MILAN — Colorado Springs pairs figure skaters Ellie Kam and Daniel O’Shea delivered the best free skate of their pairs career when the U.S. needed it the most, helping the United States to gold in the team competition by a single point at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Amber Glenn, who trains in Colorado Springs, was also part of the victorious team effort Sunday that was sealed in the final session when Ilia Malinin beat Japanese rival Shun Sato in the men’s free skate as the American team defended its gold medal.

In an event scored by placement – first place receives 10 points, second nine and so on – every spot was crucial as the U.S. earned 69 points and Japan finished with 68.

Host Italy finished third with 60 points.

Kam and O’Shea scored 135.36 points for their program, which opened with “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics and finished with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears.

Their performance topped the Canadian team as they finished fourth in the five-team final.

“We couldn’t be more proud to be able to perform under what we felt was so much energy,” said the 34-year-old O’Shea, who was an Olympic alternate in 2018 but is making his debut at the Winter Games. “We walked into the day, walked into the rink with positive emotions, with an offensive attitude, and that showed out there on the ice.”

O’Shea was born in Pontiac, Michigan, but has long trained in Colorado Springs, which he lists as his hometown on his Olympic bio. He earned a business degree from University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

Kam, who was born in Japan as her father served in the Air Force, is majoring in health science at UCCS.

The pair earned 13 points in the competition for the U.S. They placed fifth in their first skate Friday, despite a fall, picking up six points.

In the women’s free skate, Amber Glenn was selected Saturday in place of world champion Alysa Liu.

The three-time national champion spun out of her opening triple axel, the most difficult triple jump and one only she tried among the women, and Glenn had to add a late double toe loop after missing an earlier triple as part of a combination. Those two mistakes, and a couple of other errors along the way, left her with 138.62 points — and more crucially, third in the segment.

“I fought for everything. I was very determined regardless of how I felt to fight for as many points as I could,” Glenn, 26, told reporters afterward. “Honestly, I don’t know if I could have felt worse out there. It was really, really rough. I have been having stellar practices here, I’ve been on fire. I think I got a little too up too soon.”

Glenn, who moved to Colorado Springs to train in 2022, became the oldest American female figure skater in nearly a century to make her debut at the Games when she skated Sunday.

“It wasn’t how I wanted to feel,” Glenn said. “The adrenaline was really up and I think I just crashed a little bit.”

Her performance left only the men’s free skate, with Malinin – a 21-year-old nicknamed the “Quad God” – needing a head-to-head victory over his Japanese counterpart.

Malinin landed five quadruple jumps and scored 200.03 points for his free skate, atoning for his mediocre short program — at least by his lofty standards — one night earlier. Sato followed him with three quads in his program, but he could only manage 194.86 points, leaving Japan with a second straight silver medal in the team event.

Georgia wound up fourth with 56. It still has never medaled in any sport at the Winter Games.