Team USA will be led by Grand Prix Final men’s champion Nathan Chen and reigning World bronze medalists Maia and Alex Shibutani. They will be joined by Olympic veterans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who competed on the 2014 team with the Shibutanis. Bates is making his third appearance at an Olympic Games (2010, with Emily Samuelson).
The networks of NBC and NBCOlympics.com will broadcast live coverage of all 11 days of figure skating competition. The primetime schedule is below. Please visit the U.S. Figure Skating Fan Zone or www.nbcolympics.com for more information.
Ladies
Karen Chen – The 2017 U.S. champion is making her Olympic debut fresh off of a bronze medal at the 2018 U.S. Championships. Chen’s free skate and fourth-place finish at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships helped secured three spots for the United States at this year’s Olympic Games.
Mirai Nagasu – Nagasu is one of three Olympic “veterans” on the figure skating squad. The Arcadia, California, native finished fourth in Vancouver as a 16-year-old. Now, as the oldest member of the ladies contingent (24), Nagasu is just the second American woman in history to land a triple Axel in international competition. Only two ladies competitors have ever landed the triple Axel in Olympic competition (Midori Ido, Mao Asada).
Bradie Tennell – The Carpentersville, Illinois, native has been training at Twin Rinks in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, since she was nine years old. The recently turned 20-year-old wakes up at 4 a.m. each morning to make the hour-long commute to the rink. After winning the 2015 U.S. junior title, Tennell fought through multiple back injuries to become the 2018 U.S. champion. In the fall, she won the bronze medal at Bridgestone Skate America. Her short program score of 73.79 at the 2018 Prudential U.S. Figure Skating Championships marked a new U.S. record.
Men
Nathan Chen – Chen successfully defended his U.S. title in January, becoming the first back-to-back U.S. champion since Jeremy Abbott (2009-10). He enters the Olympic Winter Games as the only undefeated male skater in the 2017-18 season, having won two Grand Prix Series titles and the Grand Prix Final. Chen is the only man in the world to receive credit for landing five different types of quadruple jumps in international competition. He is making his Olympic debut, though successfully predicted the moment in an interview with Andrea Joyce on NBC in 2010 as a ten-year-old.
Adam Rippon – After missing the second half of the 2016-17 season due to a foot injury, Rippon had a successful fall campaign by winning silver at both of his Grand Prix Series assignments and earning his second-straight trip to the Grand Prix Final, where he placed fifth. Rippon is also making his Olympic debut.
Vincent Zhou – Zhou won the bronze medal at the 2018 U.S. Championships. In 2017, he won the U.S. silver medal and the 2017 World Junior title. As with the other two men, Zhou, the youngest member of the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team at 17 years three months, is making his Olympic debut.
Pairs
Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim – Married June 26, 2016, Scimeca-Knierim and Knierim (the only married couple on Team USA) are making their debut after winning their second U.S. title in January. The duo also won the 2015 U.S. Championships. Although they missed the 2016-17 season due to Scimeca-Knierim suffering from an illness that required three stomach surgeries, they have earned the highest U.S. finish at each of their international assignments since their return to competition at the 2017 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
Ice Dance
Madison Chock and Evan Bates – Chock and Bates represent two of the five team members that are Olympic veterans. Bates is making his third Olympic appearance (second with Chock) and is the first American ice dancer to accomplish that feat in history. Chock and Bates placed eighth at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue – The 2018 U.S. champions are also four-time U.S. bronze medalists. They stood on the podium at both of their Grand Prix assignments this season, qualifying them for their third-straight trip to the Grand Prix Final. This is their first Olympic berth, following their highest U.S. Championships finish.
Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani – The brother-sister tandem are two-time U.S. champions. They topped the podium at both of their Grand Prix assignments this season before earning bronze at the Grand Prix Final. They are the 2017 World bronze medalists, 2016 World silver medalists, and placed ninth at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Worth noting
By the numbers…
*U.S. Figure Skating has 15 Olympic champions, most recently Meryl Davis and Charlie White in ice dance in 2014.
*The United States has the most figure skating medals by country (48), as well as the most gold (15), silver (16) and bronze (17).
*The United States has also won the most Olympic titles by country (15). Soviet Union (13) and Russia (13) hold the next two spots.
*This year’s U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Team knows what it feels like to top a podium. 13 of the 14 team members have been U.S. champions at the championship-level. Vincent Zhou has not, but has been the U.S. champion at the intermediate, novice and junior levels. He was the U.S. runner-up in 2017.
*All three American ice dance teams are U.S. champions. In 2018, the three teams were separated by just .52 points at the U.S. Championships.
*Five members of the U.S. team come to PyeongChang with previous Olympic experience: Mirai Nagasu (2010), Maia Shibutani (2014), Alex Shibutani (2014), Madison Chock (2014) are competing in their second Games. Evan Bates will take the ice in his third (2010, 2014). Forty-three athletes on Team USA have been to three Olympic Games or more, and 60 members will compete in their second Olympics Games.
*The rest of the figure skating roster accounts for nine of 140 of Team USA’s first time Olympians.
Just for fun…
*While Vincent Zhou is the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Team, he is one of six 17-year-olds who will compete for Team USA at the 2018 Games. He is one of the only team members to not live through the “Y2K” scare.
*Karen Chen (and short track speedskater Jessica Kooreman) are the shortest members of Team USA at 5 feet tall.
More “Fun Facts about Team USA" can be found here.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work…
Team USA’s first opportunity to medal in PyeongChang will come in the Olympic Figure Skating Team Event, which debuted in the Olympic program in 2014. Team USA won a bronze medal in the inaugural event.
Full results from 2014:
Gold – Russia (75 points)
Silver – Canada (65 points)
Bronze – United States (60 points)
4. – Italy (52 points)
5. – Japan (51 points)
6. – France (22 points/Did Not Advance)
7. – China (20 points/DNA)
8. – Germany (17 points/DNA)
9. – Ukraine (10 points/DNA)
10. – Great Britain (8 points/DNA)
In 2018, Israel and the Republic of Korea will compete instead of Spain and Ukraine. Russian athletes will compete in the event under the Olympic Flag with the designation Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR).
Each team will consist of one woman, one man, one pairs team and one ice dance team to be selected from athletes who have qualified in their individual disciplines. Each nation will be allowed to make up to two exchanges after the short program/dance. The team event will consist of the 10 best national teams from NOC/ISU members and the five teams with the highest number of points after the short program/dance will qualify for the free skate/dance. Athletes receive points based on their finishes in each segment of competition. The team with the most aggregate points through eight segments of competition will win.
U.S. Figure Skating announced Thursday that Nathan Chen will skate for the United States in the men's short program. Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim are the country's only pairs competitors so they will skate in the pairs short program and free skate.
The other segments will be announced at approximately the following times:
Ladies short program and short dance – Feb. 10 10 a.m.
Pairs free skate – Feb. 11, 1:15 p.m.
Men’s and ladies free skate, free dance – Feb. 11, 3:30 p.m.
Figure Skating Hot Beds...
Four metro areas are represented well on this year’s U.S. Olympic figure skating team:
*Bay Area - The Bay Area is home to Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou. Though Chen now trains in the Los Angeles area, she is from Fremont and still visits often. Zhou was born in San Jose and raised in Palo Alto. He now splits his time training in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Riverside, California. Both have parents who still live in the area. The area is home to U.S. figure skating greats Peggy Fleming, Brian Boitano, Rudy Galindo, Debi Thomas and Kristi Yamaguchi.
*Colorado Springs - Four athletes represent Colorado Springs, which also serves as the home to U.S. Figure Skating and the United States Olympic Committee. All four athletes train at the World Arena Ice Hall. Mirai Nagasu has trained there for just under four years under Tom Zakrajsek, while Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim have trained in the Springs since April 2012 under Dalilah Sappenfield. Zhou also trains in Colorado Springs.
*Detroit – Two of the United States’ ice dance teams train in the greater Detroit area, with Maia and Alex Shibutani in Canton and Madison Chock and Evan Bates in Novi. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue trained in Bloomfield Hills through the 2015 season and now train in Montreal. Hubbell is from Sylvania, Ohio, which is just south of Detroit.
*Los Angeles – Mirai Nagasu and Madison Chock are both from Southern California, while Nathan Chen and Adam Rippon train in Lakewood and Zhou and Karen Chen train in Riverside.
Other training sites represented on the 2018 team are Chicago (Tennell) and Montreal (Hubbell/Donohue).
Last Time…
…the U.S won a medal in ladies competition…Sasha Cohen (silver, 2006)
…the U.S won a medal in men’s competition…Evan Lysacek (gold, 2010)
…the U.S won a medal in pairs competition…Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard (bronze, 1988)
…the U.S won a medal in ice dance competition…Meryl Davis and Charlie White (gold, 2014)
…the U.S won a gold medal in ladies competition…Sarah Hughes (2002)
…the U.S won a gold medal in men’s competition…Evan Lysacek (2010)
…the U.S. won a gold medal in pairs competition… N/A
…the U.S won a gold medal in ice dance competition…Meryl Davis and Charlie White (gold, 2014)
Don’t Miss the Action...
Fans can visit the Fan Zone for the full figure skating television schedule, live stream links and a daily blog from PyeongChang. U.S. Figure Skating will provide the most up-to-date information on their Twitter, @USFigureSkating, and Facebook Page throughout the Games. There will also be a behind-the-scenes look at the figure skating team’s Olympic experience on U.S. Figure Skating’s Instagram, @usfigureskating, and Snapchat, @USFigureSkating. Fans can also visit www.icenetwork.com for additional coverage of the Olympic Games.
U.S. ENTRIES AT THE 2018 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
|
|
NAME |
HOMETOWN |
TRAINING TOWN |
|
Ladies |
Fremont, California |
Riverside, California |
|
|
Arcadia, California |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
||
|
Carpentersville, Illinois |
Buffalo Grove, Illinois |
||
|
Men |
Salt Lake City |
Lakewood, California |
|
|
Los Angeles |
Lakewood, California |
||
|
Palo Alto, Califonia |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
||
|
Pairs |
Addison, Illinois |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
|
|
Ice dance |
Novi, Michigan |
Novi, Michigan |
|
|
Okemos, Michigan |
Montreal |
||
|
Ann Arbor, Mich. |
Canton, Michigan |
2018 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES NBC PRIMETIME BROADCAST SCHEDULE
(All times Eastern; subject to change) Full schedule here.
|
|
Event |
Time |
|
Thursday, Feb. 8 |
Figure Skating Team Event (Men and pairs short programs) |
8 p.m. |
|
Saturday, Feb. 10 |
Figure Skating Team Event (Short dance and ladies short) |
8 p.m. |
|
Saturday, Feb. 10 |
Figure Skating Team Event (Pairs free) |
11:30 p.m. |
|
Sunday, Feb. 11 |
Figure Skating Team Event (Men and ladies free, free dance) |
7 p.m. |
|
Tuesday, Feb. 13 |
Pairs short |
8 p.m. |
|
Wednesday, Feb. 14 |
Pairs free |
8 p.m. |
|
Thursday, Feb. 15 |
Men’s short |
8 p.m. |
|
Friday, Feb. 16 |
Men’s free |
7 p.m. |
|
Sunday, Feb. 18 |
Short dance |
8 p.m. |
|
Monday, Feb. 19 |
Free dance |
8 p.m. |
|
Tuesday, Feb. 20 |
Ladies short |
8 p.m. |
|
Wednesday, Feb. 22 |
Ladies free |
8 p.m. |
