2014 Sochi Olympics figure skating schedule: Jason Brown sets eye on podium Friday

Medals in men’s figure skating will be handed out on Friday and Team USA has a shot at a medal with Jason Brown just off medal pace entering the free program.

Brown set a personal best score of 86.00 in the short program Thursday and retained the lead for the first half of the competition until the heavy hitters took to the ice. He’s currently sitting in sixth place, but is just 6.98 points out of bronze medal position, which could be easily made up on Friday.

The Sochi crowd were disappointed by early news that Russian legend Evgeni Plushenko wouldn’t be able to take the ice after injuring his back in warmups. He withdrew from the competition and announced his retirement from competitive skating and was given a standing ovation by the crowd in attendence.

While Plushenko’s absence was noticable, the competition was rewarded with a World Record in his stead. Yuzurua Hanyu of Japan became the first man to break the 100 point mark in men’s short program with a 101.45. The duel on Friday for gold appears to be between Hanyu and Patrick Chan of Canada who posted a 97.52 in the opening round.

Figure skating begins at 10:00 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on NBCOlympics.com, with replays in prime time on TV. These are your top ten skaters entering the final round.

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