2025-26 U.S. Ice Dance News, Updates & Discussion - Backstreet Boys & Spice Girls

[SidelineSkater]

I doubt C/B are going to want to compete 4 times in 6 days. Dance was split in 2022, so there is precedent, and not doing the FD didn't hurt H/D's medal chances. Assuming Z/K go to the Olys, given that they qualified for the GPF, they can be a solid contributor to the team.

I agree they might not want to, but is it up to them? Would USFS rather spread the wealth with men and women's instead? Allowing Alysa/Amber the chance to compete for Team Gold?

 

[BittyBug]

I don't think USFS gives a rusty hoot about sharing the wealth, but rather are focused on placing as high as possible in as many events as possible. Ice Dance and Men are first up in the individual events, and since they have individual contenders in both categories, if they think those athletes would do better with a rest, they'll split dance and mens.

 

[Karen-W]

The USFS also has had the strategy, in the past, of ranking the disciplines from strongest to weakest. Going off both the Worlds 2025 results and the GPF qualifiers, women & dance are stronger than the men, and if the men were competing their individual event in the 2nd week of the Olympics, I could see them having Ilia do both segments of the TE, but the USFS and USOPC also prioritize individual medals and with dance & men being the USA's strongest gold medal possibilities, plus being in the first week, I can't see them not making the choice to split those two disciplines instead of the women, even knowing that the 2nd man, who will be doing the TE FS, is a very weak link at this point in time.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I think the strength of discipline is not necessarily by depth, but by which has the highest medal contender.

What are they going to do: leave Nathan Chen or Ilia Malinin off the team if they don't/didn't want to skate both segments of the TE, when it is/was theirs to lose? They can try to cajole Chock/Bates, who main competition is Fournier Beaudry/Cizeron, while every one of the US women's competition is three Japanese women.

 

[5Ali3]

This is the relevant language for 2026:

"The selection of the participants in both the short program/rhythm dance and free skate/free dance will be made with the best strategy for podium placement in the Team Event. The selection decisions for the Team Event will be made by the Senior Director of Athlete High Performance and the respective discipline group. The determination of which two (2) athletes/teams to substitute will be based on which disciplines have the best opportunity to medal and/or provide the strongest field in the individual events. The disciplines with the best opportunity to medal will have the first option of substitution in the Team Event if the U.S. qualifies for the free skate."

 

[tony]

This is the relevant language for 2026:

"The selection of the participants in both the short program/rhythm dance and free skate/free dance will be made with the best strategy for podium placement in the Team Event. The selection decisions for the Team Event will be made by the Senior Director of Athlete High Performance and the respective discipline group. The determination of which two (2) athletes/teams to substitute will be based on which disciplines have the best opportunity to medal and/or provide the strongest field in the individual events. The disciplines with the best opportunity to medal will have the first option of substitution in the Team Event if the U.S. qualifies for the free skate."

So men and dance.

 

[Allskate]

I think the strength of discipline is not necessarily by depth, but by which has the highest medal contender.

Not if you are talking solely about team event strategy. If you go by what would make the most sense for the team event absent any individual event consideration, it definitely would be the women splitting because of their depth.

Alysa came in first at worlds, with Isabeau fourth and Amber fifth (beaten only by Japanese skaters). There are two American women (Amber and Alysa) going to the GPF, and Isabeau is the first alternate and probably would have qualified if she had been assigned to any GP other than China (where she was beaten by three Japanese women). The only women with season's best scores above Amber, Alysa, and Isabeau are Japanese; any of these three Americans would have a very good chance of finishing no lower than second in the TE women's SP or FP. The women are the strongest case for splitting. No other discipline has as much likelihood of doing this well with splitting.

But, given the rules and the requirement of letting the skaters with the best chance of individually medaling choose to split, it's not that simple. Ilia has been dominant, and it would be shocking if he did not medal. He gets to choose.

C&B are not just multi-time World Champions, but won both their GPs this season. Even if this is not their best season and even if they are not gold medal favorites, they still have a very high chance of medaling. Yes, Alysa won Worlds, but not multiple Worlds, and the Japanese women are fierce, with several of them having higher season's best than her. Amber won the GP Final, but has never medaled at Worlds, and the Japanese women are fierce. Isabeau medaled at Worlds a couple of years ago, but she finished fourth the other two times she competed at words, and again the Japanese women are fierce. I do think that there is a decent chance of an American woman medaling at the Olympics, but not as high as C&B's chances.

It is a bummer that the American women as a whole have been doing so well but only one will get to be in the TE, while skaters who have not done as well will be in the TE. But, I get the logic.

 

[Jammers]

If Alysa makes the team and gets hosed again for the TE i will be .

 

[kwanfan1818]

Not if you are talking solely about team event strategy. If you go by what would make the most sense for the team event absent any individual event consideration, it definitely would be the women splitting because of their depth.

TE is secondary to chances for individual medals, in the selection rules. The disciplines where the skaters/teams have the greater chance of individual medals are the ones that are the strongest, and those skaters/teams get to control their fate.

If for some reason they decided that Dance and Women were, essentially, tied for the strongest discipline based on individual medal chances, it would make sense for them to choose Dance over Women, because of the Olympic schedule, with four programs in six days. Davis/Smolkin might do twice daily full run-throughs, but they are not 33 and 36 (turning 37 in February 2026).

 

[Allskate]

TE is secondary to chances for individual medals, in the selection rules.

Which is pretty much what I said. My central point was that, if you're looking at the team event alone, team depth amongst the various disciplines would call for splitting the women to increase the chances of doing the best in the TE, but the rules and the logic of looking at individual medal chances dictate otherwise. Bummer for the women, but it's logical that the rules are that way.