2022 Winter Olympics: Team Event Overview

The figure skating competitions of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics kicks off today with the Figure Skating Team Event! While skating is normally a solo (or paired) sport, the Figure Skating Team Event was introduced in the 2014 Sochi Olympics; now countries have the opportunity to bring together their strongest skaters to fight for Olympic gold. Read on for an overview of the competition format and the teams competing at this Olympics!

See also: 2022 Winter Olympics Info & Streaming for information on how to watch!

COMPETITION FORMAT

The Team Event will take place over 3 days, and involve all 4 figure skating disciplines of men’s singles, women’s singles, pairs, and ice dance.

• Feb. 4: Men’s SP, Rhythm Dance, Pairs’ SP

• Feb. 6: Women’s SP, Men’s FS

• Feb. 7: Pairs’ FS, Free Dance, Women’s FS

Countries qualify for the Olympic Team Event based on the World Standing points that their skaters earned at various competitions throughout the season. A maximum of 10 countries can qualify for the Team Event. Countries must qualify skaters in at least 3 individual Olympic disciplines in order to be eligible for the Team Event. If a country has skaters in 3 individual disciplines, they can bring in a 4th skater to complete their team. The additional skater can only compete in the Team Event.

Scoring in the Team Event is based on skaters’ placements in both the short program and free skate segments of the competition. After all short programs are complete, the top 5 teams with the highest point totals advance to the free skate. The following chart shows how many points each placement earns:

Placement	SP Points	FS Points
1st	10	10
2nd	9	9
3rd	8	8
4th	7	7
5th	6	6
6th	5
7th	4
8th	3
9th	2
10th	1

Points for each team are added together as their skaters complete each segment, and the team with the highest final point total wins.

If there is a tie in points, these are the criteria used to break the tie, in order:

• The highest aggregate Team points per Team from the two (2) best places in different disciplines

• The highest total sum of the segment/total scores of the two (2) skaters/couples who build the tie

• The highest aggregate Team points per Team from the three (3) best places in different disciplines

• The highest total sum of the segment/total scores of the three (3) skaters/couples who build the tie

• If these criteria fail to break the ties, the Teams will be considered tied.

Since scoring for the Team Event is based on placements, and not skaters’ scores for their programs, all disciplines are weighted equally, and the margin by which skaters outscore other skaters does not matter.

Teams that have qualified more than one skater in an individual discipline can substitute their entry between the short program and free skate of the Team Event, in up to two disciplines. This is where the strategy comes in - which skaters are better at which segment? Which disciplines should be split, if any? Could skating in the Team Event affect the skaters’ performance in their individual events? (This is especially an issue to consider for the men, as their individual events begin the day after the Team Event ends.)

Additionally, due to the point distribution, the short program is the more vital segment - since a skater can earn from 10 points all the way down to 1 point in the short program, a big mistake in the short program can cost their team many more points than a big mistake in the free skate. Even a last-place free skate will still earn 6 points. Teams with the ability to split their entries between the SP and FS will be thinking very hard about which of their skaters are more reliable in the short program.

The entries for each segment of the Team Event will not be announced until a short time before the segments begin.

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PREVIEW

The 10 countries that have qualified for the Team Event are:

• Russia

• USA

• Canada

• Japan

• Italy

• China

• Georgia

• Germany

• Czech Republic

• Ukraine 

Russia(n Olympic Committee):

• Men: Mark Kondratiuk (SP), Andrei Mozalev (?), Evgeni Semenenko (?)

• Women: Kamila Valieva (SP), Anna Shcherbakova (?), Alexandra Trusova (?)

• Pairs: Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov (SP), Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (not participating), Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii (?)

• Ice Dance: Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov (RD, FD), Alexandra Stepanova/Ivan Bukin (not participating), Diana Davis/Gleb Smolkin (not participating)

Russia (or the Russian Olympic Committee, as they will be called during these Games) are the heavy favorites for gold in the Team Event. Their strongest disciplines are women, pairs, and ice dance, where they are expected to place within the top 2 in each segment (free dance entry pending). While their men are more volatile, they are still capable of a high placement in each segment. Although anything is possible, ROC will need to make several mistakes to not win the gold medal. ROC has multiple options to split between the SP and FS, and it will be interesting to see who they choose.

USA

• Men: Nathan Chen (SP), Vincent Zhou (?), Jason Brown (?)

• Women: Karen Chen (SP, FS), Mariah Bell (not participating), Alysa Liu (not participating)

• Pairs: Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier (SP, FS), Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy Leduc (not participating)

• Ice Dance: Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (RD), Madison Chock/Evan Bates (FD), Kaitlin Hawayek/Jean Luc Baker (not participating)

The United States comes into the event as favorites for silver, though it is not guaranteed. Their strongest disciplines are men and ice dance, while their pairs and women are weaker, but still capable of decent placements in the top half of the standings. USA will very likely split their men’s and ice dance disciplines between the SP and FS.

Canada

• Men: Roman Sadovsky (SP, FS), Keegan Messing (not participating)

• Women: Madeline Schizas (SP, FS)

• Pairs: Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro (SP), Vanessa James/Eric Radford (?)

• Ice Dance: Piper Gilles/Paul Poirer (RD, FD), Laurence Fournier-Beaudry/Nikolaj Sorensen (not participating), Marjorie Lajoie/Zachary Lagha (not participating)

Olympic Team Event champions four years ago, Canada has struggled in this Olympic cycle after the retirement of many of their top skaters. Their team this year has some veterans as well as newbies. While it will be difficult for Canada to make the team podium this time, they still have a chance of qualifying for the free skate portion against Italy, Georgia, and China. Ice dance is Canada’s strongest discipline. Keegan Messing, Canada’s top man, will not make it to the Team Event due to a positive COVID test.

Japan

• Men: Shoma Uno (SP), Yuma Kagiyama (FS), Yuzuru Hanyu (not participating)

• Women: Wakaba Higuchi (SP), Kaori Sakamoto (FS), Mana Kawabe (not participating)

• Pairs: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (SP, FS)

• Ice Dance: Misato Komatsubara/Tim Koleto (RD, FD)

Japan has been a singles powerhouse for years, but have always been held back in the Team Event by their weaker pairs and dance teams. This year, the rise of Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara in the pairs discipline gives Japan their best shot at winning a Team Event medal, likely bronze. Ice dance is still their biggest weakness, so Japan will need their other three disciplines to perform as well as possible to win a place on the podium. If they medal, it will be the first time that a country besides Russia, USA and Canada have medaled at the Olympic Team Event. Japan will likely split their men’s and women’s disciplines between the SP and FS.

Italy

• Men: Daniel Grassl (SP), Matteo Rizzo (?)

• Women: Lara Naki Gutmann (SP, FS)

• Pairs: Nicole Della Monica/Matteo Guarise (SP), Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini (?)

• Ice Dance: Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri (RD, FD)

Italy’s strongest disciplines are men and ice dance. Guignard/Fabbri are capable of placing in the top 4, while Daniel Grassl may pull an upset - or bomb - during the men’s event. Italy will fight with Canada, China, and Georgia to qualify for the free skates.

China

• Men: Boyang Jin (SP, FS)

• Women: Yi Zhu (SP, FS)

• Pairs: Wenjing Sui/Cong Han (SP), Cheng Peng/Yang Jin (?)

• Ice Dance: Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (RD, FD)

China’s strongest discipline is pairs, where Wenjing Sui/Cong Han are one of the contenders for Olympic gold in the individual event. Boyang Jin may also disrupt the standings depending on his performance - wildly inconsistent, he may place top 3 or last. China will be fighting with Canada, Italy, and Georgia to qualify for the free skate portion.

Georgia

• Men: Morisi Kvitelashvili (SP, FS)

• Women: Anastasiia Gubanova (SP, FS)

• Pairs: Karina Safina/Luka Berulava (SP, FS)

• Ice Dance: Maria Kazakova/Georgy Reviya (RD, FD)

Despite being a little-known country in figure skating, Georgia has assembled a strong team of formerly-Russian skaters for the Olympic season and qualified for the Team Event. They will battle China, Italy, and Canada for a place in the free skate segment. Even if they will not win a medal, some of their skaters may pull surprising upsets over others and throw a wrench in the standings.

Germany

• Men: Paul Fentz (SP)

• Women: Nicole Schott (SP)

• Pairs: Minerva Fabienne Hase/Nolan Seegert (SP) *withdrawn because of positive COVID test

• Ice Dance: Katharina Mueller/Tim Dieck (RD)

Due to the withdrawal of Hase/Seegert from the SP after a positive COVID test, Germany will not be able to earn any points in the pairs segment and likely will not advance to the free skate.

Czech Republic

• Men: Michal Brezina (SP, FS)

• Women: Eliska Brezinova (SP, FS)

• Pairs: Jelizaveta Zukova/Martin Bidar (SP, FS)

• Ice Dance: Natalie Taschlerova/Filip Taschler (RD, FD)

Czech Republic will likely not qualify for the free skates, but keep an eye out for the performances of siblings Michal Brezina and Eliska Brezinova in singles, and Taschlerova/Taschler in ice dance.

Ukraine

• Men: Ivan Shmuratko (SP) *withdrawn because of positive COVID test

• Women:  Anastasiia Shabotova (SP)

• Pairs: Sofiia Holichenko/Artem Darenskyi (SP)

• Ice Dance: Oleksandra Nazarova/Maksym Nikitin (RD)

Due to the withdrawal of Ivan Shmuratko from the SP after a positive COVID test, Ukraine will not be able to earn any points in the men’s segment and likely will not advance to the free skate.

What in the World is the Olympic Figure Skating Team Event?

We’ve been getting some asks about this, so here are all your burning questions, answered! Remember to check out our info post for details on how to watch the Olympic figure skating competitions.

What is the background of the Team Event?

First introduced at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the Figure Skating Team Event is still a relatively new addition to the Olympics, and doesn’t hold quite as much prestige as the individual events - yet. Since the Team Event takes place before the individual events, some top skaters will decide not to compete in both (or either) segments of the Team Event, in order to save their strength for the individual events. However, the existence of the Team Event encourages skating federations to develop all four of their disciplines - men’s singles, ladies’ singles, pair skating, and ice dance - because strength in all disciplines is absolutely necessary in order to have a chance at an Olympic team medal.

How is the Team Event scored?

10 countries compete in the short program in ladies’ singles, men’s singles, pairs, and ice dance. Each country is represented in each discipline by one skater or pair/dance team. Performances are scored normally, like in any figure skating competition. Skaters earn points for their placement in the short program:

• 1st place: 10 points

• 2nd place: 9 points

• 3rd place: 8 points

• 4th place: 7 points

• 5th place: 6 points

• 6th place: 5 points

• 7th place: 4 points

• 8th place: 3 points

• 9th place: 2 points

• 10th place: 1 point

After the short programs of all four disciplines have been completed, the top 5 countries in terms of point totals advance to the free skate. The format of the free skate is the same as the short program: Each country is represented by one skater/team per discipline. Skaters earn points for their placement in the free skate, starting from 10 points for first place, down to 6 points for 5th place. The point total after the free skates determines the final ranking. (For a chart of results from the 2014 Olympic Team Event, see here.)

What if there’s a tie between teams?

Tie-breaking rules are explained here.

Which countries have qualified for the 2018 Olympic Team Event?

In order of qualification: Canada, OAR (Russia), USA, Japan, China, Italy, France, Germany, Israel, South Korea.

Which skaters are allowed to participate in the Team Event?

Skaters who participate in the Team Event must have qualified for the individual events, unless a country qualified skaters in only 3 individual events. In that case, they are allowed to bring in one “extra” skater to complete their team, who only competes in the Team Event. For example, Israel qualified skaters in the individual events of men’s singles, pair skating, and ice dance, but not ladies’ singles. For the Team Event only, they can bring in a ladies’ skater to complete their team.

How does “substitution” work?

If a country has qualified more than one skater in an individual discipline, they may choose to switch skaters between the short program and free skate of the Team Event, but only in two disciplines. For example, in Pyeongchang, Team USA qualified 3 men, 3 ladies, 3 ice dance teams, and 1 pair team in the individual events. USA can choose to split two of the disciplines in which they have more than one skater between the Team Event SP and FS, but since they only have 1 pair team, that pair team must compete in both the SP and FS of the Team Event. Here is where some strategy is involved - which disciplines should be split, which skaters should do which segment, and so on.

Do skaters perform the same programs in the Team Event as in the individual events?

Yes, but their jump layouts might be slightly different.

What is the schedule for the Team Event?

The schedule and information on how to watch is covered in this post.

What are your predictions for the Team Event?

We can tell you right now that, barring major disasters, the Team Event podium will consist of Canada, OAR/Russia, and USA, in some order. The simple fact is that none of the other countries are as well-rounded in each discipline as these three. It would be a huge upset if any other country managed to win a team medal. More interesting than the podium is the battle for gold, and which 5 countries out of the 10 competing will be able to qualify for the free skate. Japan, Italy, France, and possibly China have a shot at qualifying for the free skate, depending on which skaters participate in the Team Event.

Which specific skaters will skate for their countries in the Team Event?

We don’t know yet. A list of potential skaters for the Team Event can be seen here. The exact lineups will not be announced until the day of the competition.

Can you tell me about some of the skaters in the Team Event?

Since we don’t find out who will actually skate in the Team Event until the last minute, it’s a little hard to write intros for the skaters there. Time willing, we will try to write previews for the individual events, where we will be able to give more in-depth info about the competitors.

Earning Spots for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics: An Introduction

NOTE: This post describes the spot qualification process for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Rules may be different for other Winter Olympic Games.

The Olympic season is bearing down upon us, and you’ve probably heard lots of people talking about “spots” - namely, how many skaters each national federation is allowed to send to the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. If you’ve read our Introduction to Skating Competitions guide, you’ll probably know that the process is very similar to how skaters earn spots for the World Championships, but let’s go over it in more detail because the rules are slightly different for the Olympics. Remember that we are talking about how many skaters each federation can send to the Olympics, not which skaters they will send to the Olympics - each federation will choose their Olympic team based on their own criteria.

Information taken from this ISU document on Olympic qualification. This post will only cover the individual events at the Olympics. The qualification process for the Olympic Team Event is explained here.

ATHLETE QUOTA & TES MINIMUMS

This is the total number of skaters that can compete in the individual events at the Olympics:

• Men’s singles: 30

• Ladies’ singles: 30

• Pair skating: 20 teams

• Ice dance: 24 teams

Just like the ISU Championships, each country can send a maximum of 3 skaters/teams per discipline to the Olympics. All skaters who compete in the individual events at the Olympics must have obtained the minimum technical element scores in both the SP and FS. They must obtain the TES minimums at ISU competitions during the Olympic season or preceding season. The TES minimums for the Olympics (as well as the ISU Championships) are set by the ISU at the beginning of the Olympic season.

QUALIFICATION PHASE 1: THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Most of the Pyeongchang Olympic spots are earned at the 2017 World Championships. Number of spots up for grabs at Worlds:

• Men: 24

• Ladies: 24

• Pairs: 16 teams

• Ice dance: 19 teams

How many spots each national federation earns depends on the placements of their skaters at Worlds. For the ISU Championships, each national federation is automatically given one spot per discipline as long as they have skaters who have the TES minimums, but this does not apply for the Olympics, as there is a definite cap on the number of spots.

The following rules for earning more than one spot apply to both the ISU Championships and the Olympics:

If a fed has 1 skater/team in a discipline at Worlds: Skater/team must place in the top 10 to earn 2 spots, and top 2 to earn 3 spots.

If a fed has 2 or 3 skaters/teams in a discipline at Worlds: Top 2 skaters’/teams’ placements must add up to 28 or less to earn 2 spots. Top 2 placements must add up to 13 or less to earn 3 spots. As long as a skater qualifies for the free skate at Worlds, their final placement will count as 16th towards the spots count even if they place lower than 16th. If they don’t qualify for the free skate, their placement will count as 18th regardless of where they actually place. At ISU Championships, the top 24 singles skaters, top 16 pairs, and top 20 dance teams after the short program qualify for the free skate.

Examples:

• A country has 1 skater and they place 8th. They earn 2 spots for the Olympics and Worlds.

• A country has 1 skater and they place 2nd. They earn 3 spots for the Olympics and Worlds.

• A country has 3 ladies’ skaters and the top 2 place 6th and 7th at Worlds. The sum of their placements is 6 + 7 = 13, so they earn 3 spots for the Olympics and Worlds.

• A country has 2 men’s skaters and they place 12th and 20th at Worlds. The sum of their placements is 12 + 16 = 28, so they earn 2 spots for the Olympics and Worlds. (Since the second man qualified for the free skate, his final placement of 20 counts as 16.)

• A country has 2 ladies’ skaters; one places 15th and the other 25th, not qualifying for the free skate. The sum of their placements is 15 + 18 = 33. They earn 1 spot for Worlds, and possibly 1 spot for the Olympics depending on how many spots are left.

After counting all the spots allotted to feds that earned 2 or 3 Olympic spots, any remaining spots up to the quota are allotted to feds that earned 1 spot, in order of their highest-placing skater at Worlds. For example, 15 Olympic spots were earned by 6 countries in the ice dance discipline for the 2014 Olympics. 19 Olympic spots were available at 2013 Worlds, so the best-placing 4 (different) countries that only earned 1 spot at Worlds were given the remaining spots. However, if the number of multiple spots per country earned at Worlds exceeds the quota of spots available at Worlds, the lowest-ranked country with 2 spots will not have 2 spots. For example, the number of 2 or 3 Olympic pairs spots earned at 2017 Worlds totaled 17, but only 16 spots were available at Worlds. The United States, which was the last country to earn 2 spots, would only receive 1 pairs spot at the 2018 Olympics.

Countries that do not earn any Olympic spots at Worlds have another chance to qualify through Nebelhorn Trophy, the Olympic Qualifying Competition.

QUALIFICATION PHASE 2: THE OLYMPIC QUALIFYING EVENT

The Olympic Qualifying Competition is a competition held early in the Olympic season. National federations that did not qualify spots at Worlds can try to win the remaining spots at this event, usually Nebelhorn Trophy, held in September. Any skaters can compete at Nebelhorn, but if they represent countries that already earned Olympic spots at Worlds, their placements are disregarded when it comes to earning the remaining spots.

Olympic spots available at Nebelhorn:

• Men: 6

• Ladies: 6

• Pairs: 4 teams

• Ice dance: 5 teams

Each country can only earn up to 1 spot per discipline at Nebelhorn. The highest-placing countries at Nebelhorn are given the spots until the quota is filled.

If any of the countries that earned spots at Worlds elect not to use their spots, those spots will become available at Nebelhorn. For example, the Danish ice dance team of Fournier-Beaudry/Sorensen earned an Olympic ice dance spot for Denmark at the 2017 World Championships, but as they did not fulfill citizenship requirements for the Olympics and Denmark had no other eligible ice dance team, the Danish federation gave up their spot to Nebelhorn.

HOST SPOTS

At some Olympics, the hosting country is automatically given 1 spot per discipline. If South Korea qualifies skaters to the Pyeongchang Olympics the “normal” way (through Worlds or Nebelhorn), the host spots will not be applied. If they do not qualify any skaters in a discipline, they will be given 1 host spot in that discipline only if there are spots left over from the “Additional Athletes Quota” for the Olympic Team Event. Skaters for the team event are usually skaters who qualified for the individual events, but if they are “missing” a discipline, a country is allowed to bring in one “extra” skater who only competes in the team event. A maximum of 10 “extra” skaters are allowed for the team event. If not all 10 of those spots are used, the remaining spots will go to South Korea as host spots for the individual events, if necessary.