• Team USA is in the lead with 25 points after the first day and hopes to widen the gap to Japan.
• Reigning ISU World Champion and “Quad God” Ilia Malinin (main picture, credit: Getty Images) will compete in the Men’s Short Program for the USA while three-time ISU World Champions Madison Chock & Evan Bates will take to the ice again for the Free Dance.
• Japan, currently ranked second at 23 points, will have 2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama and Ice Dancers Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita competing.
• Italy is sitting in third place at 22 points and aims to maintain the podium position with Daniel Grassl and two-time ISU World Ice Dance medalists Charlene Guignard & Marco Fabbri.
• Georgia, in fourth place (20 points), will look to attack with 2026 ISU European Champion Nika Egadze and Ice Dancers Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin.
• Canada (19 points) and France (17 points) will fight in the Men’s Short Program to get into the final round of the top five teams and to have a shot at the podium. 

Team Japan have their eyes on a gold medal in Milan © Getty Images

• Ten teams representing 10 NOCs qualified based on the results of the ISU World Championships 2025 and of the ISU Grand Prix series 2025/26. 
• The top five teams after the Short Programs/Rhythm Dance will advance to the final round and battle it out for the medals.
• The skaters in the team event have to be chosen from the athletes who compete in the individual events.
• Teams that have more than one entry in the individual events can switch up to two skaters/couples between the two segments of the competition.