--- title: Winter Olympics: How Long Is the Figure Skating Long Program description: The free skate event is known as the long program because it lasts longer than the short program. Here's what you should know. canonical: https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-17T02:03:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:20:04.389Z article:section: Sports og:title: Here's How Long the Figure Skating 'Long Program' Actually Is og:description: It's also called the "free skate" og:url: https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6b44c16d19a927f/6989280e22fb851b8ae24ca9/figure-skating-long-program.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4823 og:image:height: 2713 og:image:alt: Figure Skating Long Program og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Long the Figure Skating 'Long Program' Actually Is twitter:description: It's also called the "free skate" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6b44c16d19a927f/6989280e22fb851b8ae24ca9/figure-skating-long-program.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Long the Figure Skating 'Long Program' Actually Is > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 17, 2018 2:03 AM UTC  Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan competes during the Men's Single Skating Short Program at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 16, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan competes during the Men's Single Skating Short Program at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 16, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. Maddie Meyer—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Feb 17, 2018 2:03 AM UTC 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](http://time.com/5131418/nathan-chen-olympics-figure-skating-long-program/), 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](http://time.com/5162157/yuzuru-hanyu-japan-figure-skating-short-program/), 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](http://time.com/5162692/olympics-mens-figure-skating/) 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. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/"},"headline":"Here's How Long the Figure Skating 'Long Program' Actually Is","datePublished":"2018-02-17T02:03:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:20:04.389Z","description":"It's also called the \"free skate\"","url":"https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/","keywords":["2018 Pyeongchang Olympics","Winter Olympics","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6b44c16d19a927f/6989280e22fb851b8ae24ca9/figure-skating-long-program.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6b44c16d19a927f/6989280e22fb851b8ae24ca9/figure-skating-long-program.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Figure Skating Long Program","caption":"Figure Skating Long Program","creditText":"Maddie Meyer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2018-pyeongchang-olympics/","name":"2018 Pyeongchang Olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5164015/long-program-how-long-winter-olympics-figure-skating/","name":"Here's How Long the Figure Skating 'Long Program' Actually Is"}}]}] ```