Japan's Kagiyama Stuns Malinin in Olympic Figure Skating Showdown as Team Battle Intensifies

In one of the most anticipated matchups of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Japan's Yuma Kagiyama upstaged American prodigy Ilia Malinin with a scintillating short program performance that electrified the figure skating team event and kept Japan's medal hopes alive. The 2022 Olympic silver medalist posted a commanding score of 108.67 points on Saturday evening, decisively topping Malinin's 98.00 to win the men's short program segment and pull Team Japan within striking distance of the defending champions.

Kagiyama's lights-out performance featured two near-perfect quadruple jumps that demonstrated why he remains one of the sport's elite competitors. The 22-year-old opened his jazzy short program with a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination before landing a clean quad Salchow and triple Axel, executing each element with technical precision and artistic flair. His score was the highest of the night and helped Team Japan close the gap to just one point behind the United States heading into Sunday's final day of competition.

For Malinin, the two-time and reigning world champion known as the 'Quad God' for his groundbreaking quadruple axel, the second-place finish marked a rare stumble in his otherwise dominant season. The 21-year-old American made his Olympic debut with solid technical execution but fell short of his usual stratospheric standards. In a post-skate interview, Malinin revealed he had decided long ago not to perform his signature quadruple Axel in the team event but forgot to change it off his planned elements sheet, which may have contributed to his strategy for the performance.

The contrast between the two skaters' performances highlighted the intense pressure of Olympic competition. While Malinin's 98.00 would have been a winning score in many competitions, Kagiyama raised the bar with his near-flawless execution. The Japanese skater's ability to deliver when it mattered most recalled his silver medal performance at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, where he established himself as one of figure skating's rising stars at just 18 years old.

The result injected fresh drama into the team event, which features eight disciplines across pairs, men's, women's, and ice dance categories. Despite Kagiyama's victory in the men's short program, the United States maintained its overall lead thanks to strong performances from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in ice dance and Alysa Liu in the women's segment. The defending champions entered the final day with a narrow advantage, setting up a thrilling conclusion to the team competition.

Both skaters were scheduled to compete again in Sunday's men's free skate, the final segment of the team event. The question heading into that competition was whether Malinin would unleash his full arsenal, including the historic quadruple Axel that only he has landed in competition, or continue to hold back in the team format. Kagiyama's Saturday statement suggested that Japan would not concede anything easily, and with the overall team standings so tight, every point would prove crucial in determining which nation stood atop the podium when the music stopped at the Forum di Milano.