Olympics-Figure skating-Malinin powers U.S. past Japan to team gold in Milan

By Rory Carroll and Lori Ewing

MILAN, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Ilia Malinin lifted the United States above Japan to the top of the podium at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday to cap a thrilling team competition where home team Italy captured bronze.

With the U.S. and Japan tied going into the men’s free skate, the 21-year-old Malinin was not at his best but was still good enough to lead the U.S. to a second successive Olympic team title.

Malinin had been expected to perform seven quads in his free skate but ended up attempting only five, and even those were not flawless as he stumbled out of his quad Lutz. He turned two planned quads – including the quad Axel – into triples.

But he salvaged his programme with a huge quad toeloop followed up by a quad Salchow, both in combinations.

His score of 200.03 was almost 40 points less than his season’s best but still good enough to defeat Japan’s Shun Sato, who went after Malinin but was unable to match his rival’s technical ability.

The U.S. finished with 69 points, one more than Japan, while Italy took bronze with 60 points.

JAPAN FIGHT BACK

Japan came into the final day of the team competition trailing the U.S. by five points but their gold medal hopes were given new life with stunning performances from Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in the pairs and Kaori Sakamoto in the women’s free skate — leaving them tied with the U.S heading into the final men’s free skate.

The Japanese pairs world champions opened with a triple twist lift and Miura was left punching the air in delight as the duo closed their programme with Kihara lifting her above him into their final pose — a performance that earned them a season’s best 155.55 from the judges.

“We were trying to aim for about 145 or a little bit higher, and when we saw that it was 155, there was so much joy… we were overwhelmed with emotions,” a teary-eyed Miura told reporters following the rousing performance which left Japan trailing the U.S. by just two points with two segments to go.

Japan pulled into a tie with the U.S. when Sakamoto delivered a spellbinding performance that earned her top place in the women’s free skate with 148.62 points.

American Amber Glenn had to settle for third behind Sakamoto and Georgia’s Anastasiia Gubanova after she endured two botched landings at the start of her routine – a result which wiped out the United States’ lead heading into men’s free skate.

“I just physically didn’t feel great,” Glenn said.

“My legs were feeling heavy, I was tired. I just didn’t feel my best.”

U.S. hopes of defending their gold medal from Beijing then rested on the shoulders of self-described “Quad God” Malinin, who made up for his disappointing short programme on Saturday by winning the point America needed to top the podium.

Malinin remains the runaway favourite to win gold in the individual event at his first Olympic Games.

(Reporting by Rory Carroll and Lori Ewing in Milan; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)