Men’s figure skating schedule: When to watch Ilia Malinin in final event – his biggest skate yet

Ilia Malinin is set to perform his biggest skate yet as he looks to keep the U.S. men’s figure skating gold medal streak going at the Winter Olympics.

A grand finale for the 21-year-old American phenom, the highly anticipated performance could feature the moment everyone has been waiting for.

Will he finally break out his toughest, highest-scoring jump, the quadruple axel? If he does, he’d be the first to do it at the Olympics.

But will he do it? And if so, will he land it?

The men’s free skate is set to finish the individual competition with a medal performance, and while Malinin is the favorite for the gold, he will still have to work hard for it.

Here’s when and who to watch:

When is figure skating today?

The men’s free skate begins starting at 12 p.m. CT.

Where to watch figure skating today?

Live coverage of the event begins at 11:45 a.m. CT on USA and the second half will air starting at 2 p.m. CT on NBC.

Stream the full program live below:

The skates will re-air in primetime on NBC starting at 7:30 p.m. CT.

What is the order for the free skate?

Malinin will skate last in the event, which goes in reverse order of scores from the short program. The top 24 competitors from that event continue on in the free skate.

Group 1
LI Yu-Hsiang TPE
CARRILLO Donovan MEX
MIURA Kao JPN
SAMOILOV Vladimir POL
HAGARA Adam SVK
BRITSCHGI Lukas SUI

Group 2
SELEVKO Aleksandr EST
VASILJEVS Deniss LAT
RIZZO Matteo ITA
EGADZE Nika GEO
NAUMOV Maxim USA
JIN Boyang CHN

Group 3
GUMENNIK Petr AIN
MARSAK Kyrylo UKR
GOGOLEV Stephen CAN
SATO Shun JPN
TORGASHEV Andrew USA
AYMOZ Kevin FRA

Group 4
CHA Junhwan KOR
SHAIDOROV Mikhail KAZ
GRASSL Daniel ITA
SIAO HIM FA Adam FRA
KAGIYAMA Yuma JPN
MALININ Ilia USA

Who to watch in men’s free skate?

Yuma Kagiyama

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan is Malinin’s closest rival, but has to make up a five-point deficit from the short program.

Kagiyama was the only skater after Malinin in the individual short program, and he nearly matched him with his own splendid program. But on his final jump, a triple axel, the reigning Olympic silver medalist had to step out, and that cost him some valuable points in the grade of execution.

Kagiyama scored 103.07 points. But he faces a herculean task in catching him, given Malinin’s huge technical advantage over a longer program.

Still, Kagiyama beat Malinin in the short program during the team competition last weekend.

“This is sports,” Kagiyama said through an interpreter. “You never know what is going to happen.”

Adam Siao Him Fa

Prior to Kagiyama’s team short program upset, Adam Siao Him Fa of France was the last skater to beat Malinin more than two years ago.

Siao Him Fa finished third in the individual short with a score of 102.55.

Maxim Naumov

While not necessarily in medal contention, U.S. figure skater Maxim Naumov has captured the hearts of so many with his emotional performances.

Naumov, whose parents Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were killed in a plane crash just over a year ago, fulfilled a dream they had shared by performing on Olympic ice.

When his short program drew to an end, Naumov stayed on his knees the middle of the rink, looking up to the heavens and telling them, “Look at what we’ve done.”

He held and kissed their photo, tears streaming down his face, as he awaited his score.

“Whatever life throws at you, if you can be resilient and push a little bit more than you think, you can do so much more,” said Naumov, whose score of 85.65 easily got him through to the free skate.

“You have to have that willpower and do things you love,” he said, “and that’s exactly what I am going to do.”

Ilia Malinin

Malinin, who will skate last in the event, keeps teasing fans by submitting program plans that have the American figure skating star attempting the quad axel, a 4 1/2-revolution jump so difficult nobody but him has ever landed it in competition.

Yet through two programs in the gold medal-winning team event and his individual short program Tuesday night, the “Quad God” has yet to attempt it.

Could he be saving it for his grand finale?

The plan Malinin has submitted for Friday night includes it — naturally — in part of what would be a record-tying seven quads in all.

“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it,” Malinin said. “But of course I always prioritize health and safety. So I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it.

So why would he ever take it out?

Planned program content is just that: a plan. Skaters often deviate from it depending upon how they feel.

Besides the inherent risk, the rest of Malinin’s programs are so difficult he doesn’t really need it. Kagiyama has a mere four quads planned for his free skate Friday night. So does Siao Him Fa.

He has a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Siao Him Fa going into the free skate, a margin so big that it seems almost insurmountable, and one that gives him some wiggle room should he attempt the quad axel and fail.

“I want him to be a smart competitor,” said Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion. “I know how much it can mean to a skater to have a clean performance in the Olympics, and I really want him to have a clean performance. Yes, technical — as technical as he wants to be. But if one of the quads he aspires to hit, he isn’t feeling great that day, I want him to be solid.”

Malinin admitted to feeling a different level of pressure at the Olympics in the team event, though. Both of his performances were mediocre by his lofty standards. But he felt much more comfortable during his short program, and it was reflected on the ice, where his score of 108.16 was less than a point off his world-leading mark this season.

“I’m coming in as the favorite, but being the favorite is one thing; actually earning it under pressure is another,” Malinin said. “I don’t take it for granted that I’m getting the gold, of course. I still have to put in the work for the long program.”

What to know about the jump everyone is waiting for

What makes the quad axel so difficult is that the axel is the only one of figure skating’s six primary jumps that starts facing forward, giving it an extra half revolution. In fact, the jump is so difficult even elite skaters struggle with the triple version of it.

“I never thought I’d see anybody do a quadruple axel,” admitted 1984 Olympic champion Scott Hamilton. “Not in my lifetime.”

Indeed, most people thought it was impossible.