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02/07 14:22 CST Malinin stunned by Kagiyama in short program as Japan narrows gap on US in Olympic figure skating Malinin stunned by Kagiyama in short program as Japan narrows gap on US in Olympic figure skating By DAVE SKRETTA AP Sports Writer MILAN (AP) --- Ilia Malinin's quest for Olympic figure skating gold might not be so easy after all. Same goes for his American team. Reigning silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama landed a pair of near-perfect quads, one in combination with a triple toe loop, and scored 108.67 points for his short program Saturday night. That topped Malinin for the segment --- he was second with 98.00 --- and gave his Japanese team 33 points, just one behind the defending champion U.S. at the midway juncture of the competition. Italy was third with 28 points, Canada fourth with 27 and Georgia fifth with 25. Only the top five teams advanced after the short program, and the Canadians squeaked through thanks Stephen Gogolev's personal-best 92.99 score. Kevin Aymoz was unable to match him for France, leaving his team one below the cut line. The second half of the competition began later Saturday night with the free dance, where world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates were back in action for the U.S. They won the rhythm dance on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony, to give the Americans the maximum of 10 points and plenty of momentum to begin the multi-discipline event. Before making his Olympic debut, Malinin had stalked through the tunnels inside Milano Ice Skating Arena, wearing a black tank top that read "Quad God," the nickname reflective of the way he performs those other-worldly four-revolution jumps. The 21-year-old wunderkind had planned the quad axel --- the 4 1/2-revolution jump only he has ever landed in competition --- but only did a shaky version of the triple. He had started with a brilliant opening quad flip and finished his program with a quad lutz-triple toe loop, getting bonus points for the combination because it came in the second half of the program. But when his score was read, Malinin seemed almost stunned that Kagiyama had beaten him --- and by the margin. Kagiyama opened with a quad toe-triple toe combination, landed a quad salchow and finished his short program with a peerless triple axel. And unlike Malinin, when his score was read, Kagiyama jumped out of his seat with clenched fists raised high. The Americans have been on a mission ever since the 2022 Beijing Games, where their Olympic triumph was overshadowed by a Russian doping controversy. The investigation into it held their gold medals in limbo for more than two years, until Chock and Bates were part of the squad that finally received them in a ceremony during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Japan has long been considered their biggest rivals. And they had managed to stay within two points after the first day of the three-day team event with winning short programs by Kaori Sakamoto and pairs world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara. Add another win for Kagiyama --- and a big statement by Japan's star ahead of the men's competition next week. ___ AP Olympic coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics