How to watch ice dance at the Winter Olympics for free

With the figure skating team event in the rearview mirror, it’s time for the individual events at the 2026 Olympics.

Ice dancing kicks off over a week of individual figure skating events, and today, 23 pairs will take the ice — some for the first time — to present their rhythm dances.

None of the ice dance medalists from the 2022 Olympics are back to compete, save for France’s Guillaume Cizeron, who won a gold medal with Gabriella Papdakis but is skating with a new partner, Laurence Fournier Beaudy, for this cycle.

However, the top pair from both ice dance portions of the team event are in the medal hunt; Team USA’s Madison Chock and Evan Bates are among the favorites for the gold medal in their fourth (and possible final) Olympics together. The three-time world champions will start last tonight.

Two more of Team USA’s ice dance pairs also qualified for the individual event. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik will start 16th and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko will go 18th.

Following today’s event, the top 20 pairs will move onto Wednesday, Feb. 11’s free dance portion. Medals will be awarded at the end of that event to the pairs with the highest combined scores.

Olympics ice dancing schedule and start time

Today, Feb. 9, is the first day of the Olympics 2026 ice dance competition. The rhythm dance is scheduled to begin at 1:20 p.m. ET.

How to watch Olympic ice dancing for free

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Olympics for free.

DIRECTV is our favorite service for watching TV live for free — it has a five-day free trial and there are a ton of options for plans that include USA Network (and every other channel you’ll need for the Olympics), starting at $69.99/month.

You can also catch every minute of the Olympics with a subscription to Peacock, which starts at $10.99/month.

Ice dance – rhythm dance start list

1. Sofia Val and Asaf Kazimov (ESP)
2. Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Lu (CHN)
3. Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez (GBR)
4. Milla Ruud Reitan and Nikolaj Majorov (SWE)
5. Holly Harris and Jason Chan (AUS)
6. Laurence Fornier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (FRA)
7. Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain le Gac (CAN)
8. Jennifer Janse van Rensburg and Benjamin Steffan (GER)
9. Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler (CZE)
10. Katerina Mrazkova and Daniel Mrazek (CZE)
11. Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin (GEO)
12. Hannah Lim and Ye Quan (KOR)
13. Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis (FIN)
14. Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck (ESP)
15. Marjorie Lajoe and Zachary Lagha (CAN)
16. Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik (USA)
17. Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU)
18. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (USA)
19. Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier (CAN)
20. Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud (FRA)
21. Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (GBR)
22. Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri (ITA)
23. Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA)

2026 WINTER OLYMPICS

What is rhythm dance? How does rhythm dance work?

Rhythm dance (formerly known as short dance) is the first segment of an ice dance competition and typically the more upbeat of the two segments. Dances must be 2 minutes and 50 seconds long and include required elements as decided by the International Skating Uniion (ISU).

In May 2025, the ISU selected “The Music, Dance Styles and Feeling of the 1990s” as the theme for the 2025-26 season, so all of the dances you’ll see this afternoon fall into that category.

The mandatory elements for 2026 are one short lift, a set of sequential twizzles, a style B step sequence, a dance spin, a pattern dance element (Rumba/Quickstep combo) and a choreographic element.

The highest recorded rhythm dance score in competition is 93.91, achieved in 2023 by Chock and Bates.

Figure skating at the Olympics 2026 schedule

• Ice Dance – Rhythm Dance — Feb. 9, 1:20 p.m. ET
• Men’s Singles – Short Program — Feb. 10, 12:30 p.m. ET
• Ice Dance – Free Dance — Feb. 11, 1:30 p.m. ET*
• Men’s Singles – Free Skating — Feb. 13, 1 p.m. ET*
• Pairs – Short Program — Feb. 15, 1:45 p.m. ET
• Pairs – Free Skating — Feb. 16, 2 p.m. ET*
• Women’s Singles – Short Program — Feb. 17, 12:45 p.m. ET
• Women’s Singles – Free Skating — Feb. 19, 1 p.m. ET*
• Exhibition Gala — Feb. 21, 2 p.m. ET

*medals awarded

When do the Winter Olympics end?

The 2026 Winter Olympics end with the closing ceremony on Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.