Here’s How Long the Figure Skating ‘Long Program’ Actually Is

The gold, silver and bronze medal winners in men’s figure skating will be determined at the free skate event in the 2018 Winter Olympics, where skaters will perform in the “long program.”

The free skate event is known as the long program because it lasts a challenging 4 minutes and 30 seconds — a lengthy amount of time for any skater. Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, Spain’s Javier Fernandez and Japan’s Shoma Uno are the skaters to watch after coming out on top during the short program on Thursday.

The long program differs from the short program because it’s the final event in figure skating and lasts for a significantly longer amount of time. By contrast, the Olympics short program lasts about two minutes and 50 seconds.

During the long program, all eyes will be on the men’s quadruple jumps, or “quads,” when a skater starts off backwards, rotates four times in the air and lands on one foot on a backward outside edge of their skate.