The Milan Cortina Olympics represents only the fourth Games to feature the figure skating team event.

The competition debuted in 2014 and allows the skaters from all four disciplines (men's singles, women's singles, pairs and ice dance) to compete as a team for their nation.

The team event features 10 countries competing in eight segments: men's short program, men's free skate, women's short program, women's free skate, pairs short program, pairs free skate, ice dance rhythm dance and ice dance free dance.

Teams earn points based on their place in the standings of each event.

The team with the highest score in each event earns 10 points, while the second-place team earns nine points, the third place team secures eight points and on and on.

The points are then added up for each nation, resulting in a final score.

Check out a full breakdown here of how the figure skating team event works.

Before Opening Ceremony began Friday, the figure skating team event kicked off.

Rhythm dance, pairs short program and women's short program all wrapped up Friday morning.

Team USA finished the first day of the team event in the top spot with 25 points, thanks in large part to a strong performance from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in rhythm dance.

They scored 91.06 points in the rhythm dance event, eclipsing France, Great Britain and Canada, who filled the following three spots.

FULL RESULTS

In the pairs short program, Team USA's Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea finished 5th, with Japan's Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara compiling the highest score in the event.

U.S. skater Alysa Liu secured the second-best score (74.90) in the women's short program, coming in just below Japan's Kaori Sakamoto (78.88).

After Day 1 of action, here is the full scoring breakdown of each nation:

1. USA - 25
2. Japan - 23
3. Italy - 22
4. Georgia - 20
5. Canada - 19
6. France - 17
7. Korea - 11
8. Great Britain - 11
9. China - 10
10. Poland - 6

Two more days remain in the team event, which will wrap up after action on Sunday, Feb. 8.

The first day of action brought good news for the U.S., as only the top five nations move on to the second half of the team event.

After the men's short program on Saturday, the bottom five nations will be dropped. The five remaining countries will then compete in the final segments: men's free skate, women's free skate, pairs free skate and ice dance free dance.

The men's short program begins at 1:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 7. Ilia Malinin is slated to skate for the U.S. in the men's short program event.

The team event final will then begin at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 7 with the free dance.

The figure skating team event will then conclude Sunday, Feb. 8, with pairs free skate beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET followed by women's free skate (2:45 p.m. ET) and men's free skate (3:55 p.m. ET).