The women’s free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics will see the return of Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito to the ice for what could be a historic medal moment for the U.S., but who will skate when?
The self proclaimed “Blade Angels” will take the ice Thursday in a different order than their short program.
Here’s when to watch:
What time is the women’s free skate?
The women’s free skate begins at 12 p.m. CT Thursday.
Where to watch women’s figure skating at the Olympics?
The competition will air live in its entirety on NBC. Watch live here:
The medal event will re-air in primetime at 7 p.m. CT and 8:30 p.m. CT.
The order of skaters
Group 1
Lorine Schild FRA
Livia Kaiser SUI
Mariia Seniuk ISR
Kimmy Repond SUI
Ruiyang Zhang CHN
Ekaterina Kurakova POL
Group 2
Lara Naki Gutmann ITA
Olga Mikutina AUT
Julia Sauter ROU
Iida Karhunen FIN
Jia Shin KOR
Amber Glenn USA
Group 3
Sofia Samodelkina KAZ
Nina Pinzarrone BEL
Niina Petrokina EST
Haein Lee KOR
Isabeau Levito USA
Loena Hendrickx BEL
Group 4
Anastasiia Gubanova GEO 6
Adeliia Petrosian AIN
Mone Chiba JPN
Alysa Liu USA
Kaori Sakamoto JPN
Ami Nakai JPN
Who to watch?
Alysa Liu
The U.S.’ closest contender is 20-year-old Alysa Liu, who now carries the weight of a U.S. medal drought on her shoulders.
The only member of the “Blade Angels” to end the short program in top contention, Liu will attempt to chase down Japanese rivals in the free skate at the Milan Cortina Games.
The 20-year-old Liu scored 76.59 points for an impeccable short program on Tuesday night, leaving the freethinking native of the San Francisco Bay area just over two points behind the first place finisher and less than a point back from second place in the individual competition.
The U.S. has not had a woman stand atop an Olympic podium since Sarah Hughes at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. No woman has medaled at all since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006.
Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito
The rest of Liu’s teammates struggled in the short program Tuesday night, but stayed within only a 10-point margin of the first-place skater, leaving a narrow window of hope depending on what happens Thursday.
And they’ll certainly have some catching up to do.
Amber Glenn missed a crucial triple loop that left the three-time reigning U.S. champion in 13th place, while Isabeau Levito made enough smaller mistakes to fall to eighth place.
Glenn, however, is the only American woman performing a huge triple axel jump in these Games.
Ami Nakai and Kaori Sakamoto
Ami Nakai and Japanese teammate Kaori Sakamoto upstaged Liu and the rest of the “Blade Angels” from the U.S. to take the lead after the short program.
Nakai rode her opening triple axel to a career-best 78.71 points, while Sakamoto was right behind with 77.23 as she chases just about the only gold medal she has yet to win. Liu was third with 76.59, keeping her within range of the top step of the podium.
Mone Chiba gave Japan three women capable of stacking the podium when the women’s free skate on Thursday wraps up the figure skating program. She scored 74.00 points.
Adeliia Petrosian
Russian skater Adeliia Petrosian, who is competing as a neutral athlete and entered the games as a mystery to many in the skating world, also remains very much in the medal picture, placing fifth in the short program, fewer than six points behind Nakai.
Quadruple jumps are allowed in Thursday’s free skate, and Petrosian is the only woman in the competition who regularly performs them. A clean quad could catapult her onto the podium.
She has practiced quadruple jumps this week in Milan and could potentially take that high-risk option in Thursday’s free skate, which could boost her score significantly.
