The figure skating team event debuted at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and was held from 6 to 9 February 2014 at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia. The team event consisted of competitions in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Skaters and teams earned points based on their placements in each event, and the medalists were determined based on the total points earned. Ultimately, the team from Russia won the gold, the team from Canada won the silver, and the team from the United States won the bronze. During the course of the competition, Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States set a new world record score in the free dance.
Background The team event is the newest Olympic figure skating event and was first contested at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The event combines the four Olympic figure skating disciplines (men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance) into a single event; skaters earn points based on their placement in each discipline, and the gold medals are awarded to the team that earns the most placement points.
The figure skating team event was one of five figure skating competitions contested at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was held at the Iceberg Skating Palace over three days between 6 and 9 February. The team from Canada was seen as likely medalists. With seventeen skaters, Canada sported the largest contingent of figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The Canadian contingent included Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who had won the gold medals in ice dance at the 2010 Winter Olympics; Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford in pairs, and Patrick Chan, a three-time world champion. Chan was also a two-time Four Continents champion and seven-time Canadian national champion. Duhamel and Radford had won the bronze at the 2013 World Championships, gold at the 2013 Four Continents Championships, and were three-time Canadian national champions. In addition to their 2010 Olympic victory, Virtue and Moir were two-time world champions, two-time Four Continents champions, and six-time Canadian national champions.
The team from Russia was seen as the Canadians' strongest competition. Evgeni Plushenko had won the gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, silver medals at the 2002 and 2010 Winter Olympics, and was a three-time world champion, seven-time European champion, and a ten-time Russian national champion. However, the decision to select Plushenko for the Olympic team was seen as controversial by many in Russia, especially as he had lost the 2014 Russian Figure Skating Championships to Maxim Kovtun. Russia only qualified one man to the 2014 Winter Olympics, and could not submit one skater to compete in the team event and another in the men's individual event. Plushenko was ultimately chosen for the Olympic team after skating for members of the selection committee behind closed doors.
Qualification For the team event, scores from the 2013 World Championships and the 2013–14 Grand Prix of Figure Skating season were tabulated to establish the top ten nations.
+Qualification for figure skating team event Nation Total 1 6053 2 5459 3 5274 4 4062 5 3707 6 3626 7 3609 8 3596 9 1528 10 1261
Required performance elements
Single skating Men competing in the team event performed their short programs on 6 February, while women performed theirs on 8 February. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, the short program had to include the following elements:
For men: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump immediately preceded by connecting steps; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.
For women: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump immediately preceded by connecting steps; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one layback spin, sideways leaning spin, camel spin, or sit spin without a change of foot; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.
The five teams with the most points after the first round advanced to the final round. Regardless of their scores in the short program, the men and women from the top five teams performed their free skates on 9 February.
For men: Lasting 4 minutes 30 seconds (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate for men had to include the following: eight jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one a flying spin, and one a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.
For women: Lasting 4 minutes (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate for women had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one a flying spin, and one a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.
Pair skating Pairs competing in the team event performed their short programs on 6 February. Lasting no more than 2 minutes 50 seconds, the short program had to include the following elements: one lasso lift, one double or triple twist lift, one double or triple throw jump, one double or triple solo jump, one pair spin combination with a change of foot, one death spiral, and a step sequence using the full ice surface.
The five teams with the most points after the first round advanced to the final round. Regardless of their scores in the short program, the couples from the top five teams performed their free skates on 8 February. Lasting 4 minutes 30 seconds (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate had to include the following: three pair lifts, one twist lift, two different throw jumps, one solo jump, one jump combination or sequence, one solo spin combination, one pair spin combination, one death spiral, and a choreographic sequence.
Ice dance Ice dance couples competing in the team event performed their short dances on 8 February. The required rhythm was the quickstep, but teams could also include one or two of the following: the foxtrot, the Charleston, or the swing. Lasting 2 minutes 50 seconds (+/− 10 seconds), the short dance had to include the following elements: two sections of the Finnstep, one dance lift, one step sequence while not touching, and one set of sequential twizzles. The Finnstep was developed by Finnish ice dancers Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko as a variation of the quickstep and was ratified by the International Skating Union as a compulsory dance in 2008.
The five teams with the most points after the first round advanced to the final round. Regardless of their scores in the short dance, the couples from the top five teams performed their free dances on 9 February. Lasting 4 minutes (+/− 10 seconds), the free dance had to include the following: two short lifts and one long lift, or four short lifts and one choreographic dance lift; one dance spin; one straight-line step sequence while in hold; one curved step sequence while in hold; and one set of synchronized twizzles.
Judging
Skaters were judged according to the required technical elements of their program (such as jumps and spins), as well as the overall presentation of their program, based on five program components (skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, composition/choreography, and musical interpretation). Each technical element in a figure skating performance was assigned a predetermined base point value and scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −3 to +3 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –3 to +3 was assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. For example, a triple Axel was worth a base value of 8.50 points, and a GOE of +3 was worth 3.00 points, so a triple Axel with a GOE of +3 earned 11.50 points. The judging panel's GOE for each element was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores). The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a Total Elements Score. At the same time, the judges evaluated each performance based on the five aforementioned program components and assigned each a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the chart below; the results were added together to generate a total Program Component Score.
+Program component factoring Component Short program Free skating Men 1.00 2.00 Women 0.80 1.60 Pairs 0.80 1.60 +Ice dance program component factoring Component Short dance Free dance Skating skills 0.80 1.25 Transitions/Footwork 0.70 1.75 Performance/Execution 0.70 1.00 Composition/Choreography 0.80 1.00 Musical interpretation/Timing 1.00 1.00 Deductions were applied for certain violations, such as time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The Total Elements Score and Program Component Score were then added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.
Entries Code key
Member nations submitted the following entrants for the indicated segments in each discipline. +Team event entrants Country Men Women Pairs Ice dance Patrick Chan Kaetlyn Osmond Kevin Reynolds Yan Han Zhang Kexin Florent Amodio Maé-Bérénice Méité Peter Liebers Nathalie Weinzierl Matthew Parr Jenna McCorkell Paul Bonifacio Parkinson Carolina Kostner Valentina Marchei Yuzuru Hanyu Mao Asada Tatsuki Machida Akiko Suzuki colspan="2" Evgeni Plushenko Yulia Lipnitskaya colspan="2" Yakov Godorozha Natalia Popova Jeremy Abbott Ashley Wagner Jason Brown Gracie Gold colspan="2"
Medal summary Gold Silver Bronze+Medal summary Evgeni PlushenkoYulia LipnitskayaTatiana VolosozharMaxim TrankovKsenia StolbovaFedor KlimovEkaterina BobrovaDmitri SolovievElena IlinykhNikita Katsalapov Patrick ChanKevin ReynoldsKaetlyn OsmondMeagan DuhamelEric RadfordKirsten Moore-TowersDylan MoscovitchTessa VirtueScott Moir Jeremy AbbottJason BrownAshley WagnerGracie GoldMarissa CastelliSimon ShnapirMeryl DavisCharlie White
Results (qualifying round) Code key
Men's singles The men's short program was held on 6 February 2014. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan finished in first place, outscoring Evgeni Plushenko of Russia by over six points. The Associated Press described Hanyu's movements as more intricate, his jumps more massive, and his spins more exquisite. Plushenko opened his routine with a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop jump combination, a triple Axel, and a triple Lutz, but slowed down considerably afterward. Plushenko spoke afterward about how much it meant for him to be able to compete at his fourth Olympics, and this time in front of a Russian audience. Patrick Chan of Canada finished in third place after struggling through his performance. Jeremy Abbott of the United States had a disastrous performance, falling to the ice and sliding into the wall on his opening quadruple jump, and landing his planned triple Axel as a single. He finished in seventh place. "This program was to be a run-through to get me ready for [the men's individual event] next week," Abbott said afterward. "I am torn up I didn't do [well] for the team.