Most people don’t think of Olympic figure skating as a team event. After all, the marquee events are the women’s and men’s individual competitions, with pairs skating also getting some attention. But the action begins with the team competition on Friday, when skaters from different disciplines will work together to earn medals for their countries.
The team competition is contested over four different disciplines: ladies, men’s, pairs, and ice dancing. Athletes will skate both a short program and a free skate in each version, though the same skater or pair does not have to complete both programs.
Individuals Ranked to Earn Team Points
Scoring is handled just like in the individual disciplines, but the team format adds a twist. After all of the skaters are ranked, they will earn points for the overall competition based on that ranking. With ten teams in the competition, the first place finisher receives 10 points, second place receives nine, and so on.
After a short program has been completed in all four disciplines, the scores will be tallied, and the top five teams will move on to the free skate. Once again, skaters will be ranked and earn points in the same manner. At the end of the competition, the cumulative points from the short program and free skate portions will determine the final standings and the medals that are awarded.
While the team event hasn’t yet grabbed the attention of fans the way the individual competitions do, the athletes themselves find it to be a great way to kick off the Olympics.
“I’m just so happy to be here,” Adam Rippon, who will perform the men’s free skate for the United States on Monday, told USA Today. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s a great way to kind of get the competition started – hope to get a medal for Team USA.”
OAR, Canada Are Teams to Beat
The Americans are favored to get a medal out of this event, as they are one of the few teams with the depth in all four disciplines to seriously challenge for the title. Still, they are behind two teams that are basically considered co-favorites: the Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) and Canada.
At the 2014 competition in Sochi, Russia dominated, winning five of the eight portions outright and finishing with 75 out of a maximum of 80 possible points. That easily earned them the gold over Canada (65 points) and the United States (60), who themselves were far ahead of other contenders like Italy and Japan.
Oddsmakers are expecting similar results this time around. At bwin, OAR has been installed as a +150 favorite, just ahead of Canada (+160). The United States is also given a realistic chance of victory at +300, while China (+700) is the only other nation given reasonable odds of pulling off an upset.
The dominance of these teams is even more apparent when it comes to betting on who will finish in the top 3. The three top contenders are huge favorites to stay there: OAR (-2000), Canada (-1250) and the USA (-400) won’t earn bettors much money if they wager on those teams to make the podium.
Figure Skating Team Event Odds to Win Gold (via bwin)
- OAR: +150
- Canada: +160
- USA: +300
- China: +700
- FIELD (Japan, Korea): +1100
- Italy: +5000
- France: +6600
- Israel: +10000
- Germany: +10000