The men's singles figure skating competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 16 and 17 February at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, South Korea, and featured 30 skaters from 21 nations. Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, both of Japan, won the gold and silver medals, respectively; while Javier Fernández of Spain won the bronze. This was Hanyu's second Olympic gold medal, having also won the men's event at the 2014 Winter Olympics, making him the first men's singles skater to win two consecutive Olympic gold medals since 1952. Fernández' bronze medal was the first ever Olympic medal for Spain in figure skating. Controversy arose after the competition when an investigation by the International Skating Union determined that the Chinese judge in the men's event had given preferential scores to the Chinese skaters, while simultaneously giving low scores to their strongest competitors.

Background In 2016, an independent report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed allegations that the Russian Olympic team had been involved in a state-sponsored doping program from at least late 2011 through February 2014, when Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi. On 5 December 2017, the International Olympic Committee announced that the Russian Olympic Committee had been suspended from the 2018 Winter Olympics. Athletes with no previous drug violations and a consistent history of drug testing were permitted to compete under the Olympic flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR). Under the terms of the decree, neither the Russian flag nor anthem were to be used at the Olympics; the Olympic flag and Olympic Anthem were used instead.

The men's single skating event was one of five figure skating competitions contested at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. It was held at the Gangneung Ice Arena over two days: the short program took place on 16 February and the free skating on 17 February. The competition featured 30 skaters representing 21 nations. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was the reigning Olympic champion, having won the gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics while setting a new world record in the short program. Hanyu was a two-time world champion and four-time Japanese national champion. However, he had injured his ankle at the 2017 NHK Trophy and withdrawn from public view to recuperate. The 2018 Olympics were his first competition since his injury. Expected to be his biggest challengers were Javier Fernández of Spain, Shoma Uno of Japan, and Nathan Chen of the United States. Fernández was a two-time world champion, six-time European champion, and seven-time Spanish national champion. Uno was the 2017 World Championship silver medalist and two-time Japanese national champion. Chen, nicknamed the "Quad King" for his prowess in performing quadruple jumps, was the first skater to successfully perform five quadruple jumps in a single program (at the 2017 U.S. Championships). He was also the 2017 Four Continents champion, two-time U.S. national champion, and was the last skater to beat Hanyu in competition (at the 2017 Rostelecom Cup).

Qualification

Twenty-four quota spots in the men's event were awarded based on the results at the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships. An additional six quota spots were earned at the 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy. This was the first time that Malaysia had ever qualified for a figure skating event at the Winter Olympics; Julian Yee also served as the country's flag bearer.

While Alexander Majorov earned an Olympic spot for Sweden by finishing third at the Nebelhorn Trophy, the Swedish Olympic Committee declined to send him to the Olympics, as he did not meet their prescribed standards. The Swedish Olympic Committee had required that Majorov finish within the top eight at an international competition and did not count his seventh-place finish at the 2018 European Figure Skating Championships, because it was not a truly international event. That quota spot was re-allocated to the Philippines, who chose to send Michael Christian Martinez.

+Qualifying nations in men's singles Event Skatersper Qualifying NOCs Totalskaters 2017 World Championships 3 24 2 1 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy 1 6 Total 30

Required performance elements Men performed their short programs on 16 February. Lasting 2 minutes 40 seconds (+/− 10 seconds), the short program had to include the following elements: one double or triple Axel; one triple or quadruple jump immediately preceded by connecting steps; one jump combination consisting of a double jump and a triple jump, two triple jumps, or a quadruple jump and a double jump or triple jump; one flying spin; one camel spin or sit spin with a change of foot; 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 17 February. Lasting 4 minutes 30 seconds (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate had to include the following: eight 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, composition, and musical interpretation/timing). 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 Discipline Short program Free skate Men 1.00 2.00 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 men's short program was held on 16 February. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan finished in first place with a score of 111.68. He successfully performed every element of his program, as did the next three skaters in progression. Javier Fernández of Spain finished in second place, Shoma Uno of Japan, finished in third, and Jin Boyang of China finished in fourth. The performances from all four were described by the Associated Press as "magnificent and spotless". Dmitri Aliev of Russia successfully performed two quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Lutz, earning a new personal best score of 98.93 and finishing in fifth place. Patrick Chan of Canada, competing for the third time in a week, fell on his triple Axel and finished in sixth place. Adam Rippon of the United States, performing without a quadruple jump, finished in seventh place, while his teammate Nathan Chen missed all of his planned jumps and finished seventeenth. Vincent Zhou, also of the United States, successfully performed the first quadruple Lutz ever at the Winter Olympics, although he finished in twelfth place after under-rotating his triple Axel. Dmitri Aliev performed after Zhou, so his quadruple Lutz was the second performed at the Olympics.

+Men's short program results Skater Nation 1 Yuzuru Hanyu 111.68 63.18 48.50 9.71 9.43 9.86 9.75 9.750.00 2 Javier Fernández 107.58 59.79 47.79 9.36 9.36 9.71 9.68 9.680.00 3 Shoma Uno 104.17 58.13 46.04 9.29 9.00 9.25 9.29 9.210.00 4 Jin Boyang 103.32 60.27 43.05 8.79 8.29 8.82 8.54 8.610.00 5 Dmitri Aliev 98.98 56.98 42.00 8.43 8.11 8.50 8.50 8.460.00 6 Patrick Chan 90.01 45.08 45.93 9.36 9.07 9.00 9.29 9.211.00 7 Adam Rippon 87.95 44.48 43.47 8.57 8.43 8.86 8.68 8.930.00 8 Mikhail Kolyada 86.69 43.84 43.85 8.96 8.54 8.64 8.82 8.891.00 9 Michal Březina 85.15 44.34 40.81 8.25 7.89 8.25 8.21 8.210.00 10 Keegan Messing 85.11 45.50 40.61 8.04 7.96 8.07 8.29 8.251.00 11 Jorik Hendrickx 84.74 44.17 40.57 7.96 7.89 8.25 8.18 8.290.00 12 Vincent Zhou 84.53 48.50 36.03 7.39 6.96 7.11 7.32 7.250.00 13 Alexei Bychenko 84.13 43.63 40.50 7.93 7.71 8.36 8.18 8.320.00 14 Misha Ge 83.90 41.75 42.15 8.18 8.18 8.54 8.46 8.790.00 15 Cha Jun-hwan 83.43 43.79 39.64 7.93 7.68 8.07 8.00 7.960.00 16 Brendan Kerry 83.06 45.49 37.57 7.57 7.36 7.61 7.57 7.460.00 17 Nathan Chen 82.27 41.39 41.88 8.46 8.32 8.14 8.57 8.391.00 18 Daniel Samohin 80.69 43.29 38.40 7.79 7.29 7.79 7.71 7.821.00 19 Yan Han 80.63 40.99 40.64 8.46 8.07 7.86 8.18 8.071.00 20 Keiji Tanaka 80.05 40.30 40.75 8.36 7.86 8.07 8.21 8.251.00 21 Deniss Vasiļjevs 79.52 39.34 41.18 8.25 8.00 8.18 8.39 8.361.00 22 Morisi Kvitelashvili 76.56 40.88 36.68 7.46 7.11 7.32 7.43 7.361.00 23 Matteo Rizzo 75.63 39.23 36.40 7.29 7.11 7.29 7.39 7.320.00 24 Paul Fentz 74.73 37.71 37.02 7.46 7.25 7.46 7.46 7.390.00 25 Julian Yee 73.58 38.37 35.21 7.07 6.82 7.11 7.14 7.070.00 26 Chafik Besseghier 72.10 38.41 33.69 6.79 6.29 6.89 6.86 6.860.00 27 Denis Ten 70.12 30.77 39.35 8.11 7.82 7.46 8.07 7.890.00 28 Michael Christian Martinez 55.56 26.04 29.52 5.96 5.64 5.96 6.00 5.960.00 29 Felipe Montoya 52.41 22.59 30.82 6.25 6.07 6.00 6.25 6.251.00 30 Yaroslav Paniot 46.58 18.68 29.90 6.43 5.79 5.61 6.21 5.862.00

Free skating The men's free skate was held on 17 February. Yuzuru Hanyu successfully performed four quadruple jumps during his free skate, winning the gold medal with a total score of 317.85 points. Hanyu became the first skater to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the men's event since Dick Button in 1952. Shoma Uno won the silver medal after backloading his program; that is, performing jumps in the second half of a routine so as to maximize the bonus points that those jumps could receive. In this case, he performed one quadruple jump and three triple jumps in the last minute of his routine. Javier Fernández won the bronze medal, ultimately finishing just 1.66 points behind Uno. This was the first Olympic medal in figure skating for Spain.

Nathan Chen finished first in the free skate, setting a new personal best score in the free skate with 215.08 points. He also became the first skater to successfully perform five quadruple jumps at the Winter Olympics. Chen had attempted a sixth quadruple jump, but touched the ice on the landing of one of them. After his disastrous short program, Chen decided the only way to remain in the competition was to attempt all six quadruple jumps.

This event was the 1000th medal event in the history of the Winter Olympics.