Sawt Falasteen - US skater Malinin 'full of confidence' after first Olympic gold

Malinin returns to the Milan Ice Skating Arena on Tuesday, two days after holding his nerve to help the USA retain the Olympic team title ahead of Japan.

"Absolutely, this gives me so much confidence and I'm really looking forward (to the individual competition)," the 21-year-old said on Sunday with his first Olympic gold medal around his neck.

"It went exactly to plan and I feel very thankful for that."

First up will be the men's short programme on Tuesday in which Malinin trailed Kagiyama, the Beijing Olympic singles silver medallist behind American Nathan Chan, during the team event.

The free skating final takes place on Friday.

Despite stumbles in his routine, Malinin insists his goal for the team event had been "to test the ice and really prepare myself for my individual event" in which he plans to become the first skater to land the sport's most difficult jump, the quadruple axel, in Olympic competition -- among the four-rotation moves that have earned him the nickname 'Quad God'.

But Kagiyama and his Japan teammate Sato have shown they are determined to close the gap and both pushed hard in the team event.

Kagiyama outscored two-time world champion Malinin by 10.67 points in the team short programme.

And Sato lost out by just 5.17 points the Malinin in the free skate.

Both Kagiyama and Sato, who are both 22, bettered Malinin in the short routine in the ISU Grand Prix final before the American blew them away in the free skate.

"I always get good motivation from Ilia," said Kagiyma.

"He is a good jumper who can do the quad, so I always think that I want to catch him, match his performance."

"My (team short programme) score was close to my best score, so I'm satisfied with that."

Sato said his team performance was "strong motivation to do better next time".

- In memory of parents -

Also competing for the US will be Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov.

For Naumov, it will be a bittersweet experience just over a year after the death of his parents in a plane crash.

"I wish they could have shared this experience with me, but I feel their presence and they are with me," the 24-year-old said after learning of his selection.

His parents, 1994 pairs world champions Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were killed when the plane they were travelling in collided with a military helicopter in Washington DC in January 2025. Among the 67 dead were 28 members of the US figure skating community, who were returning from the national championships.

On Monday, the Olympic skating competition continues with the ice dancing rhythm dance section with US world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates bidding for a first Olympic individual medal.

Reigning Olympic ice dance champion Guillaume Cizeron of France will be targeting a second consecutive gold, but with new partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry.

Cizeron, a five-time world champion with former partner Gabriella Papadakis in a partnership spanning two decades, teamed up with Canadian Fournier Beaudry in March last year.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST