Preview: 2026 Winter Olympics Team Event

By Matteo Morelli

We are finally ready to start the figure skating events at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games of Milano-Cortina!

The Team Event kicks off on February 6, the same day of the Opening Ceremony (though the two will take place at different times). Let’s have a look at what you need to know about this relatively recent competition format.

What is the Team Event?

Based on points earned from major events during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 season, 10 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) have qualified to compete across four disciplines (men’s, women’s, pairs, and ice dance) in the Team Event.

Each NOC selects the athletes who will compete in the four disciplines. The competition features a qualifying phase (short programs and rhythm dance) and a final (free programs and free dance) in which the top five teams compete in the free segments.

Note that some athletes will compete only in the Team Event and not in the individual event. This is referred to as the “additional athlete quota” and is the case of Edward Appleby (Great Britain), and two ice dance teams: Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita (Japan) and Sofia Dovhal and Wiktor Kulesza (Poland).

History

The Team Event was first introduced during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. So far, the United States has won a medal at every Team Event (bronze in Sochi and Pyeongchang, and gold in Beijing following the controversy involving the Russian Olympic Committee), Canada has won two medals (silver in Sochi and gold in Pyeongchang), and Japan have won one (silver in Beijing). Russian delegations won a medal at every event (gold in Sochi, silver in Pyeongchang as Olympic Athletes of Russia, and bronze in Beijing as Russian Olympic Committee).

This year’s qualified National Olympic Committees

This year’s ten qualified NOCs are:

  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Great Britain
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Poland
  • Republic of Korea
  • USA

Among these, the Republic of Korea will only compete in three of the four disciplines. As they do not have a pairs team, they will automatically score zero in that discipline.

Based on results so far, the favourite NOCs to contend for a podium finish are Japan, the USA, Italy and Georgia.

How the Team Event works

NOCs must notify the names of the athletes they intend to enter as their national teams. Each NOC may choose up to two disciplines where they want to split their athletes or teams, meaning different athletes or teams can compete in the short programme or rhythm dance and free programme or free dance.

Each skater or team earns points based on placement in each segment (10 points for first, 9 for second, and so on down to 1 point for tenth). The combined scores after each segment determines the NOCs’ rankings.

On Day 1, the rhythm dance, as well as the pairs and women’s short programmes, will take place. By the end of the day, we will already have a good idea of which NOCs are leading.

Day 2 begins with the men’s short programme, after which the final ranking from the qualifying phase will be determined. Only the top five NOCs advance to the final segments, which start on the same day with the free dance and continue Sunday with the pairs, women’s and men’s free programmes.

The combined scores, again based on placement points, determine the top three NOCs and medal winners. Only athletes who competed at the Team Event will receive a medal, rather than all athletes from the NOC.

Ice dance at this Team Event

At the time of writing this preview, the confirmed ice dance teams scheduled to compete in the rhythm dance of the Team Event are:

  • Canada: Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier
  • China: Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu
  • France: Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron
  • Great Britain: Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
  • Georgia: Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin
  • Italy: Charlène Guignard and Marco Fabbri
  • Japan: Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita
  • Poland: Sofia Dovhal and Wiktor Kulesza
  • Republic of Korea: Hannah Lim and Ye Quan
  • USA: Madison Chock and Evan Bates

For the remaining NOCs that have not yet confirmed their selections, strategic decisions are expected to play a key role in determining which ice dance teams will compete.

For example, Team USA will likely want Madison Chock and Evan Bates (who were part of the U.S. team that won gold in the 2022 Team Event) to compete in at least one segment, to boost their NOC’s chances to win gold.

Canada may also need to decide whether Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier will compete, as their participation could be crucial in the fight for a potential medal.

The top ice dance teams will also need to consider that the ice dance individual event takes place just a couple of days after the Team Event’s free dance. As a result, strategic planning and energy management will be essential when finalising the NOC teams at the Team Event.

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