US star Ilia Malinin saw off a resurgent Japan with a pulsating routine to keep the Olympic team figure skating gold in American hands on Sunday.
Malinin came top in the men’s free skating final in Milan with Japan taking silver and host nation Italy claiming an emotional bronze after three days of competition.
The 21-year-old, in his first Olympics, will go into the individual event with one gold medal already in his pocket.
“We came here to do one job and we achieved it,” said Malinin.
“I came in and said I’m the deciding factor, I just need to go out there and test the ice again to see how it feels and prepare myself for the indivdual event.
“I knew it was going to be a tie-breaker... and it went exactly the way I wanted. I’m so thankful for that.
“It came down to the energy, the support, the passion from my whole team.”
The United States finished with 69 points with Japan scoring 68 and Italy medalling for the first time in the team event with 60.
Going into the final round, the Japanese and the Americans had been neck and neck, but Japan were ahead having won more routines.
The title came down to Malinin, a two-time world champion who has been unbeaten in competition in over two years.
“I was so much more nervous watching Ilia than skating myself,” said veteran pairs skater Danny O’Shea, who is competing in his first Olympics aged 34 with partner Ellie Kam, and who placed fourth in their section.
Kaori Sakamoto’s stunning women’s free skate had given Japan the edge after Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara produced their career-best pairs free skating performance.
American champion Amber Glenn slipped to third in the women’s free skate after her errors saw her finish ten points behind Sakamoto -- putting heavy responsibility on Malinin’s shoulders.
“I feel guilty, I am sorry that I put this kind of pressure on Ilia,” said Glenn, who at 26 is the oldest US women’s singles skater to compete in an Olympics in 98 years.
Malinin had finished second behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in Saturday’s men’s short programme.
Kagiyama, the Beijing Olympic individual silver medallist, did not compete in the free skate with Olympic newcomer Sato, 22, representing Japan instead.
But Malinin hit five quadruple jumps and although the “Quad God” did not deliver the first ever quad axel jump in Olympic competition as he had promised, he had the crowd roaring.
Watched by tennis great Novak Djokovic, Malinin scored 200.03 to push Sato into second place with 194.86.
“It was so unreal,” Malinin said.
“I’ve heard from everyone that after I landed my backflip, he was standing there, hands on his head, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God. That’s incredible’. That’s a once in a lifetime moment seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance.”
Sato said: “I wanted to beat Ilia but I realise he’s on a different level. My goal right now is to get to that level.”
However the American’s performance was not without errors as he stumbled on some landings and the score was far from his personal best of 238.24.
An overjoyed Italian team took bronze after Matteo Rizzo gave the skate of his life, carried by the home crowd.
Japan had pushed hard by outscoring the Americans on five of the eight routines, leading the ways in pairs and women’s events.
World champions Miura and Kihara had already topped Friday’s short programme, and were error-free in their free skate to the “Gladiator” soundtrack.
The pair looked shocked as their scores flashed up showing they had achieved 155.55 points -- 7.66 points better than their previous best free dance performance.
World champion ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates made a crucial contribution with the husband-and-wife team winning both of their programmes.
The United States were awarded the title at the 2022 Beijing Games after Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was handed a doping ban.
Russia had won the team title but were demoted to bronze when Valieva’s points were deducted. Japan took silver in Beijing.
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