United States Figure Skating Team Wins Gold At Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
Pressure does weird things to people. It makes knees knock, throats go dry, and usually steady hands tremble like a leaf in a gale. But then there’s Ilia Malinin. When the weight of a nation, and a second consecutive Olympic gold medal, rested squarely on his sequined shoulders, he didn’t just show up. He showed off.
The scene at the Milano Ice Skating Arena was tense enough to crack a tooth. The United States and Japan were locked in a dead heat, tied at 59 points apiece heading into the final event of the team competition: the men’s free skate. It all came down to Malinin versus Japan’s Shun Sato. No pressure. Just the hopes of your teammates, your country, and your legacy riding on four minutes of ice time.
The Quad God Descends In Milan
Malinin, affectionately dubbed the “Quad God” (a nickname that sounds like a comic book villain but fits him like a glove), is figure skating’s resident daredevil. He’s the guy who looks at physics, shrugs, and decides to do a backflip on ice because regular jumps just aren’t spicy enough.
But Sunday night wasn’t just about the tricks; it was about grit. Malinin didn’t skate a perfect program. In fact, he had a moment that drew a collective gasp from the crowd when he had to put a hand down to steady himself after a stumble. For a split second, the gold medal seemed to wobble right along with him.
But here’s the thing about champions: they recover. Malinin didn’t let the mistake spiral. Instead, he seemed to feed off the adrenaline, upping the ante in real-time. He threw down five quadruple jumps and capped it off with his signature backflip.
When the dust (or ice shavings) settled, Malinin posted a score of 200.03. It was a massive number, setting a bar that Sato, despite a valiant and beautiful skate, simply couldn’t clear. Sato finished with a 194.86. The final tally? USA 69, Japan 68.
A Team Effort With a Few Bumps In the Road
While Malinin played the hero at the buzzer, the road to gold was paved by a rollercoaster of performances from Team USA. Earlier in the evening, the pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea delivered exactly when it mattered most. Skating to a mashup of “Sweet Dreams” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” they notched a personal best of 135.36.
They knew they weren’t going to beat the Japanese powerhouse pair of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who were busy setting career bests of their own. But Kam and O’Shea’s job was damage control.
Then there was Amber Glenn. The three-time U.S. champion had the unenviable task of stepping onto Olympic ice for the first time in the women’s free skate, with the team’s lead hanging in the balance. Glenn, who has been open about the mental toll of the games and recent social media backlash, struggled to find her footing. A fall on her opening triple axel and a few other uncharacteristic errors left her in third place for the segment.
You could see the weight of it on her face. She looked down, clearly fighting back emotions, feeling the guilt of seeing the U.S. lead evaporate. “I don’t know how I will ever apologize for that,” she said later. But that’s the beauty of the team event. You pick each other up. When Malinin sealed the deal later that night, Glenn was the first one off the bench, lifting the “Quad God” into the air in a bear hug that said more than any apology ever could.
Why This Gold Hits Different
This wasn’t just a win; it was a statement. The U.S. figure skating team has now claimed back-to-back team golds in figure skating, proving that their program isn’t just relying on one or two stars, but a deep bench of talent.
It also sets the stage for the rest of the Games. Malinin has already proven he can deliver in the clutch, which makes him the undeniable favorite for the individual gold in figure skating later this week. If he can pull off a team gold with a “messy” program, imagine what he’ll do when he’s locked in for himself.
For now, though, the Americans can breathe. They survived the pressure cooker of Milan. They survived a surging Japanese team that refused to quit. And they survived the wobble that nearly cost them everything.
