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whens figure skating olympics

Figure skating at the next Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina 2026) runs from Friday 6 February to Thursday 19 February 2026 , with an exhibition gala on Saturday 21 February 2026.

Quick Scoop: Key Dates

  • Overall figure skating window: Feb 6–19, 2026.
  • Team event starts: Friday, Feb 6.
  • Men’s singles events:
    • Short program: Feb 10.
* Free skate: **Feb 13**.
  • Pairs:
    • Short program: Feb 15.
* Free skate: **Feb 16**.
  • Women’s singles (often what people mean by “when’s figure skating”):
    • Short program: Feb 17.
* Free skate (decides medals and closes the competition): **Feb 19**.
  • Exhibition gala: Feb 21 – the fun show with all the stars skating for the crowd.

How the Schedule Flows

Think of the Olympic figure skating program in three phases:

  1. Team event (Feb 6–8)
    • Countries field skaters across men, women, pairs, and ice dance.
    • Medals here come before the individual events, so you’ll see big names early.
  2. Individual disciplines (Feb 9–19)
    • Ice dance rhythm dance and free dance fall in the first half (Feb 9 & 11).
 * Men’s and pairs are in the middle (Feb 10, 13, 15, 16).
 * Women close it out with short and free (Feb 17 & 19).
  1. Exhibition gala (Feb 21)
    • No scores, just show programs and crowd-pleasers from medalists and fan favorites.

Mini Timeline (HTML table)

Here’s a simple timeline you can mentally pin to your calendar:

Date (2026) Main figure skating action
Feb 6 Team event opens (women, pairs, ice dance segments)
Feb 7–8 Team event continues and wraps (all disciplines)
Feb 9–11 Ice dance rhythm dance and free dance
Feb 10 & 13 Men’s short program and free skate
Feb 15–16 Pairs short program and free skate
Feb 17 & 19 Women’s short program and women’s free skate (medals decided)
Feb 21 Exhibition gala
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Forum / Fan Vibe

On fan forums, people are already trading full day-by-day schedules and joking about planning their sleep around late-night events and medal nights in February 2026. One popular thread lays out the exact sessions almost like a dentist asking if you’re “free six months from now,” with users saying they’re literally blocking off their calendars for the women’s free skate and gala.

“I’ll be sure to note it on my calendar ahead of time!”

TL;DR

  • If you just want the main medal-clinching women’s event : mark Feb 19, 2026.
  • If you want to follow all figure skating : watch from Feb 6–19, 2026 , with a bonus gala on Feb 21.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.