2026 Olympics Team Event: Men's Free Skate

[Mirunna]

I bet the Italian ice dance team are not happy that their event is tomorrow and they need to be prepared, because the Italian team looks to be in great party mood tonight!

 

[Karoltyna]

You’re thinking of if only Shuns spins and strep sequence were better? Because they clearly were. That one spin reminded me of one I saw Bobek do in aStars on Ice show. It was so slow I could count the rotations.

while I agree the spins weren't the best, that's not what I'm thinking

 

[Skating91]

Ilia should have higher pcs. What russian ladies just based on tech content had higher.

Yes should have.
Or redesign how to get pcs

Whatever you think of the Russian girls PCS, their base values were 20-30 points higher than Japanese or Americans therefore had no effect on the outcome of the team event or individual event. They competed among themselves. You can knock 10 points of their PCS they still win comfortably.

Whereas putting Ilia's PCS ahead of Sato and Rizzo when it should be closer to Gogolev has a huge outcome on the result of the team event and will likely affect the outcome of the men's event if Ilia makes similar errors.

 

[lariko]

For me, Shun had THE men's skate here in this team event--am actually surprised he wasn't placed first in the Team Final. I hadn't any favorites--I just enjoy what I see when I see it, is all. I, too, feel that Shun and Yuma are very well-matched, and either could win over the other on a given day.

I feel that Sato is underscored in PCS and Kagiyama is overscored in GoE. Also, compared to how long it took Uno to be acknowledged as an incredible innate artistic talent, the immediate pronounciation of Kagiyama as the it artistic skater never sat well with me.

 

[Allikat]

I'm so sorry for Shun. He really was robbed here. He should have won this, his PCS should have been way higher than Malinin's but well,,,, the latter's scores were a joke for several seasons right now....

Agreed! I just looked the scores over better--Shun was definitely lowballed on his PCs.

 

[CoyoteChris]

These skaters are all so hard on themselves and place more pressure and expectations on themselves than anyone else. They toil away in cold, lonely rinks for a chance to shine on the world’s largest stage and, sadly, they don’t receive the same respect, esteem and awards as the more marquee, popular sports in the world. They endure so much risk and make so many sacrifices in their lives for very little reward. The very least we as fans of this sport can do is extend grace and kindness to them. They should all take so much pride in how hard they work and in all they accomplish!

Well said. And I don't think only one run in ANY ski event deserves a medal.

 

[freedomlover]

Most of all it is hard to beat his passport. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it is the truth. If he was representing a small fed, he would never get the undeserved PCS he's been getting all along, no matter the BV.
And this is what mattered mostly here.

BV is never my issue with Ilia. Its the GOEs I sometimes don' t understand.

 

[Janice4th]

Most of all it is hard to beat his passport. Sorry if this sounds harsh, but it is the truth. If he was representing a small fed, he would never get the undeserved PCS he's been getting all along, no matter the BV.
And this is what mattered mostly here.

His passport didn’t matter in the short.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I'm American but my heart says Japan deserves this even if we end up winning it.

To each their own opinions. Whether you are American or not, your fave skaters do not have to be from the U.S., and maybe they aren't. This was by the rules. Shun skated very well, but he did not skate lights out, and his PCS are not better than Ilia's by any stretch of the imagination. Shun is not better than Tomono or Yuma aesthetically either. He's a nice skater and he put out a clean performance with a couple of slight stutters on non-elements. Maybe you missed that in all the emotional drama.

Great skating and lots of emotion by and for Japan skaters, but the U.S. won fairly and squarely, largely because, guess what, Japan don't got a great ice dance team. Boom! Hello! Eh! They will be trying to push the ice dance team they have, and perhaps have better luck at the next Olympics.

Over the next quad, for sure, Japan fed and interested parties will be pushing up newbie young senior pairs team, Naga/Mori, who have way better aesthetics than overscored Miura/Kihara, but N/M are def not better aesthetically and in terms of polish than top current U.S. pairs teams.

Ilia won it by the skin of his teeth, but he won it. Whether you like it or not.

 

[freedomlover]

His passport didn’t matter in the short.

If Ilia went clean he would have broken 112 i can tell you that

 

[labgoat]

Shun pick up your head!

Shun you are amazing and part of a supreme team that only lost by one point. Hold your head high and enjoy the fact that you are an OLYMPIC medalist - that is something, not nothing

 

[SmileHappy34]

Hallelujah the team event is over. I can relax.
Peacock showing the medal ceremony

 

[museksk8r]

So, the results here mirror the results from last season’s World Team Trophy: USA gold, JAPAN silver, and ITALY bronze.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

They are the better "team" by a long shot...must admit.

In your opinion. To each their own.

 

[Skating91]

Shun should have been ahead of Ilia and Team Japan should be the gold medalist. Ilia was overscored, he is not a good enough skater to get those GOEs and PCS, and Shun was so great today, I think he is always slightly underscored. It was really sad to see him so sad.

Sato has those soft landings, great flow, Ilia crashes to the ice from a vertical drop ice flying everywhere. But Ilia get 5's and 4's on regulation jumps.

I at least thought Sato's PCS would be ahead of Ilia. There's a clumsiness about Ilia's movements.

 

[kimganos]

Such a great competition!!

 

[rollerblade]

Yay medal ceremony.

But LOL at the timing when the announcer said "Team Japan" as Team Italy climbed on the podium.

 

[YuBluByMe]

Shun did incredibly well under a lot of pressure and I hope he realizes that soon. He has a lot of support judging from the reactions of his compatriots so I hope that helps. A lot of the best performances came from them. Although they won the Silver, it feels better than US’s gold, in my opinion.

This was just an amazing competition all around. Only one fall between the SPs and FPs in all four disciplines.

 

[shan22044]

In your opinion. To each their own.

They have more depth, though - right? That's what I mean, with the exception of Ice Dance they al seem to be relatively consistent and top-notch. On the women's side in particular, it was crazy competitive to get named to the team. Where in the US we have one or two really strong at the very top.

 

[Jennyf]

His passport didn’t matter in the short.

Funny isn’t it? But as I believe Mathman said earlier, the end result of team event is for fans to feel smug or anger over perceived injustice. Nothing new.