VIDEO SHOWS: PRESS CONFERENCE AFTER THE TEAM FIGURE SKATING EVENTS ON SUNDAY, WITH THE TEAM CAPTAINS, GOLD MEDALLIST DANNY O'SHEA (USA), SILVER MEDALLIST MASAYA MORITA (JAPAN), BRONZE MEDALLIST SARA CONTI (ITALY) SHOWS: MILAN, ITALY (FEBRUARY 8, 2026) (IOC – See restrictions before use) 1. TEAM CAPTAINS, GOLD MEDALLIST DANNY O'SHEA (USA), SILVER MEDALLIST MASAYA MORITA (JAPAN), BRONZE MEDALLIST SARA CONTI (ITALY) SITTING DOWN FOR PRESS CONFERENCE 2. WHITE FLASH 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) USA TEAM CAPTAIN DANNY O'SHEA SAYING: Â Â "It was an amazing event. I think that there was so much good skating over the past three days. And in particular, the Japanese team did amazing on so many of their performances. It was really impressive to watch. And you guys skated great today, too. This is so good, right? So to… to be there watching just amazing skating and to have the performances all be so close and so tight. I was more nervous watching Ilya than I was skating myself. And I was so proud of him and so proud of everybody on our team. Like we were saying, it really took every single point for us to do it today." 4. WHITE FLASH 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) USA TEAM CAPTAIN DANNY O'SHEA SAYING: Â Â "I love that it was the closest fought team event kind of ever, right? So that's a really cool thing to be a part of. And I think that just shows you how great figure skating is going and it's an awesome direction."Â 6. WHITE FLASH 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) USA TEAM CAPTAIN DANNY O'SHEA SAYING: Â Â "I mean, it's an amazing experience to stand out there and hear your national anthem played anytime and to have it be on Olympic ice and, these things are heavy, right? They're very nice, right? So the weight of it, the gravity of it, the magnitude of the situation and the experience is not lost on us all." 6. WHITE FLASH 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALY TEAM CAPTAIN SARA CONTI SAYING: Â Â "Yes, it's a historic medal and we will never, ever forget it. Perhaps the same thing for the whole team. I think for my two colleagues, it may be the last Olympics and seeing Marco's face, I think that was probably the most significant thing. We thought, well, we have achieved this result after so many years. And looking in Marco's eyes, I saw the whole of our team. I saw the whole of the strength behind us. And it's always been a very united team. And I think today what we really achieved is to do something quite incredible. Perhaps we haven't actually realized it yet and it will take us time before it actually sinks in. But I think that at this point we are probably the strongest Italian team that has ever existed." 8. WHITE FLASH 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPAN TEAM CAPTAIN MASAYA MORITA SAYING: Â Â "Yes, this time around, we had been aiming for the gold from the first day as we started this team event. But not only the result, but when we look at the program, and at our performance, I think we are full of excellent moments, beautiful moments, and great performances. So not only the matter of gold or silver, but I think the valuable experiences that we were able to acquire are what's important for us. And of course, we will improve ourselves as a team for the next opportunity for years in the future. Of course, we would like to be even more motivated, and we would like to make sure that in the future we can have such a positive spirit as a team in the future." 10. WHITE FLASH 11. O'SHEA, CONTI AND MORITA POSING FOR PICTURES AFTER THE PRESS CONFERENCE STORY: Team USA edged the final of the Team Figure Skating at the Milano Cortina Games on Sunday (February 8) 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, 21-year-old Ilia 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 toe loop 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. (Production: Joseph Andrews)
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