MILAN – Japan began the figure skating team event final in second at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Saturday after its qualifying round concluded with a crowd-pleasing men’s short program battle between Yuma Kagiyama and American games debutant Ilia Malinin.
In the first event of the final, Japanese ice dancers Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita scored 98.55 points in their free dance at Milano Ice Skating Arena, ranking the Japanese duo last among the five qualified nations.
With the scores from qualifying carried over to the final, Japan sits second on 39 points, behind the United States on 44. Host Italy has 37, Canada 35 and Georgia 32 with three more events on Sunday.
Earlier, Kagiyama made a scintillating start to his Olympic campaign by scoring 108.67 in the men’s short program, the final phase of team qualifying. He bettered Malinin’s 98.00, scored from a routine that did not include his renowned quadruple axel.
Kagiyama put on a flowing display with two quad jumps, along with a late step sequence that won full marks from all nine judges, with the men’s singles silver medalist at the 2022 Olympics relaxed enough to urge the fans to get behind him.
Japan, which was second after Friday’s three qualifying disciplines, remained there as the United States finished top among the 10 participating countries.
“I was a bit nervous given the big role I had, but the fans in Milan and the support of team Japan defused everything. They gave me the power,” Kagiyama said. “I was focused before the quad jumps and triple axel, but the rest went quite naturally.”
“I have this sense of things going quite well since coming over here, and I feel I get along well with the Olympics…The most pleasing thing was being able to contribute to the team.”
Two-time reigning world champion Malinin made his Olympic debut, producing a backflip, much to the delight of the crowd, and he promised he is only going to get stronger.
“I presume to come into this team competition with only 50 percent of my full potential,” he said. “So that’s what I felt like here today…That’s the way I pace myself leading up to the individual.”
AloJapan.com