The U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the final event to determine the Olympic team, airs live on NBC Sports, USA, NBCOlympics.com and Peacock this week.
Peacock will stream every competition, including junior events starting Tuesday, and will have a practice cam from Tuesday through Sunday.
The U.S. has three Olympic spots for men, women and ice dance and two for pairs, matching its largest Olympic roster since 1984. In most cases, Olympic team selection mirrors national championships results, but not always.
Nathan Chen, the five-time reigning U.S. men’s champion, is the biggest favorite among the four disciplines. He bids to tie Todd Eldredge for the most national men’s titles since Dick Button won seven in a row from 1946-52.
The men’s event also has the clearest Olympic picture: Chen, Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown made up the U.S. team for every world championships in this Olympic cycle.
FIGURE SKATING NATIONALS PREVIEWS: Men | Women | Pairs | Ice Dance | Broadcast Schedule
Alysa Liu, who in 2019 became the youngest U.S. women’s champion at age 13, is the highest-ranked American woman this season. She leads a field that also includes 2018 Olympian Karen Chen and Mariah Bell and Amber Glenn, the last two U.S. silver medalists. Bradie Tennell, the top U.S. woman at the 2018 Olympics (ninth place) and reigning U.S. champion, withdrew last week due to a chronic foot injury.
The U.S. has two Olympic pairs’ spots after having just one in 2018. Four teams are bunched together: reigning national champs Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier and Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc are separated by just .18 of a point in season’s best scores. Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson and Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov are another five and seven points back, respectively.
Knierim and Frazier withdrew Wednesday after Frazier tested positive for the coronavirus. They will petition for a spot on the Olympic team. More here.
In ice dance, the U.S. again has multiple Olympic medal-contending couples. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue and Madison Chock and Evan Bates own a combined five national titles, splitting the last two. The third Olympic spot is expected to come down to Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, who finished third and fourth at last year’s nationals.
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2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Senior Broadcast Schedule
| Day | Time (ET) | Event | Platform |
| Thursday | 5 p.m. | Pairs’ Short | USA | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order |
| 8:30 p.m. | Women’s Short | USA | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order | |
| Friday | 4:30 p.m. | Rhythm Dance | USA | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order |
| 8 p.m. | Women’s Free | NBC | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order | |
| Saturday | 4 p.m. | Men’s Short | NBC | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order |
| 7 p.m. | Pairs’ Free | USA | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order | |
| 8:30 p.m. | Free Dance | USA | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order | |
| Sunday | 2 p.m. | Men’s Free | NBC | Peacock | STREAM LINK | Skate Order |
