★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ THE ROSEN REPORT ≡
MILAN, Italy – Evan Bates had some advice for his U.S. teammates before the medal ceremony Sunday in the Olympic team figure skating event.
“He’s like, ‘Guys, be careful,’” said pairs skater Danny O’Shea. “‘There’s real gold in there and they’re malleable. Don’t be jumping around and hit it on things. I dented mine right away.’”
This is the second gold medal for Bates and Madison Chock, his wife and Ice Dance partner, but the first they received immediately after their competition. Japan was in a similar situation with the country’s second straight silver medal, while Italy won the bronze for its first Olympic team figure skating medal.
At the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, a doping controversy engulfed Kamila Valieva and the Russian Olympic Committee team, with the U.S. and Japanese teams as collateral damage.
The medal ceremony was delayed. Months went by.
By the time the case concluded, the U.S., which originally won the silver medal, was bumped to first place, with Japan second and the ROC team third.
Because the International Olympic Committee wanted the American and Japanese skaters to have a real Olympic victory ceremony, they finally received their medals about 18 months later at the summer Games in Paris.
The three-day competition that concluded Sunday at the Milano Ice Skating Arena was more of a nail-biter than the Beijing event. Thanks to a masterful performance by Chock and Bates in their Free Dance Saturday, the U.S. entered the final three segments leading Japan by 44-39.
Then the Japanese whittled away at the margin.
Two-time world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara won the Pairs free skate for 10 points with O’Shea and Ellie Kam placing fourth to garner seven points.
That meant Japan trailed by just two going into the women’s event, which figured to be a duel between three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto and Amber Glenn, the 2024-25 Grand Prix Final champ.
While Sakamoto turned in a lovely performance to win, Glenn made some mistakes – including a turn out of her signature triple Axel – and finished behind Anastasia Gubanova of Georgia.
The score was tied at 59.
Glenn hung her head in despair; even Madeline Schizas of Canada, who wound up fifth, was buoyed by someone calling out, “I love you like maple syrup.”
“I felt guilty,” said Glenn, who made her first appearance on Olympic ice.
Everything now depended on Ilia Malinin.
“I felt like I left so much pressure on him and he’s already under so much pressure being hailed as ‘Quad God’ and all that,” Glenn said. “I couldn’t imagine what that’s like. And he stepped up like we all knew he would. I’m just really grateful.”
Malinin, who said he only gave “50 percent” while placing second in the short program a night earlier, was pumping his fist as he came out of the tunnel.
The Quad God landed five quadruple jumps, although he again did not attempt his patented quad Axel. As always, his backflip was a crowd-pleaser en route to his score of 200.03 points.
“I was more nervous watching Ilia than I was skating myself,” said O’Shea.
Malinin had no illusions about how much pressure rested on his shoulders. “The deciding factor was going to be my skate,” he said.
Yet the 21-year-old also viewed the assignment as an opportunity to “recalibrate” following his short program and prepare for the individual event.
“It really came down to the energy, the support, the passion for my whole team supporting me, cheering me on,” he said.
Japan had a strong skater, too. Shun Sato replaced Yuma Kagiyama for the Free Skate. Although he performed a season-best, he fell short with 194.86 points.
“It really took every single point for us to do it today,” O’Shea said. “I love that it was the closest-fought team event ever. That’s a really cool thing to be part of that shows you how great figure skating’s going.”
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 45-sport, 910-event International Sports Calendar for 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
