Figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics – Qualification

The following is about the qualification rules and allocation of spots for the figure skating events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.^[1]

A total of 142 quota spots are available to athletes to compete at the games. A maximum of 18 athletes can be entered by a National Olympic Committee, with a maximum of 9 men or 9 women. There is also an "Additional Athletes Quota" which allows up to a maximum of 5 more total skaters, bringing the potential total to 147. The host (Italy) is the priority for these additional places so that if they have met minimum standards they may have an entry in each event, other than the team event. If unused, these five quotas can be used to qualify nations for the team event if they only need an entry in one more discipline.^[1]

There is no individual athlete qualification to the Olympics; the choice of which athlete(s) to send to the Games is at the discretion of each country's National Olympic Committee. Each country is allowed a maximum of three entries per discipline, resulting in a maximum of 18 athletes (nine men and nine women) possible per country.

According to ISU rules, countries must select their entries from among skaters who have achieved a minimum combined total technical elements score (TES) at an ISU-recognized international competition on or before 26 January 2026.^[1]

The number of entries for the figure skating events at the Olympic Games is limited by a quota set by the International Olympic Committee. A total of 142 quota spots are available to athletes to compete at the games. There will be 29 skaters each in the disciplines of men's and women's singles, 19 pair skating teams, and 23 ice dance teams. Additionally, ten nations qualify for the team event.

Countries will be able to qualify entries to the 2026 Winter Olympics in two ways. Most spots are allocated based on the results of the 2025 World Championships. At the event, countries will be able to qualify up to three entries in each discipline according to the following system which differs slightly from the qualification to the 2026 World Championships. According to ISU rule 400, nations cannot directly qualify more quotas than are entered, and only entries that perform in the free skate are considered.^[2] Every discipline qualifies independently.

At the World Championships, the system is as follows:

• According to the ISU's Rule 378(2), any competitor who qualified for the free program received a maximum placement score of 16, and any competitor who failed to qualify for the free program received a maximum placement score of 18.^[2]

The results of the 2025 World Championships will determine 83 total spots: 24 entries in each singles discipline, 16 in pairs, and 19 in ice dance. The available spots will be award going down the results list, with multiple spots being awarded first.

The remainder of the spots will be filled at an ISU Qualifying Competition in Beijing, China in late September 2025. Countries that had already earned an entry to the Olympics will not be allowed to qualify additional entries at this final qualifying competition. However, if a country earned two or three spots at the World Championships, but did not have two or three skaters, respectively, qualify for the free skate, then they were allowed to send a skater who did not reach the free segment at World Championships to the competition to qualify the remaining spot(s). Unlike at the World Championships, where countries could qualify more than one spot depending on the placement of their skater(s), at the Qualifying Competition, countries could earn only one spot per discipline, regardless of ranking. The ISU has decided that 6 politically evaluated and screened skaters from Russia and 6 from Belarus can qualify as Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), and only from the final qualifying competition. Accordingly they will only be able to qualify one quota per discipline and will not be eligible for the team trophy.^[3]

If a country declines to use one or more of its qualified spots, the vacated spot is awarded using the results of the ISU competition in descending order of placement.

For the team trophy, scores from the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships and the 2025–26 Grand Prix season, will be tabulated to establish the ten top nations. Each nation compiles a score from their top performers in each of the four disciplines. The Grand Prix Final, taking place in early December 2025, will be the final event to affect the Team Trophy score.

Source:^[4]

The top ten eligible National Olympic Committees (NOCs) qualify for the Olympic games. NOCs are ranked according to their results in two seasons. For 2024-25 the results from the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships are given a score. If needed the continental competitions (2025 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, 2025 European Figure Skating Championships) or the 2025 World Junior Figure Skating Championships scores can be used. For the 2025-26 season the 2025–26 Grand Prix is used, or if needed scores from the junior grand prix can be used.^[1]

To be eligible for the team event a NOC must have already qualified in at least three out of four disciplines competed at the Olympics. A check mark indicates the NOC has a qualified entry in that discipline.^[4] Point totals are taken from 'Annex A' in the qualification rules.^[1] NOCs can still qualify entries at the "ISU Qualifying Competition," so more may become eligible. NOCs ranked in the top ten, and only having three disciplines qualified, are eligible for an additional quota. There are a total of five additional quotas and they are given out in order of the NOCs total score.

Totals are as of the end of the 2024-25 season, only nine NOCs became eligible during the first season.

If a country rejects a quota spot then additional quotas become available. A country can be eligible for one quota spot per event in the reallocation process. Countries in bold indicate the country later received a quota spot. The following list is compiled after the remaining spots were allocated at the ISU Qualifying Competition.