Team figure skating at Milano Cortina 2026 heads to a men’s free-skate finale

The Olympic figure skating team event is set for a dramatic finish in Milan, with the United States and Japan locked together at the top heading into the final segment: the men’s free skate. After three straight days of tight point swings across ice dance, pairs, and women’s singles, the medal picture is still unsettled—exactly the kind of format the team event was built to create.

As of Sunday, February 8, 2026 (ET), the standings have tightened enough that one skate—good or bad—can decide gold, and even the remaining podium order is still in play.

Team event standings right now

With every segment awarding points by placement, the leaderboard reflects consistency as much as peak scores. Heading into the final men’s free skate, the latest standings are:

The U.S. and Japan are tied, with Italy and Georgia still close enough to pressure a podium shake-up depending on placements in the final skate.

What investigators of the ice are prioritizing: points, not just scores

The team event can be confusing because it’s not “best total points on the scoreboard.” It’s placement-driven: first place in a segment earns the most team points, and every position behind it matters.

That’s why a “clean” skate can still hurt a team if it places behind a rival. And it’s why small margin moments—one popped jump, one shaky lift, one step-out—can ripple into a multi-point swing across the standings.

Kam and O’Shea deliver a critical pairs boost

U.S. pair skaters Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea delivered one of the most important momentum turns of the weekend with a personal-best free skate that strengthened Team USA’s position in the standings.

In this format, the headline isn’t only their raw score—it’s the placement point they earned and how it affects the tiebreak math if the final segment goes sideways. Their skate didn’t just add points; it reduced the margin for error in the last event.

Ilia Malinin: where he’s from and why his role is pivotal

For many fans, the team event has doubled as an Olympic introduction to Ilia Malinin, one of the biggest technical talents in men’s figure skating. Malinin is from Northern Virginia—born in Fairfax, Virginia, and raised largely in nearby Vienna.

He’s also the reason the finale feels so sharp-edged. Malinin’s short program in the team event earlier this weekend didn’t land at his usual ceiling, which kept the overall race closer than many expected. Now the men’s free skate becomes a pressure test in the purest sense: the U.S. needs a top placement to win gold, while Japan needs to match or beat that placement to take it.

Olympic figure skating schedule: when the team event ends

The team event runs February 6–8 in Milan, with the final segment scheduled for Sunday evening local time. Converted to Eastern Time, the key session windows are:

• Pairs free skate: Sunday, Feb. 8 — 1:30 p.m. ET

• Women’s free skate: Sunday, Feb. 8 — 2:45 p.m. ET

• Men’s free skate (final segment): Sunday, Feb. 8 — 3:55 p.m. ET

Once the men’s free skate ends, the overall medals are decided immediately by total team points.

Ice dancing vs figure skating: what’s the difference?

A lot of Olympic viewers use “figure skating” to mean everything on the ice, but the team event mixes disciplines that are judged very differently.

Ice dance is built around:

• rhythm, edge quality, and step sequences

• lifts and twizzles (with strict rules)

• musical interpretation and timing

• no jump elements like singles/pairs, and no big throws

Singles and pairs figure skating emphasize:

• jump difficulty and execution (including multi-rotation jumps)

• spins and step sequences

• in pairs: throws, twist lifts, and side-by-side jumps

• technical base value plus grades of execution

That’s why a team can look “dominant” in ice dance and still be vulnerable if it drops placements in men’s or pairs.

What to watch in the men’s free skate

Three things will likely decide the final standings:

• Clean early elements: men’s free skates can unravel fast if the opening jump pass goes wrong.

• Risk selection: teams may choose layouts that trade peak difficulty for higher landing confidence.

• Placement battles inside the top five: even if the gold race is between two teams, third through fifth placements can determine silver and bronze.

By late Sunday afternoon (ET), the team event will have its answer—either a statement win by a favorite, or a reminder that the Olympic format rewards the team that holds nerve in the last skate.

Sources consulted: Reuters, Olympics.com, International Skating Union, NBC Olympics