Team figure skating is like a country-versus-country all‑star meet: each nation fields skaters in all four disciplines, and their placements are converted into points that add up to a team total.

Quick Scoop: Core Idea

  • Each team = 1 men’s single skater, 1 women’s single skater, 1 pairs team, 1 ice dance team.
  • They all skate “short” segments first; placements earn points (1st = most points, 10th = fewest).
  • After those shorts, only the top 5 countries move on to the final “free” segments.
  • In the free segments, they earn more placement-points; totals across all segments decide the medals.

Event Format (Olympic-style)

  • About 10 countries qualify for the team event at the Olympics.
  • The four disciplines involved:
    • Men’s singles
    • Women’s singles
    • Pair skating
    • Ice dance
  • Schedule is spread over about three days:
    1. Short/rhythm programs in several disciplines (often pairs, women, ice dance first).
    2. Remaining short program (men) and sometimes first free skate/dance.
    3. Remaining free skates/dances for the top 5 teams.

All athletes in the team event also have to be qualified for their individual Olympic events, so you’re watching the same big names you’ll see later in the solo competitions.

How the Scoring Works

Think of it as a simple placement‑to‑points conversion layered on top of normal figure skating scoring.

  1. Normal judging first
    • Every skater or team is scored under the usual figure skating system (technical elements + components) to get a program score.
 * Within each discipline’s segment, skaters are ranked 1–10 by that score.
  1. Placement turns into team points
    • 1st place in a segment = 10 points for that country.
    • 2nd = 9 points, 3rd = 8, … down to 10th = 1 point.
 * This happens for each of the four disciplines in the short portions.
  1. Cut to the final
    • After all four shorts/rhythm dances, each team’s points are added.
    • Only the top 5 teams advance to the free skates/free dances.
  1. Final round scoring
    • The remaining teams do their free programs (one per discipline).
    • Placements again convert to 10–1 points in each discipline.
 * Short‑segment points + free‑segment points = final team total; highest total wins gold.

Substitutions and Strategy

Countries can play a bit of chess with their lineups:

  • A country may swap in different skaters between the short and free segments in up to two disciplines (rules are similar to the 2022 format and carried forward).
  • Strong teams often:
    • Use one star skater in the short to secure big points.
    • Swap to another strong skater in the free to keep both fresher for their individual events.

This creates strategy questions like:

  • “Do we save our best men’s skater for the individual event?”
  • “Do we need our absolute best ice dance team in both short and free to stay in the medal hunt?”

Why Fans Care (and Why It’s Fun to Watch)

  • It’s a country story as much as an individual one: you can root for a team’s overall arc across three days.
  • You get a rapid tour of all four disciplines right at the start of the Games, so it’s a great “on‑ramp” if you’re new to figure skating.
  • Momentum matters: a surprise high finish from, say, a pairs team can keep a country in the top 5 cut, even if their singles skaters are weaker.

A simple way to picture it: imagine a track meet where one sprinter, one distance runner, one long jumper, and one hurdler each earn points by placement — add all their points together to get the team champion. That’s essentially how the team figure skating event works, just with blades and choreography instead of spikes and lanes.

SEO bits (meta + note)

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Learn how the Olympic team figure skating event works in 2026: format, scoring, substitutions, and strategy, plus why it’s become one of the most watchable early‑Games events.

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