After a major upset in the rhythm dance, its time for the free dance — the second component of the Olympics ice dance event that decides who goes home with medals around their necks.
Gold medal favorites Madison Chock and Evan Bates from Team USA currently sit in second, just four-tenths of a point behind the French team of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
Chock and Bates entered the individual competition as the three-time defending world champions with two Olympics team event gold medals to their names. They will skate in the penultimate slot today in hopes that their free dance pulls them ahead of the French team.
Though Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron are a new pair with less than one year of skating together, the pair with “sinister energy,” according to retired figure skater Adam Rippon, are no stranger to the Olympics.
OLYMPIC ice dancing: what to know
- What: Free dance
- When: February 11, 1:15 p.m. ET
- Where: Milano Ice Skating Arena (Milan, Italy)
- Channel: USA Network, NBC (from 2:15 p.m.)
- Streaming: DIRECTV (try it free)
Cizeron is the reigning gold medalist with his former partner, Gabriella Papadakis, while Fournier Beaudry split with her former skating partner (and current boyfriend) after he was banned from the sport following a sexual assault accusation.
Two more of Team USA’s ice dance pairs also qualified for the individual event and finished within the top 20 to continue onto today’s free dance. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko will go 10th after finishing 11th and Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik will start 15th after finishing sixth.
Olympics ice dancing schedule and start time
Today, Feb. 11, is the final day of the Olympics 2026 ice dance competition. The free dance is scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m. ET on USA before moving over to NBC at 2:15 p.m..
How to watch Olympic ice dancing 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.
Ice dance – free dance start list
The start order for the free dance is determined by placements following the rhythm dance, with the team atop the leaderboard starting last. Below, find the start list alongside each pair’s rhythm dance (RD) score.
- Sofia Val and Asaf Kazimov (ESP) – RD score: 64.98
- Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov (SWE) – RD score: 67.31
- Holly Harris and Jason Chan (AUS) – RD score: 67.75
- Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek (CZE) – RD score: 72.09
- Phebe Bekker and James Hernandes (GBR) – RD score: 72.46
- Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain le Gac (FRA) – RD score: 74.35
- Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler (CZE) – RD score: 75.33
- Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (GEO) – RD score: 77.15
- Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis (FIN) – RD score: 77.96
- Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) – RD score: 78.15
- Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck (ESP) – RD score: 78.15
- Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha (CAN) – RD score: 79.66
- Evegeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA) – RD score: 82.25
- Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicus (LTU) – RD score: 82.95
- Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (USA) – RD score: 83.53
- Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA) – RD score: 84.28
- Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (GBR) – RD score: 85.47
- Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (CAN) – RD score: 86.18
- Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA) – RD score: 89.72
- Laurence Forunier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) – RD score: 90.18
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
What is free dance in figure skating?
Per the International Skating Union’s handbook, the free dance is “a creative dance program blending dance steps and movements expressing the character/rhythm(s) of the dance music chosen by the couple.”
While the rhythm dance follows a theme, skaters are free to choice any music of their liking for the free dance as long as the performance is four minutes long and features a balance of character expression and required elements.
There is a required set of elements that every free dance must include: the Dance Lift (2-3), the Dance Spin (1), the Step Sequence (1 in hold, 1 out), Synchronized Twizzles (2), and Choreographic Elements (3).
The highest recorded free dance score in competition is 138.41, achieved in 2023 by Chock and Bates.
Figure skating at the Olympics 2026 schedule
- Ice Dance – Free Dance — Feb. 11, 1:30 p.m. ET*
- Men’s Singles – Free Skating — Feb. 13, 1 p.m. ET*
- 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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