The second full week of the Winter Olympics is kicking off with the penultimate figure skating event of the games.
Pairs figure skating begins today, Feb. 15, with the short program. 19 pairs will compete in this first round, including the gold medalists from the 2022 Winter Olympics, China’s Wenjing Sui and Cong Han. Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who finished atop the leaderboard in both pairs portions of the team event last week will also compete for an individual medal.
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, the Team USA pair whose fourth-place finish in the free skate round of the team event last week helped push Team USA to a gold medal, will start 14th today. Team USA’s second pair, Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe, will start fifth.
OLYMPIC ice dancing: what to know
- What: Pairs – short program
- When: February 15, 1:45 p.m. ET
- Where: Milano Ice Skating Arena (Milan, Italy)
- Channel: USA Network, NBC (beginning at 3 p.m.)
- Streaming: DIRECTV (try it free)
As for other international pairs to look out for, Canada’s Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps weren’t sure if they even made it to the Olympics last week. Stellato-Dudek, 42, was injured during pre-game training in Montreal, but recovered in time to compete with Deschamps today.
Following today’s event, the top 16 pairs will move on to Monday, Feb. 16’s free skate portion. Medals will be awarded at the end of that event to the pairs with the highest combined scores.
Olympics ice dancing schedule and start time
Today, Feb. 15, is the first day of the Olympics 2026 pairs figure skating competition. The rhythm dance is scheduled to begin at 1:45 p.m. ET on USA before moving over to NBC at 2:40 p.m..
How to watch pairs figure skating at the Olympics for free
If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Olympics for free.
DIRECTV is our favorite service for watching TV live for free — it has a five-day free trial and there are a ton of options for plans that include USA Network and NBC (and every other channel you’ll need for the Olympics), starting at $49.99/month.
You can also catch every minute of the Olympics with a subscription to Peacock, which starts at $10.99/month.
Figure skating – pair’s short program start list
- Karina Akopova and Nikita Rakhmanin (ARM)
- Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN)
- Anastasiia Golubeva and Hektor Giotopoulous Moore (AUS)
- Camille Kovalev and Pavel Kovalev (FRA)
- Emily Chan and Spencer Akira Howe (USA)
- Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba (NED)
- Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN)
- Ioulia Chtchetinina and Michal Wozniak (POL)
- Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (CAN)
- Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel (GER)
- Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby (GBR)
- Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (HUN)
- Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini (ITA)
- Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea (USA)
- Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps (CAN)
- Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO)
- Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA)
- Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (JPN)
- Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (GER)
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
- See today’s Olympics schedule and medal count
- US-born Chinese Olympian slams organizers for not rearranging events around her schedule
- American Jordan Stolz wins second straight speed skating gold in Olympic record time
- Lindsey Vonn returning to US after revealing fourth surgery ‘went well’
- Canadian curler fires back at Sweden after cheating accusations as drama explodes
Figure skating at the Olympics 2026 schedule
- Pairs – Short Program — Feb. 15, 1:45 p.m. ET
- Pairs – Free Skating — Feb. 16, 2 p.m. ET*
- Women’s Singles – Short Program — Feb. 17, 12:45 p.m. ET
- Women’s Singles – Free Skating — Feb. 19, 1 p.m. ET*
- Exhibition Gala — Feb. 21, 2 p.m. ET
*medals awarded
When do the Winter Olympics end?
The 2026 Winter Olympics end with the closing ceremony on Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.
