By Rory Carroll and Lori Ewing
MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) – “Quad God” Ilia Malinin vaulted the United States above Japan and to the top of the podium at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday to cap a thrilling team competition that saw host Italy seize bronze.
With the U.S. and Japan tied going into the men’s free skate, the 21-year-old Malinin met the moment even though he wasn’t at his best to lead the U.S. to a second successive Olympic team title.
“I’m proud of myself,” Malinin told reporters.
“I’m proud of my team for all the work they’ve put into this event, without each other it wouldn’t have happened.”
Malinin had been expected to perform seven quads in his free skate but ended up attempting only five, and even those were not flawless as he stumbled out of his quad Lutz. He turned two planned quads – including the quad Axel – into triples.
But he salvaged his programme with a huge quad toeloop followed up by a quad Salchow, both in combinations.
He also landed a backflip on one leg to the delight of a packed crowd, which included a large number of vocal Americans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
His score of 200.03 was almost 40 points less than his season’s best but still good enough to defeat Japan’s Shun Sato, who skated cleanly after Malinin but was unable to match his rival’s technical ability.
“Honestly, the moment has still not settled in yet. I still haven’t really figured out that I’m wearing a gold medal from the Olympics,” Malinin said.
“It’s honestly just such an unreal feeling. But overall, I’m just so excited. This brings me so much joy and energy, and of course, the confidence and the motivation leading up to my individual event.”
The U.S. finished with 69 points, one more than Japan, while Italy took bronze with 60 points. Malinin remains the runaway favourite to win gold in the individual event at his first Olympic Games.
The U.S. team included the veteran ice dancing duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and Alysa Liu.
Chock and Bates got the chance to savour the gold medal on the night unlike in Beijing 2022, where a failed drug test by a Russian skater changed the team results and the U.S. athletes did not receive their medals until more than two years later.
JAPAN FIGHT BACK
Japan came into the final day of the team competition trailing the U.S. by five points but their gold medal hopes were given new life with stunning performances from Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in the pairs and Kaori Sakamoto in the women’s free skate — leaving them tied with the U.S heading into the final men’s free skate.
The Japanese pairs world champions opened with a triple twist lift and Miura was left punching the air in delight as the duo closed their programme with Kihara lifting her above him into their final pose — a performance that earned them a season’s best 155.55 from the judges.
“We were trying to aim for about 145 or a little bit higher, and when we saw that it was 155, there was so much joy… we were overwhelmed with emotions,” a teary-eyed Miura told reporters following the rousing performance which left Japan trailing the U.S. by just two points with two segments to go.
Japan pulled into a tie with the U.S. when Sakamoto delivered a spellbinding performance that earned her top place in the women’s free skate with 148.62 points.
American Amber Glenn had to settle for third behind Sakamoto and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova after she endured two botched landings at the start of her routine – a result which wiped out the United States’ lead heading into men’s free skate.
“I just physically didn’t feel great,” Glenn said.
“My legs were feeling heavy, I was tired. I just didn’t feel my best.”
U.S. hopes of defending their gold medal from Beijing then rested on the shoulders of Malinin, who made up for his disappointing short programme on Saturday by winning the point America needed to top the podium.
Japan held their heads high after pushing the heavily favoured U.S. team to the limit.
“Everybody has done a gold-medal performance,” Sakamoto, a three-time world champion, said.
“So it really doesn’t matter what colour medal we get.”
ITALY SHINE
In the battle for bronze, Italy’s Matteo Rizzo delivered the performance of his life to keep his team ahead of Canada and Georgia after solid skates by Lara Naki Gutmann and the duo of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii.
The Italian team shouted “bronze! bronze!” as Rizzo went through the final moments of his performance, drawing a huge roar from the crowd as he finished and knelt with his forehead on the ground, hiding his tears.
Rizzo smiled and slid on his knees over to his delirious teammates in his box when it was clear Italy would be taking home its first Olympic medal in figure skating since 2014.
“I have no words to describe the feeling of staying on the Olympic ice with the crowd cheering while you’re skating the best programme of your life.
“I couldn’t hear the music anymore, I could just hear the screaming of the people, the screaming of my teammates.”
Paris Olympic tennis gold medallist Novak Djokovic, NBA Hall of Famer Pau Gasol, and eight-time Olympic medallist in short track American Apolo Ohno were among the notable names in attendance at the arena on the outskirts of Milan.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll, Lori Ewing, Agnieszka Flak, Valentina Za and Elvira Pollina in Milan; Editing by Pritha Sarkar and Stephen Coates)
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