Figure skating schedule: When to watch Ilia Malinin, ‘Minions' and more compete ...Middle East

Ilia Malinin’s skate, a highly-anticipated Minion performance and more will highlight the start of figure skating’s men’s competition Tuesday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

WATCH LIVE: Men’s figure skating short program

The men’s short program is set to kick off the individual competition for the men and while Malinin is the heavy favorite in the event, a win won’t be easy.

Here’s when and who to watch:

When is figure skating today?

The men’s short program begins starting at 11:30 a.m. CT.

Where to watch figure skating today?

Live coverage of the event begins at 11:15 p.m. CT on USA and at 12:45 p.m. CT on NBC.

Stream the full program live below:

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

Who to watch in men’s short program?

Ilia Malinin

Malinin will be looking for perfection as the two-time reigning world champion, and overwhelming favorite for gold, skates in the men’s short program Tuesday.

He burst onto the scene shortly after he was controversially left off the team for the Beijing Games, when U.S. Figure Skating opted for the more experienced Illinois skater Jason Brown. He has not lost a national title since, claimed gold at the prestigious Grand Prix Final the past three years, and he has won the past two world titles without anybody coming even close to beating him.

But Malinin was far from perfect during the team competition, and that resulted in a surprising upset at one point.

Malinin made several mistakes during his short program Saturday night and was outscored by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama by more than 10 points, a whopping margin. And even though he won the free skate to clinch gold for the U.S., he made an error on an opening jumping pass that forced him to alter his program later on.

Malinin also did not attempt the quad axel, the 4 1/2-revolution jump that only he has ever landed in competition.

Perhaps he is saving it for the individual event — likely the free skate, which concludes competition Friday night. But even if Malinin keeps the quad axel in the bag, the rest of his program is still more difficult than anyone else at the Olympics.

“It’s not a shoo-in. Ilia still has to skate well to win. His competitors are good,” said Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion. “But yeah, as far as the advantage of being the favorite, it’s him and — well, you know, he’s far ahead.”

Yuma Kagiyama

Kagiyama promises to be Malinin’s biggest challenger in the men’s event in Milan. Shun Sato, who nearly matched him in the team free skate, also could factor into the competition. But more than likely, the Japanese teammates will be battling for the silver medal.

Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate

While not a likely medal contender, another storyline that has captivated the figure skating world has been Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate’s “Minions skate.”

Sabate had been performing the fan-favorite program all season long, but when he got to the Olympics, a music rights issue almost forced him to have to change his entire routine. The dire situation sparked a viral call for music approval for the Spanish skater.

The final approval came Friday, about two hours before the Olympic figure skating program opened with the team event.

“I’m so happy to announce that we’ve done it! We’ve secured the licenses for all four songs, and I’ll be able to skate the Minions at the Olympic Games,” Sabate wrote on social media. “It hasn’t been an easy process, but the support of everyone who has followed my case has been key to keeping me motivated and optimistic these past few days.”

Andrew Torgashev

Malinin will be joined on the men’s side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida.

Torgashev’s parents were figure skating stars, though they never made it to the Olympics.

“Ever since I was a young kid,” Torgashev said, “I wanted to be the one out of my family that did it. Because I know my mom has lots of regrets that she stopped, and if she just hung on and skated longer, she also would have called herself an Olympian.”

Maxim Naumov

Maxim Naumov, a 24-year-old from Connecticut, will fulfill the hopes of his late parents when he steps onto Olympic ice.

Naumov’s parents, who had been coaches at the renowned Skating Club of Boston, were among 67 people killed — more than two dozen of them members of the figure skating community — when American Airlines Flight 5342 crashed into a military helicopter on approach to Ronald Reagan National Airport and fell into the icy Potomac River on January 29, 2025.

One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It’s what I’ve been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can’t put this into words.”

Full figure skating schedule

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