The first figure skating medals of the 2026 Winter Olympics land on Sunday, Feb. 8, when the team event closes with three straight free skates. This year marks the fourth Games to feature the team event, and the format is its own kind of stress test. One country goes up at a time, the points lock in immediately, and there is no second leg to talk your way out of a mistake.<\/p>\n
Only the top five countries move on to the free skates. So far, the United States looks strong. It advanced with 44 points, along with Japan (39), Italy (37), Canada (35) and Georgia (32).<\/p>\n
How to watch figure skating team events at the Winter Olympics
\nVenue: Milano Ice Skating Arena \u2014 Assago, Italy
\nDate:\u00a0Sunday, Feb. 8
\nTV: USA Network
\nStreaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com<\/p>\n
Be sure to check out The Athletic\u2019s Olympic schedule interactive page<\/a> and Games Briefing<\/a>, a daily Olympics newsletter.<\/p>\n The United States is in the lead after ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates<\/a> delivered a world-best 91.06 in the rhythm dance Friday and then wowed again with 133.23 points in the free dance Saturday. Also on Friday, Alysa Liu (74.90) placed second in the women\u2019s short<\/a> behind Japan\u2019s Kaori Sakamoto (78.88). That is the cleanest kind of early work in this event: first-place points in dance, near-top points in women\u2019s and a cushion that matters later only because it can disappear fast.<\/p>\n The surprise came on Saturday, when four-time U.S. champion Ilia Malinin gave an uncharacteristically uneven performance in the men\u2019s short program and finished in second behind Japan\u2019s Yuma Kagiyama. The \u201cQuad God<\/a>\u201d will get a chance of redemption in the men\u2019s free skate, the final event of the team portion.<\/p>\n Sunday is when the oxygen gets expensive. Pairs free is the table-setter. Ellie Kam and Danny O\u2019Shea, who placed fifth in the pairs short program, will start things off for Team USA.<\/p>\n