Overview
- Team USA retained the Olympic figure skating team title with 69 points to Japan’s 68, as Italy took bronze with 60.
- Ilia Malinin topped the men’s free skate with 200.03 points to Japan’s Shun Sato’s 194.86, providing the decisive margin.
- The night followed Malinin’s second-place team short program (98.00) behind Yuma Kagiyama (108.67), after which he described skating at about “50%” as part of his pacing.
- Japan erased the U.S. lead through Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara’s winning pairs free (155.55) and Kaori Sakamoto’s victory in the women’s free, while Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered key U.S. points and Amber Glenn placed third in the women’s free.
- Malinin again performed a backflip that drew a roar from the crowd, and U.S. coaches tabbed him for the free skate despite the quick turnaround to the individual men’s event.