Figure skating at Lausanne 2020: Everything you need to know
Preview, schedule, and everything else you need before the best young skate stars alive take over at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Figure Skating
The rising stars of figure skating are ready to rock your world at Lausanne 2020.
When you see Lillehammer 2016 men's singles winner Sota Yamamoto come close to defeating PyeongChang silver medallist Shoma Uno at a senior international event, then you get an idea of the standard of figure skating on show at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.
Yamamoto actually succeeded Uno as YOG champ, the Japanese star winning gold at the Innsbruck 2012 YOG.
Who's next?
We'll find out in January at the Swiss Games.
How to watch figure skating at Youth Olympic Games
Olympic Channel will stream 300 hours of action from the 13 days of competition in Lausanne 2020 with a dedicated Winter YOG channel available on olympicchannel.com, YouTube and connected devices such as Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Android TV and Roku.
There will be an action-packed daily live show featuring news, highlights, trending stories and interviews in a fun and interactive format streamed on Facebook, Twitter and olympicchannel.com, plus a daily Olympic Channel Podcast featuring insightful interviews with personalities from across the Olympic world.
Fans can also follow Olympic Channel's coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to learn more about the event, while a full Lausanne 2020 schedule can be found here.
Figure skating location and dates
The figure skating takes place at the Malley ice rink from January 10-15 at Lausanne 2020. (Scroll down for full schedule)
Which figure skating events will we see at Lausanne 2020?
Get set for skating's unique mix of elegance, power and performance art in the Women’s Single and Men’s Single events, Pair Skating, Ice Dance and Mixed NOC Team Event.
The singles events at Lausanne 2020
Just like the senior Olympics, both the men's and women's singles events consist of a short program and a free skate.
The short program requires seven elements including jumps, spins, steps and linking movements or combinations, with skaters and coaches free to choose the sequence.
Free skating consists of several elements such as jumps, spins and steps, skated to music of the competitor’s choice.
The combined scores of the short program and free skate produce a final score, with the highest total winning.
How is it scored?
A technical specialist identifies the elements on display and the level of difficulty of each element.
Meanwhile, judges grade the quality of each element - rating the Grade of Execution (GOE) - and the program's other components: skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation.
The paired events at Lausanne 2020
Like the singles events, the Pair Skating consists of a short program and free skate, with the emphasis on moving in harmony with one another.
The short program requires seven elements including throw jumps and death spirals, while the free skate should be a well-balanced routine to the pair's own choice of music.
In the Ice Dance, couples skate in the Rhythm Dance and Free Dance.
The Rhythm Dance comes first, with couples displaying five elements including dance lifts and dance spins to designated rhythms decided by the International Skating Union (ISU).
The Free Dance requires greater creativity, using combinations of dance steps and movements to wow the judges.
What is the Mixed NOC Team Event?
The Mixed NOC Team Event brings different nations together under one team.
There are expected to be eight teams competing in the event, with one man, one woman, one pair and one Ice Dance couple from different NOCs (National Olympic Committee).
Points will be collated from all four free skating events - the Men’s and Women’s Singles Free Skating, Pairs Free Skating and Ice Dance Free Dance.
The winning team will be those with the highest total points.
Figure Skating schedule in Lausanne
Friday, January 10
14:00 - 15:30 - Pair Skating Short Programme
16:00 - 18:25 - Men's Single Short Programme
Saturday, January 11
14:00 - 15:40 - Ice Dance Rythm Dance
16:10 - 18:35 - Women's Singles Short Programme
Sunday, January 12
11:30 - 13:25 - Pair Skating Free Skating
14:00 - 16:40 - Men's Single Free Skating
Monday, January 13
11:30 - 13:30 - Ice Dance Free Dance
14:00 - 16:40 - Women's Single Free Skating
Wednesday, January 15
11:30 - 17:15 - Mixed NOC Team Event