The women's singles figure skating competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics was held on 19 and 20 February 2014 at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia, and featured 30 skaters from 20 nations. Adelina Sotnikova of Russia won the gold medal, Yuna Kim of South Korea won the silver medal, and Carolina Kostner of Italy won the bronze medal. Sotnikova's gold medal was the first for Russia in the women's event, and Russia became the first country to win gold medals in all four figure skating events. Kostner's bronze medal was the first Olympic medal for Italy in single skating. Controversy arose upon completion of the women's event when an examination of the scores led to accusations of judging irregularities and improprieties.

Background The women's single skating event was one of five figure skating competitions contested at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. It was held at the Iceberg Skating Palace over two days: the short program took place on 19 February and the free skating on 20 February. The competition featured 30 skaters representing 20 nations.

Qualification

Twenty-four quota spots in the women's event were awarded based on the results at the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships. An additional six quota spots were earned at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy. This was Brazil's first qualification for a figure skating event at the Winter Olympics; the Brazilian Olympic Committee chose to send Isadora Williams.

+Qualifying nations in women's singles Event Skatersper Qualifying NOCs Totalskaters 2013 World Championships 3 24 2 1 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy 1 6 Total 30

Required performance elements Women performed their short programs on 19 February. Lasting 2 minutes 50 seconds, the short program had to include the following elements: one double or triple Axel; one triple jump immediately preceded by connecting steps; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, or two triple jumps; one layback spin or sideways leaning spin; one spin combination with a change of foot; and a step sequence using the full ice surface.

The twenty-four highest-scoring skaters after the short program advanced to the free skating, which they performed on 20 February. Lasting 4 minutes (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate had to include the following: seven jump elements, of which one had to be an Axel-type jump; three spins, of which one had to be a spin combination, one a flying spin, and one a spin with only one position; a step sequence; and a choreographic sequence.

Judging

Skaters were judged according to the required technical elements of their program (such as jumps and spins), as well as the overall presentation of their program, based on five program components (skating skills, transitions, performance/execution, composition/choreography, and musical interpretation). Each technical element in a figure skating performance was assigned a predetermined base point value and scored by a panel of nine judges on a scale from −3 to +3 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –3 to +3 was assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. For example, a triple Axel was worth a base value of 8.50 points, and a GOE of +3 was worth 3.00 points, so a triple Axel with a GOE of +3 earned 11.50 points. The judging panel's GOE for each element was determined by calculating the trimmed mean (the average after discarding the highest and lowest scores). The panel's scores for all elements were added together to generate a Total Elements Score. At the same time, the judges evaluated each performance based on the five aforementioned program components and assigned each a score from 0.25 to 10 in 0.25-point increments. The judging panel's final score for each program component was also determined by calculating the trimmed mean. Those scores were then multiplied by the factor shown on the chart below; the results were added together to generate a total Program Component Score.

+Program component factoring Component Short program Free skating Women's singles 0.80 1.60 Deductions were applied for certain violations, such as time infractions, stops and restarts, or falls. The Total Elements Score and Program Component Score were then added together, minus any deductions, to generate a final performance score for each skater or team.

Results

Code key

Short program The women's short program was held on 19 February.

+Women's short program results Skater Nation 1 Yuna Kim 74.92 39.03 35.89 9.04 8.61 9.11 8.89 9.210.00 2 Adelina Sotnikova 74.64 39.09 35.55 8.82 8.57 9.11 8.89 9.040.00 3 Carolina Kostner 74.12 37.49 36.63 9.00 8.79 9.36 9.25 9.390.00 4 Gracie Gold 68.63 36.55 32.08 8.04 7.71 8.14 8.04 8.180.00 5 Yulia Lipnitskaya 65.23 33.15 33.08 8.43 8.07 8.14 8.43 8.291.00 6 Ashley Wagner 65.21 31.43 33.78 8.39 8.11 8.61 8.50 8.610.00 7 Polina Edmunds 61.04 32.98 28.06 7.11 6.71 7.21 6.93 7.110.00 8 Akiko Suzuki 60.97 28.71 32.26 8.18 7.79 8.00 8.11 8.250.00 9 Maé-Bérénice Méité 58.63 30.83 27.80 7.07 6.64 7.04 6.93 7.070.00 10 Nathalie Weinzierl 57.63 31.94 25.69 6.50 6.14 6.57 6.36 6.540.00 11 Li Zijun 57.55 30.01 27.54 7.07 6.57 6.96 6.89 6.930.00 12 Valentina Marchei 57.02 27.52 29.50 7.32 7.04 7.54 7.36 7.610.00 13 Kaetlyn Osmond 56.18 27.51 28.67 7.18 6.96 7.18 7.14 7.390.00 14 Zhang Kexin 55.80 32.68 23.12 6.11 5.61 5.79 5.75 5.640.00 15 Kanako Murakami 55.60 26.72 28.88 7.39 6.93 7.25 7.21 7.320.00 16 Mao Asada 55.51 22.63 33.88 8.57 8.29 8.14 8.64 8.711.00 17 Elene Gedevanishvili 54.70 27.51 27.19 6.89 6.50 6.89 6.71 7.000.00 18 Kim Hae-jin 54.37 29.23 25.14 6.54 5.89 6.39 6.11 6.500.00 19 Gabrielle Daleman 52.61 28.07 24.54 6.32 5.93 6.11 6.14 6.180.00 20 Elizaveta Ukolova 51.87 29.72 22.15 5.64 5.32 5.61 5.61 5.500.00 21 Nicole Rajičová 49.80 26.63 23.17 5.89 5.50 5.93 5.79 5.860.00 22 Brooklee Han 49.32 26.37 22.95 5.82 5.54 5.86 5.68 5.790.00 23 Park So-youn 49.14 25.35 23.79 6.14 5.68 6.00 5.89 6.040.00 24 Anne Line Gjersem 48.56 26.13 22.43 5.68 5.36 5.71 5.50 5.790.00 25 Jenna McCorkell 48.34 25.34 23.00 5.89 5.36 6.04 5.71 5.750.00 26 Kerstin Frank 48.00 26.64 21.36 5.61 5.14 5.39 5.39 5.180.00 27 Viktoria Helgesson 47.84 21.83 27.01 7.11 6.57 6.50 6.82 6.751.00 28 Natalia Popova 47.42 24.30 23.12 6.00 5.54 5.82 5.82 5.710.00 29 Jelena Glebova 46.19 22.59 23.60 6.11 5.75 5.89 5.89 5.860.00 30 Isadora Williams 40.37 18.93 21.44 5.39 5.14 5.39 5.39 5.500.00

Free skating The women's free skating was held on 20 February. With an overall score of 224.59 points, seventeen-year-old Adelina Sotnikova became one of the youngest figure-skating Olympic champions, edging out silver-medalist and defending-champion Yuna Kim and bronze-medalist Carolina Kostner. Adelina Sotnikova's gold medal was Russia's first Olympic gold in the ladies event, making Russia the first country to have won Olympic gold medals in all four figure skating disciplines. Carolina Kostner's bronze medal was Italy's first Olympic medal in a singles event.

+Women's free skate results Skater Nation 1 Adelina Sotnikova 149.95 75.54 74.41 9.18 8.96 9.43 9.50 9.430.00 2 Yuna Kim 144.19 69.69 74.50 9.21 8.96 9.43 9.39 9.570.00 3 Mao Asada 142.71 73.03 69.68 8.75 8.36 8.79 8.79 8.860.00 4 Carolina Kostner 142.61 68.84 73.77 9.14 8.71 9.43 9.21 9.610.00 5 Gracie Gold 136.90 69.57 68.33 8.57 8.25 8.61 8.64 8.641.00 6 Yulia Lipnitskaya 135.34 66.28 70.06 8.68 8.46 8.68 9.00 8.961.00 7 Ashley Wagner 127.99 61.07 66.92 8.46 8.07 8.50 8.36 8.430.00 8 Akiko Suzuki 125.35 60.57 65.78 8.36 7.82 8.21 8.29 8.431.00 9 Polina Edmunds 122.21 63.02 60.19 7.54 7.29 7.57 7.61 7.611.00 10 Valentina Marchei 116.31 55.56 60.75 7.46 7.18 7.75 7.71 7.860.00 11 Maé-Bérénice Méité 115.90 60.86 56.04 7.11 6.57 7.14 7.07 7.141.00 12 Kanako Murakami 115.38 56.96 58.42 7.54 6.93 7.36 7.32 7.360.00 13 Kaetlyn Osmond 112.80 55.97 57.83 7.25 6.96 7.32 7.25 7.361.00 14 Li Zijun 110.75 55.79 54.96 7.04 6.57 6.82 6.96 6.960.00 15 Zhang Kexin 98.41 49.84 48.57 6.43 5.71 6.11 6.14 5.960.00 16 Gabrielle Daleman 95.83 48.40 47.43 6.11 5.75 5.82 6.00 5.960.00 17 Kim Hae-jin 95.11 45.25 50.86 6.61 6.07 6.29 6.50 6.321.00 18 Brooklee Han 94.52 48.71 46.81 6.00 5.43 5.96 5.86 6.001.00 19 Park So-youn 93.83 48.72 46.11 6.04 5.50 5.82 5.75 5.711.00 20 Elene Gedevanishvili 92.45 39.85 53.60 6.93 6.32 6.75 6.75 6.751.00 21 Nathalie Weinzierl 89.73 38.47 52.26 6.71 6.39 6.46 6.64 6.461.00 22 Anne Line Gjersem 85.98 41.24 44.74 5.64 5.32 5.61 5.71 5.680.00 23 Elizaveta Ukolova 84.55 42.94 43.61 5.61 5.29 5.29 5.68 5.392.00 24 Nicole Rajičová 75.20 30.39 45.81 5.82 5.54 5.50 5.89 5.891.00

Overall +Women's results Rank Skater Nation Total SP FS Adelina Sotnikova 224.59 2 74.64 1 149.95 Yuna Kim 219.11 1 74.92 2 144.19 Carolina Kostner 216.73 3 74.12 4 142.61 4 Gracie Gold 205.53 4 68.63 5 136.90 5 Yulia Lipnitskaya 200.57 5 65.23 6 135.34 6 Mao Asada 198.22 16 55.51 3 142.71 7 Ashley Wagner 193.20 6 65.21 7 127.99 8 Akiko Suzuki 186.32 8 60.97 8 125.35 9 Polina Edmunds 183.25 7 61.04 9 122.21 10 Maé-Bérénice Méité 174.53 9 58.63 11 115.90 11 Valentina Marchei 173.33 12 57.02 10 116.31 12 Kanako Murakami 170.98 15 55.60 12 115.38 13 Kaetlyn Osmond 168.98 13 56.18 13 112.80 14 Li Zijun 168.30 11 57.55 14 110.75 15 Zhang Kexin 154.21 14 55.80 15 98.41 16 Kim Hae-jin 149.48 18 54.37 17 95.11 17 Gabrielle Daleman 148.44 19 52.61 16 95.83 18 Nathalie Weinzierl 147.36 10 57.63 21 89.73 19 Elene Gedevanishvili 147.15 17 54.70 20 92.45 20 Brooklee Han 143.84 22 49.32 18 94.52 21 Park So-youn 142.97 23 49.14 19 93.83 22 Elizaveta Ukolova 136.42 20 51.87 23 84.55 23 Anne Line Gjersem 134.54 24 48.56 22 85.98 24Nicole Rajičová 125.00 21 49.80 24 75.20 25 Jenna McCorkell 48.34 25 48.34 Did not advanceto free skate 26 Kerstin Frank 48.00 26 48.00 27 Viktoria Helgesson 47.84 27 47.84 28 Natalia Popova 47.42 28 47.42 29 Jelena Glebova 46.19 29 46.19 30 Isadora Williams 40.37 30 40.37

Judging controversies The gold-medal victory of Adelina Sotnikova of Russia over Yuna Kim of South Korea in the women's event prompted an outpouring of criticism and allegations of unfair judging. Journalists and skating experts argued that scores given to Sotnikova were inflated both in the short program and free skate. Of the three medalists, Sotnikova was the only one to have what Alexander Abad-Santos of The Wire described as an "ugly error". Sotnikova stepped out of a jump combination in a manner described as "sloppy" and "crooked", while only receiving a 0.90-point penalty. Sotnikova also received criticism for her choreography and artistry, which many found lacking compared to that of Yuna Kim, as well as Carolina Kostner, the skater from Italy who won the bronze medal. Dave Lease, figure skating commentator and founder of The Skating Lesson, likened Sotnikova's choreography to that of a sea mammal performing tricks for an audience.