The men's singles figure skating competition at the 2026 Winter Olympics was held on 10 and 13 February 2026 at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, and featured 29 skaters from 21 nations. In what was seen as a stunning upset, Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the gold medal, while Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato, both of Japan, won the silver and bronze medals, respectively. Shaidorov became the first Kazakh skater to win a gold medal in figure skating. This was Kagiyama's fourth Olympic silver medal, having won silver in both the men's singles event and the team event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and another silver as part of the Japanese team at the 2026 team event.
Background In October 2023, the International Olympic Committee suspended the Russian Olympic Committee. The skating federations of Russia and Belarus were each permitted to nominate one skater or team from each discipline to participate at the Skate to Milano as a means to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics as Individual Neutral Athletes. Each nominee was required to pass a special screening process to assess whether they had displayed any active support for the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine or had any contractual links to the Russian or Belarusian military. Petr Gumennik of Russia earned a spot at the Olympics as an Individual Neutral Athlete.
The men's singles event was one of five figure skating competitions contested at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. It was held at the Milano Ice Skating Arena over two days: the short program took place on 10 February and the free skating took place on 13 February. The competition featured 29 skaters representing 21 nations. Coming into the competition, Ilia Malinin of the United States was regarded as the favorite to win the men's event. A two-time world champion and four-time U.S. national champion, Malinin was the only skater to successfully perform a quadruple Axel in competition. At the 2025 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Malinin became the first skater to successfully perform seven quadruple jumps in a single program. Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton described him thusly: "We now have these athletic elements that are virtually impossible, that one unique human being has found a way to master, where no one else in the world was able to do it at that level."
Malinin's nearest rival was Yuma Kagiyama of Japan. While Malinin was known for his jumping prowess, Kagiyama was known for his control and precision. Kagiyama had outscored Malinin earlier in the short program during the 2026 team event. Kagiyama had won two silver medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics – one in the men's event and one in the team event – as well as a third silver medal in the 2026 team event. He was a three-time World Championship silver medalist, two-time Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final silver medalist, and two-time Japanese national champion. Kagiyama's teammate, Shun Sato, had also won a silver medal as part of the Japanese team in the team event. Sato was also a two-time Four Continents Championship medalist (bronze in 2023 and silver in 2024), two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and the 2026 Japanese national silver medalist.
Qualification
Twenty-four quota spots in the men's event were awarded based on the results at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships. An additional five spots were awarded at the Skate to Milano. +Qualifying nations in men's singles Event Skatersper NOC Qualifying NOCs Totalskaters 3 24 2 1 Skate to Milano 1 (Petr Gumennik) 5 Total 29
Required performance elements Men performed their short programs on 10 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; 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 one step sequence using the full ice surface.
The twenty-four highest-scoring skaters after the short program advanced to the free skating on 13 February. Lasting 4 minutes (+/− 10 seconds), the free skate had to include the following elements: 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; one step sequence; and one 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 three program components (skating skills, presentation, and composition). 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 −5 to +5 based on the quality of its execution. Each Grade of Execution (GOE) from –5 to +5 was assigned a value as indicated on the Scale of Values. For example, a triple Axel was worth a base value of 8.00 points, and a GOE of +3 was worth 2.40 points, so a triple Axel with a GOE of +3 earned 10.40 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 1.67 3.33 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.
Results
Code key
Short program The men's short program was held on 10 February. Ilia Malinin of the United States finished in first place with a score of 108.16, successfully performing a quadruple flip and a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop jump combination. Malinin earned 22.03 points for his jump combination; no other skater earned over 20 points for any element. Upon completion of his required jump elements, Malinin delivered his signature "raspberry twist" and backflip. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan finished in second place, receiving a perfect 10.0 score in presentation from one judge. Adam Siao Him Fa of France, the 2024 World Championship bronze medalist, two-time European champion, and two-time French national champion, whose performance was described by Caroline Price of Forbes as "near-perfect", finished in third place.
+Men's short program results Skater Nation 1 108.16 62.35 45.81 9.11 9.25 9.07 0.00 2 103.07 56.50 46.57 9.36 9.14 9.39 0.00 3 102.55 57.27 45.28 9.04 9.18 9.07 0.00 4 93.46 52.73 40.73 8.18 8.25 7.96 0.00 5 92.94 52.45 40.49 8.00 8.14 8.11 0.00 6 Cha Jun-hwan 92.72 50.08 42.64 8.39 8.64 8.50 0.00 7 92.64 48.55 44.09 8.75 9.04 8.61 0.00 8 88.94 48.56 40.38 7.89 8.11 8.18 0.00 9 88.70 46.77 41.93 8.39 8.18 8.54 0.00 10 87.41 48.23 39.18 7.93 7.71 7.82 0.00 11 86.89 49.20 37.69 7.39 7.57 7.61 0.00 12 86.72 48.43 38.29 7.61 7.57 7.75 0.00 13 Jin Boyang 86.55 47.79 38.76 7.75 7.71 7.75 0.00 14 85.65 47.77 37.88 7.29 7.71 7.68 0.00 15 85.11 45.85 9.26 7.93 7.79 7.79 0.00 16 84.30 42.49 41.81 8.46 8.29 .29 0.00 17 82.44 42.34 40.10 7.86 8.11 8.04 0.00 18 82.02 41.33 41.69 8.36 8.32 8.29 1.00 19 80.87 40.61 40.26 8.04 7.96 8.11 0.00 20 80.30 45.17 35.13 7.11 6.93 7.00 0.00 21 77.57 40.88 36.69 7.25 7.29 7.43 0.00 22 76.77 37.44 40.33 8.00 7.79 8.36 1.00 23 75.56 39.71 36.85 7.32 7.61 7.14 1.00 24 Li Yu-hsiang 72.41 39.84 32.57 6.36 6.64 6.50 0.00 25 69.80 34.25 35.55 7.11 7.36 6.82 0.00 26 Kim Hyun-gyeom 69.30 37.92 32.38 6.39 6.39 6.61 1.00 27 67.15 31.45 35.70 7.21 6.96 7.21 0.00 28 66.86 35.83 32.03 6.36 6.36 6.46 1.00 29 63.63 31.13 32.50 6.46 6.18 6.82 0.00
Free skating The men's free skate was held on 13 February. In what The New York Times called "one of the biggest upsets in figure skating history", Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who had won the silver medal at the 2025 World Championships, won the gold medal after Ilia Malinin made a series of errors that led to him ultimately finishing in eighth place. This was the first medal win for a Kazakh athlete at the 2026 Winter Olympics and the first gold medal for Kazakhstan at any Winter Olympics since 1994. Shaidorov had finished in fifth place after the short program, but rallied back in the free skate, scoring over ten points more than his nearest competitor and setting a new personal best with an overall score of 291.58. Shaidorov had been the first skater to successfully perform a quadruple jump as the second element in a jump combination, a feat he accomplished at the 2024 Grand Prix de France. He opened his Olympic free skate with a triple Axel-Euler-quadruple Salchow jump combination, and what followed was described by Brittany Ghiroli of The New York Times as "nearly flawless". Shaidorov was only the second Kazakh figure skater to win a medal at the Winter Olympics. Denis Ten, who had been a source of inspiration for Shaidorov, won the bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Before he was murdered in 2018, Ten had advocated for growing the sport of figure skating in Kazakhstan, a movement which Shaidorov has continued. "It means a lot for me and for my country, because I really want to see our sport to grow in Kazakhstan," he explained. "I will do everything to make that happen and I hope ... that this medal will bring a lot of motivation to young athletes."
Yuma Kagiyama, who had won the silver medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, won the silver medal despite falling on his quadruple flip. This was Kagiyama's fourth Olympic silver medal, having won two silver medals each in the men's event and the team event in 2022 and 2026. Shun Sato of Japan, who had been in ninth place after the short program, won the bronze medal. For Ilia Malinin, a series of mistakes led to him finishing fifteenth in the free skate and eighth overall. He was unable to perform his signature quadruple Axel, his planned quadruple loop became a double loop, and he fell on both his quadruple Lutz and his planned quadruple Salchow, which also became a double. His loss in Milan ended a streak of twelve consecutive wins that stretched back to November 2023. Malinin's final score of 264.49 was his worst score in nearly four years. After Malinin received his scores and it was announced that Shaidorov had won the gold medal, Malinin hugged and congratulated him. "I watched him skate from the locker room and I'm just so proud of him," Malinin said afterward. "We're all in this sport together, and we're there for each other."