Ilia Malinin, known as the “Quad God,” leads the men's figure skating competition heading into Friday's decisive free skate. Here's how to watch. (AP photo)

The ice dance competition began Monday at the Winter Olympics with the rhythm dance. Madison Chock and Evan Bates finished in second place.

Ilia Malinin, Amber Glenn, Alysa Liu and several other U.S. stars still have more competitions ahead at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Figure skating is to the Winter Olympics like gymnastics is to the Summer Olympics: It’s the thing to watch, except when there’s no competition, and you’ve already seen it all live. Consistently ranked as the most popular and viewed Winter Olympic sport globally,

Ilia Malinin reclaimed momentum to lead the Olympic men’s short program, steadying the ice as Americans Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov delivered breakout, emotional debuts to advance to the free skate.

Tuesday, the men's individual competition began, and Malinin again starred by beating out all the competition with a score of 108.16 to enter Friday's finale with a five-point lead over rival Japan's Yuma Kagiyama. France's Adam Siao Him Fa also had his best skate of the season, sitting in third place heading into the free skate.

Both disciplines feature pairs of skaters performing together on the ice, but they are definitely not the same.

A French judge is facing accusations of "rigging" an ice dance event that cost Evan Bates and Madison Chock the gold medal.

Breaking down Ilia Malinin's iconic back flip and how the favorite for gold in men's figure skating learned the move.

Three-time World Champions and seven-time U.S. Champs Madison Chock and Evan Bates are close behind in second, after having performed their rhythm dance to a Lenny Kravitz medley of “American Woman,” “Fly Away,” “Always on the Run” and “Are You Gonna Go My Way.” The duo also won a gold medal in the team event with team USA over the weekend.