Men's Olympic figure skating, free skate: Preview, schedule and how to watch

Nathan Chen is just four minutes away from adding Olympic gold to world titles in 2018, 2019 and 2021 with medals set to be awarded at the Capital Indoor Stadium in men's figure skating on Thursday (10 Feburary) at Beijing 2022.

Chen leads the competition after his world record short program (113.97) left him ahead of Youth Olympic Games champion Kagiyama Yuma (108.12) and PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist Uno Shoma (105.9).

Cha Junhwan, Morisi Kvitelashvili and Jason Brown round out the top six that will skate in the free skate's final group.

The shock of the short program was two-time reigning Olympic champion Hanyu Yuzuru finished the day in eighth after popping his opening quadruple Salchow attempt. His 95.15 score means he'll need to deliver vintage Hanyu skating and, perhaps, land the first quad Axel in competition to make the podium.

While Thursday's competition will award the first individual figure skating medals at Beijing 2022, ROC captured team gold ahead of the U.S., while Japan earned its first-ever team bronze earlier in the event.

Here's a look at the competition.

Chen, Kagiyama and Uno set for epic battle

Usually undemonstrative on the ice, Chen punched the air with delight at the end of Tuesday's short program.

"I have no idea what came over me," he said. "I generally don't do stuff like that but it just felt right. I was just really happy."

As he should have been. His massive total was a new world record, besting Hanyu's previous record from the 2020 Four Continents by more than two points. And, more than that, it erased the pain of Chen's first Olympic experience where errors in the short program kept him off the podium.

"I'm just elated," Chen told U.S. broadcaster NBC. "Last Olympics both of my short programs didn't go the way that I wanted. [This] feels really good; this means a lot."

Though he carries a five-point lead with him into the free skate, he'll still need a strong performance to hold off Kagiyama, whom many regard as the sport's future, and Uno.

If Chen is to take the title, he will become eighth American man to do so and the first since Evan Lysacek at Vancouver 2010.

Hanyu needs rebound, wants quadruple Axel history

Hanyu finds himself heading into the free skate in unfamiliar Olympic territory. In his two previous gold medal wins, he had comfortable leads heading into the second day of competition.

Here, he'll be fighting from behind.

"Anything can happen," Hanyu said Tuesday. "Let's see how things turn out. I’m just going to give it everything I’ve got and try to claw back into the competition."

A clean skate from Hanyu in the penultimate group could put the pressure on as the final skaters take to the ice.

But, he'll also have another matter in mind: successfully performing the quadruple Axel - a jump that has never been done at the Olympics - or elsewhere.

In Beijing, Hanyu has attempted the jump several times, including in Monday's practice session but was unable to land it cleanly.

He landed one in December at Japanese nationals, but the jump was downgraded - as Hanyu landed on two feet and completed the rotation (meant to be done mid-air) on the ice.

He has said that his quest for the quad Axel is more important than even a third Olympic gold medal, and Hanyu remains undeterred.

"Of course," he said, when asked if he still plans to perform the jump.

Men's singles - schedule, skate order

The free program is underway from 09:30 local time on Thursday (10 February). You can see the full skating schedule here.

The free program's skating order is determined by the scores from the short program, with the athletes skating in reverse order of finish:

09:30 - Group 1
BRITSCHGI Lukas (SUI) 76.16, MOZALEV Andrei (ROC) 77.05, SHMURATKO Ivan (UKR) 78.11, MILYUKOV Konstantin (BLR) 78.49, MAJOROV Nikolaj (SWE) 78.54, CARRILLO Donovan (MEX) 79.69.

**10:25 - Group 2
**LITVINTSEV Vladimir (AZE) 84.15, KERRY Brendan (AUS) 84.79, VASILJEVS Deniss (LAT) 85.30, KONDRATIUK Mark (ROC) 86.11, SIAO HIM FA Adam (FRA) 86.74, RIZZO Matteo (ITA) 88.63.

**11:35 - Group 3
**GRASSL Daniel (ITA) 90.64, JIN Boyang (CHN) 90.98, AYMOZ Kevin (FRA) 93.00, MESSING Keegan (CAN) 93.24, HANYU Yuzuru (JPN) 95.15, SEMENENKO Evgeni (ROC) 95.76.

**1230 - Group 4
**BROWN Jason (USA) 97.24, KVITELASHVILI Morisi (GEO) 97.98, CHA Junhwan (KOR) 99.51, UNO Shoma (JPN) 105.90, KAGIYAMA Yuma (JPN) 108.12, CHEN Nathan (USA) 113.97.

Olympic Figure Skating - Where to watch?

From the Opening Ceremony to athlete action, here's where and how you can watch the Winter Games in your region via the Official Olympic Broadcast Partners