The United States Figure Skating team opened the Olympics with the team event. The first event of the Team Event was the Ice Dance – Rhythm Dance. Evan Bates and Madison Chock represented the US and got 1st, earning 10 team points for the US. After that was the Pair Skating Short Program. Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam showed up for the US, earning 5th place and gaining 6 team points for the US. Next was the Women’s Short Program. Alysa Liu put on a show for the US, placing second overall and earning the US 9 Team Points. The Men’s Short Program was next, where Ilia Malinin made his Olympic debut. Had a strong start, placing 2nd overall and earning the US another 9 team points. The Ice Dance Free Dance happened next, where Evan Bates and Madison Chock placed 1st once again, earning the US a maximum 10 Team Points. The Pair Skating Free Skate was next in line. Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam placed 4th overall and earned the US a solid 7 Team Points. The 2nd-to-last event was the Women’s Free Skate, where Amber Glenn placed 3rd overall and earned the US a much-needed 8 points. The final event that decided the winner of the Team Event was the Men’s Free Skate. The US decided to use Ilia Malinin for this event as well. Ilia performed at a very high level, finishing 1st and getting the US the Gold Medal in the Team Event.
Next for Team USA is the Ice Dance Event. First was the Rhythm Dance. Representing the US were Evan Bates and Madison Chock, Vadym Kolesnik and Emelia Zingas, and Anthony Ponomarenko and Christina Carriera. Bates and Chock placed 2nd with a score of 89.72. Kolesnik and Zingas placed 6th with a score of 83.53. Ponomarenko and Carriera placed 11th with a score of 78.15. After the Rhythm Dance was the Free Dance. Bates and Chock placed 2nd to the French pair in a very controversial decision by the judges. At the end of the day, they still took home the silver for the US and should be proud of what they did in Milan. Kolesnik and Zingas finished 5th overall, and Ponomareko and Carriera finished 11th overall. Congrats to all of the Ice Dancers who represented the US.
Next in line of events was the Men’s Single Event. The heavy favorite going into this event is America’s own Ilia Malinin. The reigning World Champion was expected to make history with his free skate performance. The Event opened with the Men’s Short Program. Malinin placed 1st for the US and looked even better than when he performed in the team event. He earned a score of 108.16. Andrew Torgeshev placed 8th in the short, earning a score of 88.94. Maxim Naumov placed 14th with a score of 85.65. After the short program was the Free Skate. This was where Ilia Malinin was going to make his mark on skating. He had 7 quads planned, including a quad axel, which no other person in the sport has ever landed. The 7 quads alone would be the first time in Olympic history. But Naumov took the ice first for the US and ended up placing 20th overall with a score of 137.71, making a combined score of 223.36. Torgeshev was next. He performed a season high of 170.12 points, making a combined score of 259.06, which put him 12th overall.
Finally, Malinin took the ice. What people had been waiting 4 years for after he got snubbed from the 2022 Beijing Games was here. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. Would they witness history tonight? Malinin started his program and landed his first quad beautifully. Next up was the quad axel. Malinin jumped and backed out of it at the last second, landing only a single axel. Luckily for Malinin, he had a hard enough program that he could win with mistakes. He landed his next quad very well, everything seemed like it was going to go well, and he would win. Then disaster came. Malinin fell on his next quad. He had 4 more jumps left in the program. He went up for his next quad and fell on it as well. An Olympic skater’s worst nightmare was unfolding for Malinin in his free skate. He went up for the next jump, which was supposed to be a quad salcow, and only performed a double. He finished his program and was shocked, as everyone was. He went to the booth and awaited his score. The judges announced a 156.33; he finished 8th overall. All while this was unfolding, Malinin still found time to go congratulate the winner and stop for interviews on his way back to the backroom. He handled it well, and it only made him more determined to go win everything else. He has the World Championships in a month, and we all know he is going to crush everybody. Go get that comeback, Ilia.
The Pair Skating Event was after the Men’s Skating. The Pair Skate Short Program was up first. Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, Spencer Akira Howe and Emily Chan were the pairs representing the US. O’Shea and Kam finished 7th with a score of 71.87. Howe and Chan finished 9th with a score of 70.06. The Pair Skate Free Skate was next. Howe and Chan finished 7th overall with a score of 130.25, combining for a total score of 200.31. O’Shea and Kam finished 9th overall with a score of 125.06, combining for a total score of 194.58.
The final event was the Women’s Skating Event. Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito represented the US at this event. They called themselves the “Blade Angels”. The Women’s Short Program came first. Glenn was almost a sure-fire medalist favorite. She unfortunately popped one of her triples after performing a beautiful triple axel and finished 13th, with a score of 67.39. Levito skated very well and finished 8th with a score of 70.84. Finally, Alysa Liu performed flawlessly, finishing 3rd with a score of 76.59. Next was the Women’s Free Skate. Glenn was the first to take the ice for the US. She came off of her disappointing short and made an amazing comeback. She skated near perfectly and finished 5th overall with a score of 147.52, with a combined score of 214.91. Levito was next up on the ice. She fell on her first jump and skated well for the rest of the program. Unfortunately, because of the fall, she fell to 12th place and finished with a score of 131.96 and a combined score of 202.80. Liu was up next and skated perfectly. She finished with a score of 150.20 and a combined score of 226.79. The next two skaters up after her were from Japan. The Olympic favorite skated directly after Liu, and she under-rotated a jump that ended up getting her a combined score of 224.90. The last skater who finished 1st in the short program was up. She skated near perfectly, but underrotated a jump in a triple combination. She went to the booth, and they announced the scores. 219.16. Which put her into third and got Liu the gold. Liu was the first American woman to win gold in figure skating since 2002. The great thing about it. She retired 3 years earlier and came back 2 years ago. Liu did something never done before. Congrats, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito, on your performances at the olympics
When asked about what her favorite part of the Olympics was, Figure Skating Coach Toni Hickey said, “My favorite part was when Alysa Liu won the gold. I was extremely shocked when she retired a while back, and to see her complete her comeback was a really amazing thing.” Liu is such an amazing skater to watch. She does things her way and is always the happiest skater out there, and it rubs off on the audience when she skates.
A former skater, Sean Hickey, was asked the same question, and he said, “When Amber Glenn came back in her free skate to get up to 5th place.” This was another great part of the games. Glenn showed her resilience after not performing well in the short and performing one of her best programs in the free skate. Thank you to all the athletes and coaches of the Olympic Games. Without them, they wouldn’t be possible. I know we are all looking forward to what Team USA has to bring in the 2030 Olympic Games.
