US Olympic Figure Skating 2022: Team USA Odds, Predictions and Schedule

Olympic figure skating has been embroiled in controversy ahead of the sport's final two events of the Games, pairs short program and pairs free skate.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Kamila Valieva of the Russian Olympic Committee was allowed to compete in the women's free skate on Thursday even though it was reported after the team event that she had tested positive for a banned substance.

The 15-year-old's legal team has said that the positive test was "caused by a mix-up with her grandfather's heart medication," per Iain Axon, Karolos Grohmann and Joseph Campbell of Reuters.

Shockingly, Valieva finished off the podium, in fourth. 

The United States' last best chance of making the podium was in the women's free skate with 16-year-old Alysa Liu, the youngest American athlete at the 2022 Games. However, Team USA is not favored to make the podium in the upcoming pairs events 

The U.S. has won three medals so far in figure skating. Its lone gold was claimed by Nathan Chen in men's singles. The Americans captured silver in the team event, and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue took bronze in ice dance. 

Let's take a closer look at the remaining figure skating schedule and the odds for the pairs short program and the pairs free skate, which will be held Friday and Saturday, respectively. 

U.S. Olympic Figure Skating Remaining Schedule

Friday, Feb. 18

Pairs short program, 5:30 a.m. ET, USA Network

Saturday, Feb. 19

Pairs free skate, 6 a.m. ET, USA Network

Pairs Odds

Anastasia Mishina/Aleksandr Galliamov, Russian Olympic Committee: +140

Sui Wenjing/Han Cong, China: +175

Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Russian Olympic Committee: +300

Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii, Russian Olympic Committee: +550

Peng Cheng/Jin Yang, China: +2500

Vanessa James/Eric Radford, Canada: +3500

Riku Muira/Ryuichi Kihara, Japan: +5000

Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro, Canada: +5000

Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy Leduc, United States: +5000

Alexa Knierim/Brandon Frazier, United States: +5000

Pairs odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

In pairs, it's possible the ROC could sweep the entire podium. 

The United States pairs, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy Leduc and Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, round out the top 10 pairs in the odds, and aren't expected to land on the podium in Beijing. 

LeDuc and Cain-Gribble began skating together in May 2016 and are coming off a first-place finish in the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Nashville. LeDuc is first openly nonbinary U.S. Winter Olympian.

Knierim and Frazier had to withdraw from the U.S. championships due to Frazier testing positive for COVID-19. The two started skating together in April 2020; longtime figure skating fans will remember that Knierim used to skate with her husband, Chris, who stepped away from the sport in February 2020. 

The couple competed at PyeongChang 2018, finishing 15th.

Knierim and Frazier found success early in their partnership, winning the 2021 U.S. Nationals and placing seventh at the 2021 World Championships.

But none of the Americans are expected to be able to best the three ROC pairs, as well as China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, all of whom are expected to threaten the podium. 

Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov, who are favored, have been skating partners since 2017. They helped the ROC win gold in the team event.

The ROC has four total medals and two gold at these Games. 

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