Figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Team event

Required performance elements

Single skating

Pair skating

Ice dance

Judging

Team event scoring

Records

Results (qualifying round)

Men's singles

Ice dance

	Team	Nation
1		United States|2022 WinterFS skater||Victoria Sinitsina|Nikita Katsalapov Pairs The pairs short program was held on Friday, 4 February 2022. Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nolan Seegert of Germany were forced to withdraw from the team event after Seegert tested positive for COVID-19. Since Germany had no other teams competing in pair skating at the Olympics, they could not offer a substitute, so Germany received zero points for the pairs event. Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China set a new world record score in the pairs short program with an 82.83. Their routine was described as "flawless", with solid side-by-side triple toe loops, a throw triple flip, and elements all graded at level four. Sui and Han later surpassed their own world record in the pairs individual event with a score of 84.41. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of Russia finished in second place after a sold performance that set a new personal best score and garnered level four scores in all elements. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States, who had earlier had to withdraw from the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships when Frazier tested positive for COVID-19, finished in third place with a new personal best score. "I'm so proud of us," Knierim said. "We really rose to the occasion today." Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan also set a new personal best score and finished in fourth place. Women's singles The women's short program was held on Saturday, 5 February 2022. Kamila Valieva of Russia, who had set a new world record in the short program at the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, finished in first place, outscoring Wakaba Higuchi of Japan by more than fifteen points. Valieva landed a triple Axel, making her only the fourth woman to land one at the Olympics. Tara Lipinski, Olympic gold medalist and figure skating commentator for NBC Sports, described her thusly: "A talent like this comes along once in a lifetime." Maggie Ryan of PopSugar described her as "the complete package, combining elite jumping abilities with such elegance that she to float across the ice." At the time, Valieva's first-place finish gave the Russian team the points they needed to move into first place. However, Valieva's achievements at both the European Championships and the Winter Olympics were later nullified by her retroactive disqualification in 2024. Wakaba Higuchi delivered a sold performance that included three triple jumps to finish in second place. "I was really nervous because a lot of things didn't go well in practice," Higuchi stated afterward, "but I was able to skate calmly in competition, which was a relief." Madeline Schizas of Canada finished in third place with a new personal best score, ensuring that the Canadian team would advance to the second round of the competition, with a "standout performance." "It's my first skate at my first Olympic Games," Schizas stated afterward. "It's almost so surreal to be here and I was really excited to support my team today as part of the team event. I was a little bit nervous before today, about being a part of the team... but they gave me so much support and I just loved the experience." Karen Chen of the United States, who had performed below expectations at the 2018 Winter Olympics, finished in fifth place after falling on her triple loop, which was the last element of her routine. "I always feel like one of my biggest struggles is battling competition nerves," Chen stated in an interview. "There's a lot of pressure and stress that come with it, especially when I feel like my identity is based off of my performance and my placement." Skater Nation 1 Japan|2022 Wintersortname|Madeline|Schizas Overall ;Code key Upon completion of the women's short program, the top five teams were cleared to move on to the second round of competition. With Kamila Valieva's disqualification not yet in effect, the Russian team was in the lead with 36 points, followed by the United States, Japan, Canada, and China. The bottom five teams – Georgia, Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Ukraine – were eliminated from the competition. Valieva's eventual disqualification deducted 10 points from the Russian score, retroactively demoting them to third place at this stage of the competition, and elevating the United States and Japan to first and second, respectively. Nation Status 1 United States|2022 Winter Results (final round) ;Code key Men's singles The men's free skate was held on Saturday, 5 February 2022. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who had won the silver medal at the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships, finished in first place, successfully landing four quadruple jumps and two triple Axels, and shattering his personal best score by over eleven points. Kagiyama was only the third person to ever score above 200 points in the free skate, joining Nathan Chen of the United States and Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan. "That was my first time scoring in the 200s, so I'm really happy," said Kagiyama afterward. Mark Kondratiuk of Russia, who had won the 2022 Russian Figure Skating Championships, finished in second place with a performance that featured three quadruple jumps. Vincent Zhou, competing on behalf of the United States, finished in third place after performing the "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" routine that he'd originally performed in 2019. Zhou had wanted to perform this routine – "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" being based on a Chinese novel and starring a cast of Chinese actors – before the all-Chinese audience at the Olympics. It was also dedicated to his parents who had emigrated from China in 1992. Zhou later tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from the men's individual event, rendering this performance his only one at the Olympics. Roman Sadovsky of Canada finished in last place, nearly thirty points behind Jin Boyang of China. Sadovsky's last-place finish, coupled with Kagiyama's first-place finish, put the Canadian team into fourth place, nine points behind Japan. Sadovsky had an error on his opening quadruple Salchow, and then continued to make a series of errors as his program progressed. He described his performance thusly: "Definitely not the outcome I hoped for... I've had some good skates, some not so good skates, but this one is definitely closer to not so good. But hoping that I can use this opportunity to find that comfort in the event." Name Nation 1 Japan|2022 Wintersortname|Mark|Kondratiuk Pairs The pairs free skate was held on Monday, 7 February 2022. Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of Russia finished in first place despite an unexpected fall during their final lift. In 2021, Mishina and Galliamov had already made history by being the first pairs team in thirty-five years to win the World Figure Skating Championships in their first appearance. They had also recently won the 2022 European Figure Skating Championships, setting new world records in all segments in the process. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan finished in second place, while Peng Cheng and Jin Yang of China finished in third. Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States, who were in third place after the short program, finished in fifth place after Knierim flubbed a triple jump as a single and under-rotated another. Team Nation 1 ROC|2022 WinterFS skater||Riku Miura|Ryuichi Kihara Ice dance The free dance was held on Monday, 7 February 2022. Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov of Russia delivered a "beautiful performance", which Olympic silver medalist and NBC News ice dance commentator Tanith Belbin White described as "the best... put on display in this first piece of the music". Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States "delivered an excellent and engaging program" to finish in first place, narrowly beating out Sinitsina and Katsalapov. Chock and Bates' free skate featured music from Daft Punk, with Chock dressed as an alien and Bates as an astronaut. Their performance netted a season-best score. "We have an opportunity to inspire the next generation of American skaters with what we do here," Bates said after the team event concluded, "because let's be honest, so many new eyes, so many new viewers to our sport at this event; that's what makes it so unique." Team Nation 1 United States|2022 WinterFS skater||Victoria Sinitsina|Nikita Katsalapov Women's singles The women's free skate was held on Monday, 7 February 2022. Kamila Valieva of Russia originally finished in first place, becoming the first woman to not only successfully perform a quadruple jump at the Olympics, but to perform two. Despite falling on an attempted third quadruple jump, Valieva still finished with a margin of over thirty points ahead of Kaori Sakamoto of Japan. However, all of Valieva's aforementioned achievements were eventually nullified by her disqualification. Olympic gold medalist and figure skating commentator Tara Lipinski described Sakamoto's performance as "a moment". Karen Chen of the United States, who had made several errors in her short program, delivered a much stronger free skate, crying tears of happiness and guaranteeing the United States a silver medal finish. "I’m so happy. I knew that we had a great shot of getting a medal," Chen said. "I didn’t allow myself to think about what color... gold, silver, bronze, or whatnot, but I’m just really happy that I did my job and that the team was very happy." Madeline Schizas of Canada finished in third place with a "nearly flawless skate" that beat her previous personal best score and included several triple jump combinations. "The feeling from the end of my last jump... is one of my favorite parts of that program," Schizas stated afterward. "I'll just never forget the experience of skating such a good program." It was, however, not enough to pull the Canadian team into third place, as they were already too far behind in the ranking to make up the difference. Skater Nation 1 Japan|2022 Wintersortname|Madeline|Schizas Overall ;Code key The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee initially won the event, nine points ahead of the United States team, who finished second. The Japanese team had originally finished in the third place. However, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended Kamila Valieva for four years retroactive to 25 December 2021, the International Olympic Committee re-allocated the medals, upgrading the United States to gold and Japan to silver, while downgrading the Russian team to bronze. Nation United States|2022 Wintersilver2 Aftermath The medal ceremony originally scheduled for Tuesday, 8 February, was delayed over what International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams described as a situation that required "legal consultation" with the International Skating Union. Media outlets reported on Wednesday that the issue was a positive test, administered in December 2021, for trimetazidine by Kamila Valieva, which was officially confirmed on 11 February. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency, under suspension from the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2015 for its years of serving solely to hide the positive doping results of Russian athletes, cleared Valieva to compete on 9 February, a day after the December test results were released. The IOC and the International Skating Union appealed that decision. On 14 February, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Valieva be allowed to compete in the individual women's event, on grounds that preventing her from competing "would cause her irreparable harm in the circumstances", though her gold medal in the team event was still under consideration. The favorable decision from the Court was made in part due to her age, as minor athletes were subject to different rules than adult athletes. The IOC announced that the medal ceremony would not take place until the investigation was over and there was a concrete decision of whether to strip Russia of their medals. In mid-November, the WADA requested that CAS take up the review of the case, seeking a four-year suspension of Valieva, which would exclude her from competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and to disqualify all of her results dating back to the date of her positive drug test. WADA President Witold Bańka wrote that "the Russian Anti-Doping Agency did not meet a WADA-imposed Nov. 4 deadline to deliver a verdict on Valiyeva's case." In January 2023, RUSADA cleared Valieva of any wrongdoing. Travis Tygart, CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency stated bluntly: "WADA and the ISU have to appeal this decision, for the sake of the credibility of the anti-doping system and the rights of all athletes. The world can’t possibly accept this self-serving decision by RUSADA, which in the recent past has been a key instrument of Russia’s state sponsored doping fraud and is non-compliant. Justice demands a full, fair, public hearing outside of Russia." Tygart criticized both WADA and the ISU for not taking the matter directly to the CAS: "You know, both could have gone directly to, and taken out of Russian hands... Because we knew, you can't have a non-compliant making a fair, balanced decision." On 29 January 2024, the CAS disqualified Valieva for four years retroactive to 25 December 2021 for the positive test for trimetazidine, which they ruled constituted an anti-doping rule violation. On 30 January 2024, the ISU, among other actions, subtracted Valieva's points from Russia's score without changing any other scores, and re-allocated the medals in the figure skating team event, upgrading the United States and Japan to gold and silver, respectively, while downgrading Russia to bronze. Skate Canada accused the ISU of not following its own rule, which requires that "competitors having finished the competition and who initially placed lower than disqualified competitor will move up accordingly in their placement". Had the other women's singles skaters in the team event received one additional point each for moving up one place, each of the other four teams in the final would have earned two additional points, including Canada, which would have placed them ahead of Russia. In a statement on 9 February, the ISU contended that the rule did not apply in this case: "In any complex and extraordinary situation like this, the reallocation of points could negatively affect the relative team ranking, adversely impacting teams that had nothing to do with the incident in question". The Canadian Olympic Committee, Skate Canada, and the members of the Canadian figure skating team appealed the decision to the CAS, requesting that two points be added to the scores of the United States, Japan, Canada, and China; thus awarding the Canadian team the bronze medals. Three separate Russian appeals were also filed – one each by the ROC, the Russian Figure Skating Federation, and the Russian team – requesting reinstatement of the gold medals. All four appeals named the ISU as defendant, with the Canadian appeal additionally including all three Russia appellants and the IOC as defendants. The Russian appeals were dismissed on 25 July; the Canadian appeal was dismissed on 1 August, thereby finalizing the results. At the ISU Congress held in June 2022, members of the ISU Council accepted a proposal to gradually increase the minimum age for senior competition to seventeen beginning with the 2024–25 season. In order to avoid forcing skaters who had already competed in the senior category to return to juniors, the age limit remained unchanged during the 2022–23 season, before increasing to sixteen for the 2023–24 season, and then seventeen for the 2024–25 season. Although there had been previous proposals to increase this age limit, the 2022 vote gained traction following the 2022 Winter Olympics, where Kamila Valieva had only been fifteen years old when she competed. Medal ceremony The inordinate delay in awarding the medals from the team event was distressing for the skaters involved. Zachary Donohue of the United States described the loss felt by members of the American team: missing out on the Olympic medal ceremony, missed financial opportunities that come from being an Olympic medalist, missed sponsorships, and the loss of status from being able to describe oneself as an Olympic medalist. Vincent Zhou of the United States described the situation thusly: "It felt like a sting on the history of figure skating and the Olympics. It reflects poorly on the integrity of sport in the Olympics in general. There's been a shocking lack of transparency and communication, not just to the public, but to the athletes themselves." On the one-year anniversary of the 2022 Winter Olympic opening ceremony, U.S. Figure Skating posted a picture on social media of the entire U.S. skating team standing in front of the Olympic rings, dressed in their team uniforms and holding empty presentation boxes that should have come with a medal. The American and Japanese teams ultimately received their medals at a ceremony which took place on 7 August 2024 at at the Jardins du Trocadéro during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The Russian team was unable to attend the medal ceremony due to the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee and other related logistical issues. According to Sport Express, the Russian skaters filed a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport over not receiving an invitation to the ceremony. In January 2025, Match TV, citing the IOC press service, reported that the bronze medals would be handed over to the ROC when it became logistically possible to do so. Works cited *