The Figure Skating portion of the 2026 Winter Olympics brought us an incredibly talented variety of men, women, pairs, and ice dancers this year. There were shocks, upsets, and excitement for both fans and skaters this year.
The event opened with the team event, where skaters from all countries compete together to win a team medal. The team event began with rhythmic ice dance, followed by the pairs and women’s short programs on day one. Day two began with the men’s short programs and ended with the free ice dance. The team event wrapped up on day three with pair’s, women’s, and men’s free skate.
After the team event, the United States pulled through with gold, led by Alysa Liu, Ilia Malinin, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates. Unfortunately, Amber Glenn, who usually comes out with one of the highest scores, had a rough team skate. Japan took second, led by Kaori Sakamoto and Yuma Kagiyama. Finally, Italy came in third, managing to claim their first figure skating team event medal. They were guided to bronze by Matteo Rizzo.
The next day began with rhythmic ice dance followed by the men’s short program the next day. Of course, the men’s short was led by the “Quad God,” Ilia Malinin, followed by the artistic, Yuma Kagiyama, and France’s Adam Siao Him. Following the men’s short, the ice dance wrapped up with the free dance. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron battled it out with Madison Chock and Evan Bates for a controversial gold, followed by Chock and Bates with second. Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier skated beautifully, allowing them to take the bronze medal home.
The men’s portion was able to wrap up two days after the ice dance with the free skate portion. Following shocking performances by both Ilia Malinin and Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, Shaidorov came through with an unexpected gold medal. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama was able to snatch second after skating a beautiful program, followed by his teammate Shun Sato who took bronze.
The two following days were all about pair skating. Day one began with the pairs short program, followed by the pairs free skate the day after. Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara took home gold, followed by Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava, taking home the first Georgian Olympic figure skating medal. Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin took third place.
The two following, and final events, were the women’s short and free skate programs. Unsurprisingly, USA’s fan favorite, Alysa Liu, came through with a gold medal. Following Liu, Japan continued dominating, as a well known favorite, Kaori Sakamoto, came through with a silver, followed by her young teammate, Ami Nakai, happily placing third.
