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More medals will be handed out Friday from Milano Cortina, highlighted by figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin’s quest for gold
Team USA will try to boost its medal count on Friday with a few key events throughout the day. Figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin will go for another gold medal as he looks to follow up an exceptional short program, and the U.S. women’s hockey team will take on Italy in the quarterfinals.
Malinin already has one gold medal on his mantle after he played a role in Team USA’s team figure skating victory, and he is in good position to add another one on Friday. In his short program on Tuesday, Malinin landed his signature backflip en route to a score of 108.16, which was more than five points higher than the next skater.
2026 Winter Olympics schedule: Where to watch Milan Cortina Games as Ilia Malinin looks for another gold medal
Shanna McCarriston
The big question on Friday is whether Malinin will break out the quad Axel, which he didn’t attempt in the short program. If Malinin does capture the gold medal, it will mark the second consecutive Olympic victory for the U.S. in men’s singles figure skating.
Elsewhere, the U.S. women’s hockey team will try to keep rolling through the competition when it plays Italy in the quarterfinals at 3:30 p.m. ET. The Americans outscored opponents by a combined 20-1 in the preliminary round, and they are heavy favorites to beat the host nation. Caroline Harvey has six points in the last two games, and Hilary Knight is one goal away from breaking multiple U.S. Olympic records.
In snowboarding, Team USA has four athletes competing in the women’s snowboard cross event. There will be two seeding runs, the first of which begins at 4 a.m. ET, followed by the elimination rounds. Additionally, 17-year-old Alessandro Barbieri will go for gold in the the men’s halfpipe finals after finishing fourth in Wednesday’s qualifying round.
Keep track of Thursday’s biggest and best moment’s right here as Team USA tries to boost its medal count, which you can track right here.
2026 Olympics schedule — Friday, Feb. 13
Notable sports, team competitions and medal events | All times Eastern
- Cross-Country Skiing: Men’s 10 km Interval Start Free* — 5:45 a.m.
- Snowboarding: Women’s Cross Final* — 7:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
- Biathlon: Men’s 10 km Sprint* — 8 a.m.
- Speed Skating: Men’s 10,000m* — 10 a.m.
- Figure Skating: Men’s Free Skate* — 1 p.m. – 5:10 p.m.
- Snowboarding: Men’s Halfpipe Final* — 1:30 p.m.
- Women’s Ice Hockey: Quarterfinal — Team USA vs. Italy — 3:10 p.m.
*Denotes medal event
Why is Ilia Malinin known as the Quad God?
Ilia Malinin will look to cement his place in U.S. figure skating lore on Friday as he goes for gold in the men’s free skate after taking a five-point lead after the short program.
Malinin came into this year’s Olympics as one of the expected stars of the games and, even with a small hiccup in the team event short program, has lived up to the billing. The reason Malinin has become such a force in men’s figure skating is pretty simple: he can do things no one else can on the ice.
Malinin is known as The Quad God because he has more quadruple jumps in his arsenal than anyone else. In the free skate, we’ll see Malinin do at least four quads and, potentially, up to seven. However, given his healthy lead after the short program he likely won’t feel the need to max out his difficulty.
Not only can he throw four spins into just about every jumping element, he is the only man in figure skating who does a quadruple axel — which is really 4.5 rotations. Malinin didn’t do the quad axel in the short program, but is expected to show it off in the free skate.
If he can land that and his other big jumps in the free skate, it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to catch him for the gold.
Is Ilia Malinin the only skater to do a backflip?
When Ilia Malinin lands a backflip at the end of his programs, it often sparks the same question: is he the only figure skater who can do it? Not quite. But he is the first to land it legally in elite competition since 1976.
That year, American skater Terry Kubicka executed a backflip at the Innsbruck Olympics. Soon after, the International Skating Union prohibited somersault-type jumps, removing them from competition for 48 years. The ban meant that later attempts — including Surya Bonaly’s backflip at the 1998 Winter Games — were performed in defiance of the rules and penalized.
A rule update ahead of the 2024-25 season reclassified the backflip as a choreographic element, clearing the way for its return. Malinin moved quickly to include it, marking a rare and historically significant revival of the skill on skating’s biggest stages.
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USA vs. Italy getting out of hand
End of 2nd Period: USA 6, Italy 0
The score is getting ugly, and so are the extracurricular activities after the whistle. Team USA tacked on five goals in the second period, two of which came off the stick of Kendall Coyne Schofield. Caroline Harvey notched a pair of assists to give her eight points, which set a new record for a U.S. women’s defender at a single Olympics.
The laugher we all expected has come to fruition, but I didn’t expect tempers to flare quite like this. There has been plenty of rough stuff after the play, and the coaches even had a back-and-forth on the benches toward the end of the period.
Laila Edwards continues the avalanche of goals
2nd Period: USA 4, Italy 0
In just over five minutes, the Americans have tallied three goals in the second period. This time, it’s Laila Edwards finding the back of the net. The U.S. simply worked the puck around the offensive zone, got the puck to Edwards at the top of the point, and she wired a wrist shot through traffic and past Durante. That’s Edwards’ second of the tournament, and it came immediately following a timeout by Italy in an attempt to slow the pace.
Coyne Schofield gets another one
2nd Period: USA 3, Italy 0
The dam has broken, and the U.S. is rolling now. After a failed clear by the Italians, Britta Curl-Salemme found herself with the puck low in the offensive zone. She simply toe-dragged, hesitated and fired a pass over to Coyne Schofield, who had all 24 square feet to deposit the puck. Coyne Schofield didn’t miss, and the Americans have a three-goal lead.
Kendall Coyne Schofield gets her first of the tournament
2nd Period: USA 2, Italy 0
It wasn’t pretty but that probably doesn’t matter much to the Americans. After getting stonewalled by Durante for much of the first period, Coyne Schofield pots one from the goal line. A shot from the outside deflected up and over the net, and the puck kicked off the back board. Coyne Schofield picked it up and banked it in off Durante as she was sliding to close down the near post.
Carolina Harvey registered an assist on the play, her eighth point of the Olympics, and Megan Keller notched her second point of the day with the other assist.
U.S. has little to show for strong start
End of 1st Period: USA 1, Italy 0
The star of that first period was Italy goaltender Gabriealla Durante. She face a barrage of American shots and came up with 19 saves, some of which were of the show-stopping variety. With just seconds left in the opening frame, Durante made a miraculous stop on Abbey Murphy, who was staring at an open net on a one-timer. Durante reached back and got enough of it with her stick to keep it out.
If the U.S. keeps outshooting the Italians at a pace of 20-2, you have to assume the goals will come at some point. But so far, only Megan Keller has been able to solve Durante.
Megan Keller breaks the ice at 4-on-4
1st Period: USA 1, Italy 0
It took a while, but the Americans have finally broken through in the quarterfinal. With the teams skating at 4-on-4, Alex Carpenter won an offensive zone draw, and the U.S. executed what looked like a set play. Laila Edwards and Megan Keller played a game of catch, and Keller ripped a one-time past Italian goalie Gabriella Durante.
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