MILAN — The figure skating team event at the 2026 Winter Games is into Day 2 and featured the Olympic debut of the ‘Quad God.’ But it was a bit of a scruffy outing for 21-year-old American Ilia Malinin, who is the gold medal favorite in the men’s singles competition.
On Saturday, Malinin finished second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in the men’s short program of the team competition. Malinin’s performance was shaky, and not what was expected from him as he finished more than 10 points behind Kagiyama.
‘Of course that wasn’t the perfect ideal 100% skate that I would’ve wanted to have, but for the standard I set myself today, I think I achieved that,’ Malinin said after.
The men’s individual competition begins Feb. 10 with the short program, followed by the free skate on Feb. 13. That is what Malinin has his sights set on, and he said he came into this knowing he would give 50% of his potential to pace himself for the individual competition.
‘I’ve already set my mentality, my mindset, the layout that I have a few weeks ago. So really, all I have to do is come here and do my job,’ he said.
‘That’s the way I pace myself, leading up to the individual.’
To close out Day 2, decorated ice dance pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates delivered a sensational free dance, bringing the crowd to its feat and earning a season-best score of 133.23. The duo got big hugs from their US teammates, including Malinin and Alysa Liu, in the kiss-and-cry after the exited the ice.
Team USA leads the team competition standings at the halfway point with 34 points, followed by Japan (33), Italy (28), Canada (27) and Georgia (25). The top five teams advanced to the remaining sessions, which include the free dance tonight and the free skates for the pairs, men and women on Sunday.
USA TODAY Sports is bringing you live results and updates from the figure skating team event. Follow along.
Figure skating live results, scores
Here are the final standings for the free dance portion of the team competition.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates (United States): 133.23 total segment score, 75.37 technical elements score, 57.86 program components score.
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabri (Italy): 124.22 total segment score, 69.44 technical elements score, 54.78 program components score.
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (Canada): 120.90 total segment score, 67.96 technical elements score, 52.94 program components score.
Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (Georgia): 117.82 total segment score, 66.10 technical elements score, 51.72 program components score.
Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita (Japan): 98.55 total segment score, 54.75 technical elements score, 43.80 program components score.
How is figure skating scored?
A figure skating routine is made up of two scores: Technical elements score and program components score. The technical elements score is exactly what it sounds like: It’s for the jumps, spins and step sequences in a performance. The program components score is made of up composition, presentation and skating skills.
Figure skating team event results, scores
Here are the team competition standings at the halfway mark. Only the top five teams move on for the second half of the competition, which starts with the ice dance free dance today.
United States: 34 points
Japan: 33 points
Italy: 22 points
Georgia: 28 points
Canada: 27 points
France: 17 points
Korea: 11 points
Great Britain: 11 points
China: 10 points
Poland: 6 points
Quad God figure skater: Ilia Malinin’s nickname
Simply put, Ilia Malinin has the greatest array of jumps any figure skater in history has ever possessed. He’s launched himself into the air for seven quadruple jumps in a single long program at last month’s Grand Prix Final and was the first skater to land a quad Axel.
Malinin’s username used to be Lutz God, but he changed it to Quad God after landing his first quad jump.
“i didn’t think much about it … Days go by and people started asking, ‘Why’d you name yourself Quad God, you only landed one jump,’’ he said on Milan Magic, USA TODAY’s new Olympics podcast that drops its first episode Saturday. ‘And then I was like, ‘Oh, OK maybe I should be come a Quad God.’ From there I found my rhythm of landing quad after quad after quad and then of course landing the first quad axel.”
“In the most humble way possible, I think it’s definitely helped my confidence in not only to skating in general but just feeling like I deserve to be recognized as who I am.”
Listen to ‘Milan Magic’ on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch full episodes on YouTube or on USA TODAY.
Are backflips allowed in figure skating?
They now are. For nearly 50 years, the backflip was banned in figure skating, after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first one to execute it at the 1976 Innsbruck Games. French skater Surya Bonaly did it at the 1998 Winter Olympics, landing it on one blade, but the move was illegal and she was deducted for it.
The International Skating Union reversed course and made the move legal in 2024, paving the way for it to be done at the 2026 Winter Olympics, 50 years after it was first done.
Ilia Malinin peforms a backflip in his short program, so figure skating fans will get to see it on the Olympic stage today.
Men’s short program results for team competition
Here are the standings for the men’s short program in the team competition.
Yuma Kagiyama (Japan): 108.67 total segment score, 61.12 technical elements score, 47.55 program components score.
Ilia Malinin (United States): 98.00 total segment score, 52.62 technical elements score, 45.38 program components score.
Stephen Gogolev (Canada): 92.99 total segment score, 53.63 technical elements score, 39.36 program components score.
Kevin Aymoz (France): 88.05 total segment score, 43.74 technical elements score, 44.31 program components score.
Daniel Grassl (Italy): 87.54 total segment score, 46.58 technical elements score, 40.96 program components score.
Nika Egadze (Georgia): 84.37 total segment score, 44.22 technical elements score, 40.15 program components score.
Boyang Jin (China): 84.15 total segment score, 45.20 technical elements score, 38.95 program components score.
Junhwan Cha (Korea): 83.53 total segment score, 41.78 technical elements score, 41.75 program components score.
Vladimir Samoilov (Poland): 80.47 total segment score, 43.26 technical elements score, 37.21 program components score.
Edward Appleby (Great Britain): 69.68 total segment score, 35.91 technical elements score, 33.77 program components score.
Madison Chock, Evan Bates to skate free dance
America’s A-team ice dance pair will be going back-to-back in the team event.
Madison Chock and Evan Bates are skating the free dance portion, making it a full Olympic schedule for the decorated U.S. couple. The duo did the rhythm dance in the opening event of the competition and absolutely crushed it. They finished in first with a score of 91.06, just ahead of the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron to earn the full 10 points for the U.S.
It confirms what will be a busy, tight schedule for Chock and Bates, with the ice dance event on Monday, Feb. 9 and Wednesday, Feb. 11, meaning four performances in six days. Still, the pair give the U.S. a great chance to secure another 10 points and get in position to win team event gold for the second-straight Games.
How long is short program in figure skating?
Short programs are 2 minutes, 40 seconds long. Competitors are allowed plus or minus 10 seconds.
Quad Axel in figure skating: How Ilia Malinin trains for it
Malinin shared with Christine Brennan and Brian Boitano on Milan Magic, USA TODAY’s new Olympics podcast that drops its first episode Saturday, that he likes to skate a full program at least once a day, but that doesn’t mean every jump in that practice session must be a quad. It depends on how his body feels.
“For me, at least the standard base can be all triple jumps, just to keep that stamina, just to keep that stamina in there. But then, of course, depending on how I feel or how the training is going, then I can say, ‘Maybe tomorrow I can go for a full quad layout or maybe do a full quad and the rest can be triples.’
“I think the main focus for me is just running the whole program in itself with all the jumps, all the spins and really just getting that muscle memory in your head because I think a lot of the times, especially with me, if I do a certain amount of triple jumps and I feel comfortable with it, then I can go and the quad jumps will get a little easier for me because I’ve been practicing that muscle memory for a while.”
Milan Magic: Listen on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
When does Ilia Malinin skate?
The 21-year-old skated in the men’s short program of the team competition. It’s not yet known if he will skate in the men’s free skate portion of the team event. Then, he’ll compete in the men’s individual competition, which includes the short program on Feb. 10 and the free skate on Feb. 13.
Figure skating TV schedule today
NBC is broadcasting the men’s short program today, and Peacock is streaming it live.
Men’s short program: 1:45 p.m.
Ice dance free dance: 4:05 p.m.
Ice dancing vs. figure skating
Ice dancing does not feature jumps or lifts, like you see figure skating pairs execute. Ice dancing is made up of two segments, the rhythm dance and the free dance.
Team USA figure skating roster
Men: Ilia Malinin, Maxim Naumov, Andrew Torgashev
Women:Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu, Isabeau Levito
Pairs: Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea; Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe
Ice dance: Madison Chock and Evan Bates; Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik; Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko
Figure skating jump types
Toe jump: A skater drives the toe pick of their non-takeoff foot into the ice to launch themselves into the air and generate momentum into the jump.
Toe loop: A skater takes off backward and lands on the same back edge of their blade.
Lutz: A skater moving backward jumps off the back outside edge of their skate and uses the toe-pick of their other skate to catapult into the air in the opposite direction and lands on the back outside edge of the picking leg.
Flip: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of the other skate.
Edge jump: A skater takes off not with their toe pick but off the edge of their skate.
Salchow: A skater launches off the back inside edge of one skate and lands on the back outside edge of their other skate.
Axel: The only forward-facing jump, a skater lands on the back outside edge of their non-takeoff foot while traveling backward. The axel is the hardest jump because of the extra half-revolution that comes with a forward takeoff and a backward landing.
Loop: The skater jumps off a back outside edge of their skate and lands on the same edge.
How figure skating scoring works for team event
Each discipline will play a critical role in who secures a team medal. Skaters and pairs will receive typical scoring after each routine, which leads to the all important standings that will determine how much each skater earned for their country. But at the end of each discipline, the skater or pairs will gain points for their country based on their standings. It goes in this order:
1st: 10 points
2nd: 9 points
3rd: 8 points
4th: 7 points
5th: 6 points
6th: 5 points
7th: 4 points
8th: 3 points
9th: 2 points
10th: 1 point
After all events are completed, the combined score for each team will be used to determine the gold, silver and bronze medals.