2026 Olympics Team Event speculation

[4everchan]

France won't make it to the final five without Laurence and Cizerone. I think they should do the short. Mens short is a hard call. Both Adam and Kevin can be great or bomb the short. Adam is stronger in the free. But lately Kevin is stronger in the short. If there is no chance to make the final, I think Kevin will be asked to do the short as Adam has potential to medal in the individual. Again, what does everyone think?

Lopareva Brissaud should still score decently... the real issue in my opinion is that women and pairs are two weaknesses. A team can endure one weak even and still qualify for the final if they are strong in the other three... but two weaker events in the SP and that's it. I am not sure Laurence and Guillaume could make up for pairs finishing pretty low as well as perhaps women finishing in the last 2-3 skaters as well.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

My biggest question is if Sui and Han do make the Olympic team, would they be fit enough to compete the team short program AND the main event on top of that? Also China is probably not a favourite country to make it through to the free skates, but it's not totally impossible. Though if I recall correctly, Pairs get the longest break after team.

 

[4everchan]

My biggest question is if Sui and Han do make the Olympic team, would be fit enough to compete the team short program AND the main event on top of that? Also China is probably not a favourite country to make it through to the free skates, but it's not totally impossible.

China would have one strong event. Pairs. Ice dance is very weak. Men and women are hit and miss. So it's a tough call.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

France won't make it to the final five without Laurence and Cizerone. I think they should do the short. Mens short is a hard call. Both Adam and Kevin can be great or bomb the short. Adam is stronger in the free. But lately Kevin is stronger in the short. If there is no chance to make the final, I think Kevin will be asked to do the short as Adam has potential to medal in the individual. Again, what does everyone think?

If FB/C don't want to do team I'm not sure the French federation would try to convince them otherwise as I don't believe it would prioritise a (likely bronze) team medal over the possibility of individual ice dance gold medal. Maybe at home in 2030 it would be different.

 

[Jeanie19]

Lopareva Brissaud should still score decently... the real issue in my opinion is that women and pairs are two weaknesses. A team can endure one weak even and still qualify for the final if they are strong in the other three... but two weaker events in the SP and that's it. I am not sure Laurence and Guillaume could make up for pairs finishing pretty low as well as perhaps women finishing in the last 2-3 skaters as well.

Woman could finish 5-6, and Laurence and Guillaume could finish 1st or 2nd, then France man could be 3rd to 5th. Pairs probably in the last 3.

 

[Jeanie19]

If FB/C don't want to do team I'm not sure the French federation would try to convince them otherwise as I don't believe it would prioritise a (likely bronze) team medal over the possibility of individual ice dance gold medal. Maybe at home in 2030 it would be different.

I think they should prioritize the team medal to get them in contention for 2030. I think the team event should be important to have the French team to become a threat.

 

[4everchan]

I think they should prioritize the team medal to get them in contention for 2030. I think the team event should be important to have the French team to become a threat.

for 2030, there would be different pairs and women skaters most likely. There is no need to focus on that right now for France. Their team may change quite a lot with the new pairs and single skaters coming from juniors (Gladki for instance)

 

[SmileHappy34]

There is one dance team that didn't compete at GPF. . Italy Gunard and Fabbri.

Italy will more likely bring a strong team that could medal in all disciplines in team

Women Lara Naka Gutman could finish third or no lower than 5th
Men Daniel Grassl didnt he finish 2nd in free skate in GPF. Or was it 3rd
Pair Sara Conti and Nicola Macii finished 3rd or 2nd in free skate
Dance Guignard and Fabrri won 3 world medals and scores are similar and close to both Chock and Bates and FB/ Cizeron.
They didn't skate in GPF

Isnt the Olympics in Italy. Any medal would carry momentum and crowd throughout the olympics.

Doing short program allows the points they won in short to be loss on Free Program.
As in Nathan 1st which is 10 to Vincent's 3rd which is 8. U.S. loss two points in free skate.

The scores are so close that unlike other olympic team events it can mean the difference of winning, meddling, or going home without won.

Great Britain strong on Dance
France strong in men, Dance, decent I. Pairs
Canada strong in Dance, Pairs, decent in men
Japan strong in women, Pairs, men
Georgia strong in Pairs. Men,, women
Poland decent in men women
USA strong in women, Dance, decent in Pairs and men
Italy strong in Pairs Dance, decent in women men
Korea strong on Women, men decent in Dance
China strong in Pairs

Decent means can medal in team
Chock and Bates, Gunard and Fabbri, Giles and Poirer, Conti and Macci, Dudek Stellato and Deschamps, Jason, Kevin Aymoz, Fb, Cizerin all are older end od spectrum close to 30 or over.
Someone mentioned endurance. Yes they trained
The Olympics are hyperactive and hypertension. Would they want that I let interferes with individuals medals

Is that what they want being in sport so long.

 

[SmileHappy34]

I forgot Muira and Kihara plus injuries. They are Japan's only pair team


Anyway for me if Japan's wins ladies, men's , and pairs they have team team gold medal. They have the skaters to do it.
Italy is possible only one with U.S. , France, upstaging them . It depends.
Even. Georgia they have the girls and boys.
Or korea.
They would have to beat Kaori Mone Ami, Yuma Shun rm/ rk. It is possible due to competition they already skated in. Their wins outweigh losses.
Win sp and family.
So even I'd c/b win dance but don't skate free the team replace have to win
Even. If ilia wins sp the man who does free has to win.
In 2018 shoma won free , Keiji came in 5th.
In 2022 C/B 1st in short dance, H/D 1st in free dance no points lost

I been doing personal best, season best shorts and free programs.
With and without
Japan tops in ladies u.s. second men us with ilia without japan

It depends
More likely Japan takes it u.s can medal so can Italy france, Canada, Georgia and Korea
Depends on who skates and who doesn't.
The federation doesn't have to say much until a day or two before team competition.

The momentum or loss of one will carry throughout the rest of competition.

Good luck to all

 

[TontoK]

In 2022 C/B 1st in short dance, H/D 1st in free dance no points lost

This is a perfect example of why we have to let things play out on the ice on the day. In both cases, ON PAPER both of these teams SHOULD have finished second in their segments to Sinitsina and Katsalopov. But on those days, they beat them, and that means USA Dance got two more points than anticipated.

And by how much did the final results reflect a USA win over Japan? Exactly two points.

If things had played out as expected in dance, then USA and Japan would have tied. I don't know what the rules are for tie-breaks in the Team Event, but it's an interesting point anyway.

 

[4everchan]

They get to be allocated an extra singles skater and could send Morisi. USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, France, Georgia would all have full teams. And of course Russia, once they are allowed back.

they wouldn't because that would require more entries to the games, which means more participants and the IOC doesn't want that. They want more events, more possibilities for medals with less and less participants.

 

[Blades of Passion]

they wouldn't because that would require more entries to the games

There are 5 additional entries available. Georgia would get 1 of them.

 

[NanaPat]

I think i vaguely remember that this is still the rule.

Teams have to submit their entry ahead of time. Who’s doing SP and LP.

They have to submit all SP entries before first SP starts, all FP entries before first FP starts. So they have one opportunity to re-strategize.

 

[TontoK]

I think the desire to share medals is an underrated aspect of the team event, one that federations consider seriously.

Back to my old sport swimming - it's very common for relay teams to have different swimmers in the preliminary rounds than in the finals. Part of the reason is to "rest" the top athletes, but part of the reason is that preliminary swimmers share in the medals that are earned in the finals.

A relay gold medal could mean that eight swimmers leave the Olympics with a gold medal, even though only four will stand on the podium per team. The preliminary swimmers are not pity selections. Rather it's a recognition that they've worked hard to contribute to the team, and it's a way to reward them and spread the Olympic joy around a bit more.

Of course, the preliminary swimmers have to be good enough to give coaches confidence the team will advance to the finals. In the same way, I imagine USFSA is running the numbers to make sure that using a not-the-top-skater will not cause a major slip in placements.

Edit: I'm also reminded (I think) of a situation in volleyball (not my favorite sport, but one I enjoy on occasion) in which a substitute player was subbed in for one play, to make sure that they get a medal, too. Because I think the rule is that to earn a medal, the athlete has to actually play in the tournament.

Coaches sure do a lot to honor athletes with these "meaningless" team medals.

 

[Jeanie19]

The thing about the team event is that I think smaller Federations view it as a prestige to make up one of the team events. I think it made Japan invest more in pairs and dance. Certainly Italy wants that team Bronze. France is ramping up for the Team Bronze 2030. Their team 2026 should be no lower than 6th and they didn't make top 10 in 2022. So if you look at the team event for all nations and not just the top 5, you can see the advantage of it. But I think it should be the last events, not the first.

 

[4everchan]

The team event is important for Federations because it shows their figure skating program is healthy. Top 10 or even better, like medals, lead to funding. Japan is indeed now developing pairs and dance better. Pairs are already thriving. Korea would be doing really well if they had a pairs... so perhaps, qualifying with an incomplete team this year will "force" the Korean federation to do some more work to build pair teams.
So, in the end, the sport is getting developed all around in all disciplines. It's definitely a good thing.

Of course, I'd like it to be last too but there is some incentive to have it first : perhaps it would be not seen as serious if it were after the individual disciplines... and perhaps some star skaters wouldn't want to participate at all because of having won their big prize and being busy with media and what not. It may be distracting. So I am fine with it being first. It's a good warm up event for the skaters who can get acquainted to the ice and crowd and peak for the individual events.

 

[Blades of Passion]

So we've seen the extremely worrying state of Men's skating in USA, outside of Malinin. But with Russia not getting to field a team this year, we will probably see yet another cowardly, non-sportsmanlike decision in this event, with USA keeping Malinin out of the LP to "rest" him, if there is enough of a lead over Japan after the SP.

It will probably come down to how the USA pair team places. If they aren't too far down in the standings then USA will have a significant lead, thanks to Japan's dance team surely being very far down.

 

[discodisco]

So we've seen the extremely worrying state of Men's skating in USA, outside of Malinin. But with Russia not getting to field a team this year, we will probably see yet another cowardly, non-sportsmanlike decision in this event, with USA keeping Malinin out of the LP to "rest" him, if there is enough of a lead over Japan after the SP.

It will probably come down to how the USA pair team places. If they aren't too far down in the standings then USA will have a significant lead, thanks to Japan's dance team surely being very far down.

Figure skating is not a team sport. It's an individual sport, with this team element added recently as a bit of a gimmick. I think it's cool, but we're not talking about something like soccer or even swimming or track where the relay is a much more traditional event. I personally don't think Malinin needs to rest at all because he seems able to pop off a four or five quad program without much effort, and with a ton of consistency.

But let's be honest - a team metal carries nowhere near the same significance or value to most skaters as an individual metal it's great for skaters who are never going to get close to the podium, but there's no way I would sacrifice my chances at an individual medal for a team/ relay metal in any individual sport.

 

[PaulE]

SCHEDULE

Feb 6: Team Event (Rhythm Dance, Pairs' Short Program, and Women's Short Program)
Feb 7: Team event (Men's Short Program, Free Dance)
Feb 8: Team event (Pairs' Free Skate, Women's Free Skate, Men's Free Skate)
Feb 9: Rhythm Dance 19:20
Feb 10: Men's Short Program

Based on the schedule, if I were making the decision I would probably do the substitutions in Ice Dance and Men.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I personally don't think Malinin needs to rest at all because he seems able to pop off a four or five quad program without much effort, and with a ton of consistency.

He doesn't even need to do more than 2 quads to be the highest scoring option for USA. There's no reason to sit him out, unless he somehow gets injured during the Team SP. The dance event should be split if USA wants to maximize their number of medalists, if they have a comfortable enough lead following the SP.