What Is The Olympic Figure Skating Team Event?

The Olympics are just around the corner - with teams flying in and practices having just begun - and with it comes flocks of viewers both new and old who look at the competition schedule and wonder…

What on earth is the Team Event?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! Read on for an explanation of the precursor to the individual events and the beginning of all that Olympic excitement!

What is the team event?

The Team Event was created in the hopes that it would encourage federations to foster a desire to develop all four disciplines in figure skating - Men’s, Women’s, Pairs and Ice Dance - in order for them to win a Team Olympic medal.

The Team Event was introduced at the Sochi Olympics back in 2014, meaning this years’ event will be the third iteration of the competition format.

How many countries are participating in the Team Event?

A total of 10 countries are selected to compete in the Team Event, those of which are the top 10 federations over all four disciplines at major competitions in both this and last season.

The countries participating in the Team Event at the 2022 Olympics are: Canada, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, and the US.

How many skaters compete out of those teams?

Each team is composed of 1 Man, 1 Woman, 1 Pairs team and 1 Ice Dance team. Federations may only select athletes that have qualified and been assigned to their respective individual event.

Federations may choose to send different skaters for each segment of competition, for example sending one man to skate the Short Program and then a different one to skate the Free Skate - but they may only do this for a maximum of two out of the four disciplines.

Since the Team Event takes place before the Individual Events, it’s not uncommon for top skaters to either only skate one segment or opt out of competing in the event entirely in order to preserve energy and strength for their main events.

What if a country is selected to compete but doesn’t have athletes qualified in each discipline?

There is an Additional Athlete Quota of up to 5 spots overall that allows teams to invite extra skaters - provided that they have earned the required technical minimum scores internationally - in order to complete their team. 

These skaters are only allowed to compete at the Team Event and are not permitted to compete in the Individual Events of their discipline.

At this Olympics, Germany, Italy and Ukraine are utilizing this rule to complete their teams by inviting competitors for Men’s, Women’s and Pairs respectively.

How is the team event scored?

Similarly to World Team Trophy, the other major team-based figure skating event, each teams’ scores are based off their ordinals in each segment of the competition.

Skaters receive their scores at the end of the programs as normal, and then their relative place finish - from 1st to 10th - in that segment is given a point value. Each country's placements in each segment are then added together to form the total score for that team.

The points for each place finish in each segment are:

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

Unlike World Team Trophy, where all of the teams compete in both the Short Program and the Free Skate, only the top 5 countries in the overall standings after the Short Programs are completed proceed to the Free Skate in the Olympic Team Event.

Sounds cool! When and where can I watch it?

The Team Event kicks off on Friday February 4th and runs until Monday February 7th.

For the full detailed schedule and list of broadcasters of the 2022 Winter Olympics, check out our calendar!