2026 Olympic Figure Skating Team Event | Women’s Free Skate

Kaori Sakamoto dominated the Women’s Free Skate in the 2026 Olympic Team event, placing first and closing the gap between Japan and USA. Anastasiia Gubanova gave a strong performance to place second, adding nine points to Team Georgia. Amber Glenn left a few points on the table, but handed over eight points to Team USA to keep them in the running.

Only five of 10 qualifying countries advanced to the final round. After the Women’s Free Skate, the standings were as follows: Japan (59), USA (59), Italy (52), Georgia (50), and Canada (47). The final standings will be determined after the Men’s Free Skate.

Team Japan

Kaori Sakamoto finished first (148.62) following a richly detailed and classy free skate to music by Édith Piaf. The only minor glitch was a slightly underrotated flip on the front end of a triple toe, but this didn’t distract from the 2022 Olympic bronze medalist’s performance. She landed a total of five triple jumps, racking up huge grades of execution as she put out three level-four spins and footwork. With her win, Team Japan earned 10 points, tying with Team USA.

Sakamoto’s teammates Miura and Kihara had just finished training, when she went to warm up.

“At that moment Ryuichi said: ‘I’ll make sure to pass a good baton to Kaoru,'” said Sakamoto. “He’s genuinely such a good person, almost unbelievably so, and I really felt that again. In both short and the free program, everyone scored solidly, so it made me think I had to do my part properly too.”

“The triple combination didn’t fully come together, but even so, scoring 148 made me feel relieved,” said the 25-year-old. “On top of that, I was able to earn 10 points in both the short and the free myself. Even though the standings aren’t final yet, knowing Japan was in first place was such a relief and made me really happy. I almost cried. The emotions were overwhelming, and I think this will be great motivation for everyone going into the individual events.”

Team Georgia

Anastasiia Gubanova turned out a very good free skate for a season’s best of 140.17, placing second. The 2023 European champion landed a total of seven triple jumps, including a triple flip-triple toe and triple Luz-double Axel-double loop sequence. The only mistake was a step out on a double Axel in the second half of her emotional free skate to music from Ghost (The Musical). All three spins were graded a level four, and she earned many positive GOEs throughout her routine.

“I was very focused. I did not see or hear anything,” the 23-year-old said. “I just went and did my jumps. Only after the last jump I realized where I was and started to enjoy it. I am happy that I did not let down my team; this is the most important right now. I tried to give the country as many chances as possible to fight for a medal.”

Team USA

Amber Glenn turned out her opening triple Axel before stepping out of a triple flip in her routine to routine to “I Will Find You” and “The Return.” She then landed the front end of a triple Lutz-double toe on the quarter, but fought back, landing three solid triple jumps. All spins were graded a level four, but the mistakes left points on the table, and she found herself in third place with 138.62 points.

Coming off the ice, coach Damon Allen told her he was proud. “You worked through it,” he said.

“Obviously, I’m not feeling great about this skate,” said the 26-year-old. “I am happy I was able to fight through the program and stay committed to everything, but overall, there were many, many points left on the table, and I did not perform the way I wanted to. I wasn’t more nervous than I usually am. Honestly, I think I was more nervous at Nationals. Physically, I just didn’t feel great. My legs felt heavy, I was tired, and I didn’t feel my best.”

Glenn added that practices had been going really well and chalked up the mistakes to fatigue.

“This team spirit is amazing, absolutely incredibly amazing!” she added. “Being led by Maddie and Evan, who are veterans—I call them Mr. and Mrs. America—they are absolutely impressive people and athletes. And then you think about all of us first-time Olympians. You could kind of see the nerves, and I’m really grateful I had this opportunity before the individual event.”

“I have to give a shout-out to Danny and Ellie—you absolutely killed it today!” said Glenn. “Honestly, I feel guilty. My team has done so well, and I scored lower than I usually do. Anastasiia absolutely laid it down, she killed it. In the end, it came down to a q on my triple Lutz. That’s the difference between third and second. I’m so sorry that I had to put this pressure on Ilia.”

Team Italy

Lara Naki Gutmann was strong in the first half of her creative free skate to music from Jaws. She opened with a triple Lutz-Euler-triple Salchow, but the Lutz received a “q” for being slightly underrotated. She later received a “q” on a triple loop as well as the back end of a triple toe-double Axel that she stepped out of. The solo triple Lutz was doubled, but she managed three level four spins, earning 126.94 points for fourth place.

“As I got onto the ice, there was already so much noise from the crowd, and it’s been just amazing from the start,” said the 23-year-old. “The first part of the program was, I think, pretty good. I went a little bit down on the jumps on the second half, but I think overall, it’s fine. Somehow the crowd, the public, my teammates started clapping at the end and gave me so much energy to get to the end and do the choreo sequence and the step sequence. It’s been great. A great energy, good feeling, and I’m happy about it. I think it was the loudest I ever heard!”

Team Canada

With the exception of a fall on her opening triple Lutz, Madeline Schizas gave a strong and elegant free skate to Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto. She quickly recovered to land six solid triple jumps, including a triple Lutz-double Axel-double Axel sequence. The only other glitch was a “q” on the front end of a triple toe-double toe. The four-time and current national champ also displayed two level-four spins, earning a new season’s best of125.00 points for fifth place.

“I’m pretty happy,” the 22-year-old said. “I was a little surprised by the first call. That was a real surprise for me. So I’m really happy with how I came back and showed that I was able to work on the program. And I’m really proud that I was able to make a change to the program at such a late time; like we decided yesterday. We moved all the combos to the second half. I was originally planning a triple Lutz-triple toe, and then I was going to do the double toe. It’s not a big change. And we all have to rely on the maturity to do that, to try and get through that.”

The Olympic Figure Skating Team concluded on Sunday with the Men’s Free Skate.

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