MILAN — Figure skating has been an Olympic sport longer than the Winter Olympics. It’s true: the 1908 Summer Olympics featured men’s, women’s and pairs skating events; the Winter Olympics wasn’t held for the first time until 1924 in Chamonix, France. Even ice dancing has a 50-year history, starting in Innsbruck in 1976.
In contrast, team skating is almost entirely new, dating back to Sochi in 2014. The national teams, only in their fourth iteration of the team competition, are still figuring out how to build their rosters to maximize the potential for team and individual success.
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Because here’s a not-so-secret fact about team skating: It can have a big impact on an athlete’s individual performance. Because team events are the start of the Olympics, and the Games are held in such a tight time frame, the physical and emotional costs of team events can ripple through the individual, affecting and potentially upending one’s dreams.
This year in Milan, group skating starts even before the opening ceremony and runs until Sunday, February 8th. The ice dancers began their short program the next day, and on Tuesday, the men’s skating began. Given that Team USA fielded the same athletes in both events — ice dancers Madison Chalk and Evan Bates, as well as men’s skater Ilya Marinen — it’s reasonable to wonder how much of an impact this quick turnaround might have.
“We had more time than other teammates,” said duet dancer Ellie Kam, who skated two team events with partner Danny O’Shea but needed a full week to recover. (The women have nine days of skating between them.) “I can’t imagine having to do back-to-back workouts the next day…it’s really hard to keep your head focused during that time. So I don’t envy that at all.”
“We trained specifically for this. We knew it was coming,” O’Shea said. “We’ve competed back-to-back in the past. … Two years ago, we finished the nationals (in Ohio) and then flew to Shanghai (for the Four Continents) … and we won medals at that Four Continents.”
Ilya Marinen (USA) competes in the men’s singles free figure skating on Day 7 of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina, Milan. (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NurPhoto via Getty Images)
While Jock didn’t blame the schedule for the silver medal, she did point to the workload she and Bates endured early in the Olympics. “We only performed four times in six days at the Olympics,” Bates said last week. “We’ve never done anything like this. It took a lot of mental strength and discipline over the last six days to stay focused and put in four great performances.”
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Ilia Malinin, who led Team USA to a dramatic victory in the team event but failed miserably in the individual event, didn’t blame the schedule for his woes. But it’s worth noting that if the U.S. team has a greater points advantage, he may not compete with the second team in the free skate. This may or may not have hurt his mental state during the free skate, where he collapsed on the ice, but it certainly took a toll on his body.
The team event is obviously not going anywhere, but will the schedule change? Maybe there will be a reversal, with personal events taking precedence?
“We would definitely prefer to have the individual events first and then the team events,” O’Shea said earlier this week. “It really allows athletes to get into that celebratory feel of a team event and really relax and watch other athletes and be able to participate in cheering on their own team.”
Other skaters see it a little differently. “In my opinion, I think it would be better to have the team competition first and then the individual competition,” Japan’s Masaya Morita said through a translator. “The Japanese team has become more motivated.”
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“I’m very happy to have this opportunity (to skate in a team first),” Italy’s Sara Conte said through a translator. “I don’t want to call it training because it’s not training, but I didn’t even feel the pressure…the team spirit helped me a lot in terms of nerves.”
Figure skating has such huge ratings appeal at the Olympics that you could argue the positioning of teams either way — having the team event introduce everyone to the skaters first, and then they move on to face their individual battles; starting with the individual skaters could bring an Avengers-esque teamwork climax to the Games.
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Either way, the International Skating Union is keeping it a secret. An ISU spokesperson provided the following statement to Yahoo Sports regarding the schedule changes:
“In accordance with established procedures, the ISU will coordinate with the International Olympic Committee and various organizing committees at an appropriate time before the next Winter Olympics to review the competition schedule for future Winter Olympics.”
So that’s it. Future Olympic skaters had better prepare for back-to-back competitions, just in case.