Winter Olympics Figure Skating 2022: Saturday Odds, Live Stream and Predictions

The United States sits in an optimal position after three legs of the figure skating team event at the 2022 Winter Olympics. 

Nathan Chen topped the men's short program, and the ice dancing pair of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue earned the best score in rhythm dance. 

A third-place finish in the pairs skate from Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier gave the Americans 28 points after three events. 

Still, the Americans need to pick up every point possible in the two skates Saturday, as the second-place Russian Olympic Committee is scheduled to send its best skaters to the ice in Beijing. 

The women's short program will be first up for the day, and the men's free skate will follow.

The participating countries in the team event will make their final decisions on which athletes will skate in the events Saturday as well.

The available odds for the day's competitions can be found on DraftKings Sportsbook. 

Saturday Figure Skating Schedule

Team Event - Women's Short Program (8:30 p.m. ET) 

Team Event - Men's Free Skate (10:50 p.m. ET) 

All events can be live-streamed on NBCOlympics.com.

Predictions

Russian Olympic Committee Will Take Lead

The Russian Olympic Committee should overtake the United States during Saturday's first skate. 

The ROC has three medal favorites in the women's singles, and a high score is expected in the women's short program of the team event regardless of who competes.

It would be wise of the ROC to let 15-year-old Kamila Valieva skate Saturday to get one event under her legs before she takes on the women's singles event. The United States followed the same strategy by letting Chen open the team event Thursday in the men's short program.

There are no clear gold-medal favorites among the American women. That could result in a large point gap between the ROC and the USA.

A first-place finish in any team event skate gains 10 points, second place gains nine points, third place earns eight points and so on. 

The Americans need their women's short program skater to finish in the top five to ensure there is not too much of a points drop-off relative to the ROC.

The top five countries in the team event standings after the women's short program will advance to the free skate. 

Americans Will Remain in Top 3 After Saturday's Skates

The Americans should be in decent shape to medal in the team event as long as they perform well to kick off the free-skate portion. 

Chen will likely not compete in the men's free-skate portion of the team event so he can focus on winning gold in the men's singles event. 

Jason Brown and Vincent Zhou are the other two candidates for the United States to send to the ice. 

Brown could get the nod because of his lengthy experience at 27 years old and because he might have a better time in the men's competition early next week. 

The 2014 mixed-team bronze medalist does not have to win the free skate, and as long as he finishes in the top three, he should keep the Americans in medal contention. 

The disparity in talent between the ROC and the other teams is not as big in the other events as it is in the women's discipline, so there is a chance one of the other nations steals first place in the men's free skate. 

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