in the team event, according to Yahoo Sports citing a person with knowledge, with the men’s individual competition starting Tuesday.