World Team Trophy figure skating 2025: How to watch, preview, schedule

World Team Trophy, a biennial competition similar to the Olympic figure skating team event, airs live this week from Tokyo on Peacock.

Each of the world’s top six skating nations — the U.S., Japan, Italy, France, Canada and Georgia — fields a team of two men’s singles skaters, two women’s singles skaters, one pairs’ team and one ice dance couple.

All of the skaters perform two programs. Team standings are determined by point values corresponding to skaters’ placements in each of the eight total programs.

The U.S. won the event in 2023 by 25 points -- the largest margin since World Team Trophy began in 2009.

Japan may have closed the gap.

Since 2023, the top U.S. pairs’ team — 2022 World champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier — stepped away from competition.

Japan now has a significant edge in pairs with reigning world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara. The top American pair at last month’s World Championships was Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov in sixth overall.

The U.S. and Japan are closer in singles — Ilia Malinin, Jason Brown, Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn for the Americans, and Yuma Kagiyama, Shun Sato, Kaori Sakamoto and Mone Chiba for Japan.

The U.S. has a significant advantage in ice dance with three-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

A key difference between World Team Trophy and the Olympic team event: World Team Trophy includes two men’s singles skaters and two women’s singles skaters per nation in both programs. At the Olympics, it’s one per nation in both programs.

2025 World Team Trophy Broadcast Schedule

Ilia Malinin won a second straight world title Saturday night, but felt upset that he had left something undone.