2026 Olympics Team Event - Strategy, Predictions & Discussion

Apparently Stellato-Dudek/Deschamps have withdrawn from the team event.

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Team Canada Update - Team Canada

MILAN / LIVIGNO (February 2, 2026) – The Canadian Olympic Committee, alongside Skate Canada and Canada Snowboard, have issued the...
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Devin Heroux (@drheroux) on Threads

BREAKING Canadian pairs team Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Max Deschamps have withdrawn from the team event at the Olympics. Stellato-Dudek was injured during a training session. Their Olympics are in jeopardy. I’m tracking updates at the rink.
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Has anyone listened to the runthrough today? It looks like Evans back issues might be a bigger deal than expected as well, the spoke about it there. Not in regards to the team event, but how it affected them for GPF.

I would be surprised at this point if dance is not split for the US.
 
Tinycities said:
Has anyone listened to the runthrough today? It looks like Evans back issues might be a bigger deal than expected as well, the spoke about it there. Not in regards to the team event, but how it affected them for GPF.

I would be surprised at this point if dance is not split for the US.
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No one knows for sure what the USFS is going to do for the TE.

Nolan Carney noted on X that the only skaters who have been to practices in the main rink are Ilia, ChoBat, Amber, Alysa (my observation/response was that both KamO and ChanHowe have also been at practices in the main rink yesterday). I'm not sure how much can be read into that, but then Christine Brennan posted on X earlier that Ilia is confirmed for the SP however the decision for the FS will be made after the SP/RD phase when the USFS will evaluate the medal situation & which countries have made the FS/FD phase.
 
Tinycities said:
Has anyone listened to the runthrough today? It looks like Evans back issues might be a bigger deal than expected as well, the spoke about it there. Not in regards to the team event, but how it affected them for GPF.
Click to expand...

Evan has had back issues this whole Olympic cycle. If you have Netflix and have seen "Glitter and Gold" it's given some airtime about their preparation for SKAM (where he skated ailing) and the GPF.
 
Karen-W said:
... but then Christine Brennan posted on X earlier that Ilia is confirmed for the SP however the decision for the FS will be made after the SP/RD phase when the USFS will evaluate the medal situation & which countries have made the FS/FD phase.
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This doesn't exactly sound like the skaters are getting much choice in their fate before heading into the individual events. :shuffle:
 
Tinycities said:
I would be surprised at this point if dance is not split for the US.
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Back issues or not, I think it is a foregone conclusion that dance will split.
Karen-W said:
They state their preference & the USFS goes from there. It sounds like Ilia either marked both the SP & FS boxes as in he was willing to skate either segment.
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Or, he marked the short and USFS has convinced him to keep his options open for the long. Justin Dillon said at the end of Nationals that they were in talks with coaches. (And I interpreted that to mean Ilia's coaches. :lol:)

I think Ilia would love two gold medals (and to eventually set a record for the most Olympic gold medals by a figure skater), but his priority is the individual event. If the U.S. is in a position after the short where it looks like the point difference between him and Andrew would make a difference for the medals, Ilia might be willing to do the long, even if it ends up being a watered down version.

I still think Ilia might like to do the TE long so that he can use it to do the quad axel and be the first man to land it at the Olympics. I don't think he'll risk it in the SP, both because the SP counts for so much in the TE and because the setup makes it harder in the SP.

I saw photos of Ilia and Amber together in Milan the other day. My immediate thought was that I hope I see both of them do the free program in the TE.
 
Sasha'sSpins said:
This is alarming news that I haven't heard before! Ilia was injured at Nationals?! 😳
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He still won and he skated decently in the Gala. I am not particularly worried about the Olympics for him.

Karen-W said:
Christine Brennan posted on X earlier that Ilia is confirmed for the SP however the decision for the FS will be made after the SP/RD phase when the USFS will evaluate the medal situation & which countries have made the FS/FD phase.
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Smart of them! Looks like they are gunning for a repeat Gold!

Allskate said:
Back issues or not, I think it is a foregone conclusion that dance will split.
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Yeah.
 
If dance is split as seems likely, waiting for the :argue: as to which US dance team gets the TE slot. If they go by international results this season it will be Zing/Kol, especially since much is made of their four-a-day training and stamina.
 
For the first time (maybe since the team event was introduced?), it seems likely that the top 5 prospects in dance will all be competing in the team event RD: C/B, FB/C, G/P, G/F, and F/G.
We saw in the past that the team event is not always indicative (both C/B and H/D beat S/K in the team event, but not the individual event), but momentum and crowd support that can come from the team event can also go a long way for the individual event that will follow right after.
 
PRlady said:
If dance is split as seems likely, waiting for the :argue: as to which US dance team gets the TE slot. If they go by international results this season it will be Zing/Kol, especially since much is made of their four-a-day training and stamina.
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There is not a metric where Zing/Kol don’t come out on top. Much higher mean scores, higher world standing, better placements. I can appreciate the frustration of Car/Pon and their fans with how their trajectory has gone this past year, but I don’t see a good faith argument to put them in the TE. It’s a bit desperate to point to their all time PB being slightly higher currently (from a previous season) and their Worlds experience, but now that Zing/Kol have achieved making the GPF and winning a major ISU international (4CC), things Car/Pon have never done, that latter point holds no weight.
 
I think there’s no chance it’s CarPon, and I say this as a fan. Unless USFSA decides to be like obsessively dedicated to last year’s world results and ignore everything else.

Although it kind of does seem like that’s what they did to pick Karen Chen four years ago
 
There's no chance it'll be CPom. I love them, and I feel bad for them, but that's just the way these things work.
 
Theatregirl1122 said:
I think there’s no chance it’s CarPon, and I say this as a fan. Unless USFSA decides to be like obsessively dedicated to last year’s world results and ignore everything else.

Although it kind of does seem like that’s what they did to pick Olympic Gold Medalist Karen Chen four years ago
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:D
 
Theatregirl1122 said:
Although it kind of does seem like that’s what they did to pick Karen Chen four years ago
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Beijing was a unique situation where I don't know that K-Chen was the first choice of the USFS but once Alysa WD from Nats with the Covid diagnosis combined with the concerns about her safety in China, it made it difficult to realistically put Alysa in the TE. So, flip a coin btwn K-Chen and Mariah and go with the skater who finished 4th at each of the last 2 pre-Olympic season Worlds & helped secure three spots for the US women both times over someone who, IIRC, had never even been to Worlds.
 
Karen-W said:
Beijing was a unique situation where I don't know that K-Chen was the first choice of the USFS
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FWIW, I had heard unofficially at the time that Karen was the first choice.
go with the skater who finished 4th at each of the last 2 pre-Olympic season Worlds & helped secure three spots for the US women both times over someone who, IIRC, had never even been to Worlds.
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Yes, Karen was 4th in 2017 (her Worlds debut) as well as in her 2nd trip in 2021 (https://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00034366.htm); Mariah was 12th in her Worlds debut in 2017, 12th in 2018 & 9th in 2019: https://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00054128.htm
 
Karen-W said:
Sounds like the speculation that Kaori is doing both segments is true - not yet confirmed, but Jackie doesn't post stuff unless it's pretty locked down.

Click to expand...

It saves Japan the tough pick between Mone and Ami (World medalist vs Newest Foo with a triple axel who just beat her at 4 Cs.) And Kaori is a tough lady, if she thinks she can do it, more power to her.
 
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