US begins defense of figure skating team event gold medal. Here’s how they did.

The U.S. figure skating team gave a glimpse of stardom at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday. 

Team USA performed at the top of their game to open the team competition at the 2026 Olympics, where the American figure skaters are the reigning champions.

Rhythm dance skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates, favorites from the U.S. who haven’t lost all season, rocketed to the top of the standings with a world-best 91.06 score.

Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, on the ice in pairs for the U.S, recovered from an early fall to secure a top-five finish for their short routine. 

And world champion Alysa Liu rounded out the U.S. performance slate on Friday with a technically impressive routine during the women’s short program. 

The competition got underway at the Milano Ice Skating Arena hours before the pomp and pageantry of the Opening Ceremony. 

After the first day of competition, the Americans are at the top of the team figure skating standings with 25 points, followed by Japan with 23 points, Italy with 22 points and Georgia with 20. 

The team medals will be awarded after the men’s, women’s and pairs free skates on Sunday.

The Americans are defending their title in the team event. At the 2022 Winter Olympics, Team USA won gold after the Russian team was docked points following the disqualification of Kamila Valieva for a doping violation. The Russian team was moved from first to third, winning the bronze medal. Japan took the silver medal.

Madison Chock and partner Evan Bates performed their rhythm dance on Friday. 

Chock and Bates skated near perfection with their Lenny Kravitz medley skate, bringing home a season-best score of 91.06. That put Team USA at the top of the pack headed deeper into the events.

Chock and Bates previously helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

For the women’s short program, the U.S. sent out world champion Alysa Liu to the ice. 

Liu, the second-to-last performer of the round, wowed the judges with her program, choreographed to the melancholy “Promise” by Laufey. The returning Olympian executed one of the most technically complicated routines of the morning, at one point coming out of a triple-spin jump directly into another one. 

The program earned her an individual score of 74.9, putting her in second place for the women’s short program and helping the U.S. achieve domination.

It is Liu’s second time being part of the Olympic team after she briefly retired following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Liu is attempting to help the U.S. win its first women’s medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea performed their pairs short program at the Winter Olympics on Friday. 

While the pair came close to matching the Canadian score leading the pack, an early fall in the routine by Kam cut their score deeply. But despite the slip, she recovered quickly and performed flawlessly next to O’Shea for the rest of the routine. 

Their 66.59 score wasn’t enough to top the leading 68.25 from Canada, but was close enough to guarantee them a top five finish in the qualifier. 

The competition continues on Saturday with Men’s Short and Free Dance, and concludes on Sunday with Pairs Free, Women’s Free and Men’s Free. 

Points are awarded based on ranking – first place gets 10 points, second place gets nine points, and so on. Points from each segment are added up for each nation, resulting in a final score.

Ten countries will participate in the short program and rhythm dance portion of the competition, and five will advance to compete in free skate and free dance.

This year, the competing nations are the United States, Japan, Italy, Canada, Georgia, France, Great Britain, South Korea, China and Poland.

Milan Cortina is the fourth Olympics where the event has been included. 

Jennifer-Campbell Hicks and the Associated Press contributed to this report.