How to watch Chock and Bates dance for free
After a major upset in the rhythm dancing, it’s time for the free dance, the second part of the Olympic ice dancing event that decides who goes home with medals around their necks.
Gold medal hopefuls Madison Schock and Evan Bates of Team USA are currently in second place, just four-tenths of a point behind the French team of Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron.
Chock and Bates entered the individual competition as three-time defending world champions with two Olympic team event gold medals to their name. They will skate on the penultimate hole today in the hope that their free dance will push them ahead of the French team.
Although Fournier Baudry and Cizeron They are a new couple With less than a year of skating together, the duo with “wicked energy,” according to retired skater Adam Rippon, is no stranger to the Olympics.
Olympic Ice Dancing: What to Know
- What: Free dance
- when: February 11, 1:15 PM ET
- where: Milan Ice Rink (Milan, Italy)
- channel: USA Network, NBC (from 2:15 p.m.)
- My neighbor: Direct (Try it for free)
Cizeron is a gold medalist with his ex-partner, Gabriella Papadakis, while Fournier-Baudry broke up with her former skating partner (and current boyfriend) after he was banned from the sport after being accused of sexual assault.
Two more Team USA ice dancing pairs also qualified for the individual event and finished in the top 20 to continue the free dance today. Kristina Carrera and Antoni Ponomarenko will start 10th after finishing 11th and Emilia Zingas and Vadim Kolesnik will start 15th after finishing 6th.
Olympic Games ice dancing schedule and start time
Today, February 11, is the final day of the ice dancing competition at the 2026 Olympics. The free dance is scheduled to begin at 1:15pm ET on USA before moving to NBC at 2:15pm.
How to watch Olympic Ice Dancing for free
If you don’t have a cable, you’ll need to Live TV streaming service Stream the Olympic Games for free.
Direct It’s our favorite service for watching live TV for free — it has a five-day free trial and there are plenty of options for plans that include USA Network and NBC (and every other channel you’ll need for the Olympics), starting at $49.99 per month.
You can also watch every minute of the Olympic Games by subscribing to peacockwhich starts at $10.99 per month.
Dancing on Ice – Free Dancing Start Menu
The starting order of the free dance is determined by the positions following the rhythm dance, with the team at the top of the leaderboard starting last. Below, find the starting menu along with the Rhythmic Dance (RD) score for each pair.
- Sofia Fall and Asaf Kasimov (Spain) – Scoring score: 64.98
- Mila Ruud Reitan and Nikolai Magorov (Sweden) – RD score: 67.31
- Holly Harris and Jason Chan (Australia) – RD score: 67.75
- Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek (Czech Republic) – RD score: 72.09
- Phoebe Baker and James Hernandez (GBR) – RD score: 72.46
- Marie-Jade Loriault and Romain Le Jacques (FRA) – RD score: 74.35
- Natalie Tašlerova and Filip Tašler (Czech Republic) – RD score: 75.33
- Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (GEO) – RD score: 77.15
- Julia Turkila and Matthias Verslaus (Finland) – Scoring score: 77.96
- Christina Carrera and Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) – RD score: 78.15
- Olivia Smart and Tim Dick (ESP) – RD Score: 78.15
- Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Laga (Canada) – RD score: 79.66
- Evgeniya Loberareva and Geoffrey Brisaud (France) – RD score: 82.2
- Alison Reed and Saulius ambrolivicus (LTU) – RD score: 82.95
- Emilia Zingas and Vadim Kolesnik (USA) – Scoring score: 83.53
- Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA) – RD score: 84.28
- Laila Fair and Louis Gibson (GBR) – RD score: 85.47
- Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (Canada) – RD score: 86.18
- Madison Schock and Evan Bates (USA) – Final score: 89.72
- Laurence Fournier-Baudry and Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) – RD score: 90.18
2026 Winter Olympics
What is free dancing in figure skating?
According to the International Skating Federation’s handbook, freestyle is “a creative dance program that combines dance steps and movements that express the character/rhythm(s) of the dance music chosen by the couple.”
While rhythm dancing follows a theme, skaters are free to choose any music they wish for free dancing as long as the performance is four minutes long and features a balance of character expression and desired elements.
There is a required set of elements that every freestyle dance must include: dance lifts (2-3), dance turns (1), step sequences (1 in hold, 1 out), synchronized twists (2), and choreography elements (3).
The highest recorded free dance score in competition is 138.41, achieved in 2023 by Chock and Bates.
Figure skating on the 2026 Olympics schedule
- Dancing on Ice – Free Dance – February 11 1:30 PM ET*
- Men’s Singles – Free Skating – February 13 1 p.m. ET*
- Couples – Short Program – February 15 1:45 PM ET
- Pairs – Free Skating – February 16 2 p.m. ET*
- Women’s Singles – Short Program – February 17 12:45 PM ET
- Women’s Singles – Free Skating – February 19 1 p.m. ET*
- Exhibition Gala – February 21, 2 p.m. ET
*Medals awarded
When do the Winter Olympics end?
The 2026 Winter Olympics conclude with the Closing Ceremony on February 22 at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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