Updated February 6, 2026 at 11:18 AM EST
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Team USA finished the first day of the figure skating team event in first place, as it looks to defend its gold medal from 2022.
But there are two more days of team competition to go, and a handful of competitors closely circling the podium.
"Team USA is off to a great start," said ice dancer Madison Chock, who alongside partner Evan Bates kicked off the event by placing first in the rhythm dance. "We've got a ton of amazing athletes, so I have all the confidence in the world in them."
The team event, which debuted in 2014, pits the world's 10 top-ranked countries against each other via representatives in each of the four skating disciplines: men's, women's, pairs and ice dance.
Countries get points (1-10) depending on how they score in the first two events (short program and rhythm dance). The top five move on to the final round (free skate and free dance).
A little less than halfway through the competition, the U.S. leads with 25 points, followed closely by Japan (23) and Italy (22).
"We have been practicing at a camp in Italy, and everyone is in good condition right now," said Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, who finished first in the women's short program. "If we can keep our condition until the end, we have a very good chance of getting a gold medal."
Meanwhile, France, Georgia and Canada are also looking particularly competitive.
The team event continues on Saturday with the last ice dance program — the free dance — and the first men's event, the short program.
The U.S. will be represented by gold medal favorite Ilia Malinin, who could become the first person to ever land a quadruple axel on Olympic ice.
But it's not clear whether Malinin will take that risk as early as the team event, especially since he doesn't need it in order to top the leaderboard. He won U.S. championships in January by more than 50 points even without the quad axel, playing it somewhat safe (if you consider a backflip on ice safe) as he broke in new skates.
Saturday is also when we'll find out who will represent Team USA in the final half of team competition. Sunday concludes with the free skate — the longer, more creative program — in pairs, women's and men's, and the first figure skating medal ceremony of the 2026 Games.
What happened on Friday
The U.S. entered the arena with Japan as its primary rival: They were the top two finishers in 2022 after Russia was disqualified over a doping case involving one of its skaters.
The absence of Russia — still banned from the Games over its war in Ukraine — means that the third medal is somewhat up for grabs. And it was a fight on Friday.
American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates claimed first and a world-best score of 91.06 in ice dance, followed by France's Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry at a close 89.98.
Coming in third was British duo Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who got the crowd clapping with their Spice Girls medley (this season's musical theme for rhythm dance is the '90s, so the morning's soundtrack was dominated by girl groups and boy bands). Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished fourth.
In the pairs short program, Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea of the U.S. made their Olympic debut to a crowd so encouraging — many wearing USA logos and flags — that Kam later said she could barely hear their music over the applause at one point. Kam fell on a throw early in the program, but the duo recovered quickly and finished in fifth place.
"It's disappointing whenever you make a mistake, but I think we did an amazing job of picking ourselves back into the program and really finishing with some really strong elements as well," said 34-year-old O'Shea, who came out of retirement to pair up with Kam in 2022. "So the next thing is just put it behind us, keep cheering on our team … and get ready for our long program."
Japan's Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi, two-time Olympians and two-time world champions, placed first in pairs by a wide margin. Luka Berulava and Anastasiia Metelkina of Georgia — a growing skating powerhouse thanks to its many Russian-born recruits — placed second, followed by Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, who had a heroes' welcome on their home turf.
"We knew there would be such a [big] audience, but you don't understand it until you go through it," Conti said.
Italy also placed third in the women's short program, after reigning European bronze medalist Lara Naki Gutmann earned her season's best score. Alysa Liu, turning heads with her signature striped hair and palpable joy, finished in first place — later bumped down to second — to put the U.S. back on top.
"We're not there very long, so I try to savor every moment," said Liu, who competed in the 2022 Olympics but was not part of the team event.
Kaori Sakamoto — who won bronze in 2022 in addition to helping Japan medal in the team event — skated last, to an emotional rendition of "Time to Say Goodbye" in honor of her upcoming retirement. She earned her own season-best score to knock Liu out of the top individual spot, but didn't quite close the gap between the two countries on the scoreboard.
Who's competing next
Part of the suspense of the team competition is finding out who each country will choose to compete in each category, which is usually announced about 24 hours in advance.
It's not as simple as just picking the top scorer in each discipline. It requires some strategizing, since anyone who competes in the team event will still have to take the ice two more times in their own category over the next two weeks.
"It's all going to come down to the decisions that the athletes and the people in charge make," U.S. skater Amber Glenn said earlier this week. "We are going to prioritize both physical and mental health."
So countries have to decide whether their strongest skater should compete in both programs of the team event, or skip one of them to get some rest in between. Each country can swap up to two (out of four) entries midway through the competition.
Take the men, for example. Their free skate closes out the team event on Sunday, just two days before their first day of individual competition. So the U.S. could potentially decide to swap Malinin out for one of his teammates, Max Naumov or Andrew Torgashev, after Saturday.
The U.S. has an advantage here, in part because of the sheer size of its team: 16 people, having secured maximum quota spots in men's, women's and ice dance. The next biggest teams, Japan and Canada, have 12 people each.
And several U.S. athletes have downplayed the stress of participating in the team event, instead embracing it as more time on Olympic ice. Pairs skater O'Shea is one of them.
"You might think that there's extra pressure, but at the end of the day, it's another performance and you feel the honor to be on the team," he said.
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