The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics delivered one of the most memorable figure skating competitions in recent memory — a week of upsets, viral moments, judging controversy, and performances that will be replayed for years. If you missed it or want the full picture in one place, here's a complete breakdown of every result and the stories behind them.
Women's Singles: Alysa Liu Wins Gold in a Dominant Performance
The marquee event of any figure skating Olympics is women's singles, and 2026 did not disappoint.
Gold: Alysa Liu (USA) — 226.79 points Silver: Kaori Sakamoto (Japan) Bronze: Nakai Ami (Japan)
Alysa Liu, the two-time US national champion who first burst onto the scene as a 13-year-old in 2019, finally delivered on the Olympic stage at Milan-Cortina. Performing to a program that drew widespread praise for its musicality and joy, Liu skated with the confidence of someone who had waited years for this moment — and looked like she was having the time of her life doing it. Her halo-style hair accessory became an immediate viral talking point.
The American team event had already served as a preview, but the individual competition cemented her status as the defining women's singles skater of this era.
Kaori Sakamoto of Japan took silver, adding another Olympic medal to a career that has been defined by relentless consistency. Nakai Ami — also Japanese — rounded out the podium with a strong performance in her first Olympic appearance.
The Amber Glenn story: Amber Glenn finished just outside the medals but her performance carried enormous emotional weight. Glenn, a three-time US national champion who has been open about her journey through an eating disorder and mental health treatment, landed the triple axel in the team event — one of only a handful of women in Olympic history to do so. Her free skate in the individual event drew a standing ovation. "I told myself, no matter how the program was going to go, I was going to look up and tell myself, 'You're at the Olympics,'" she said afterward.
Men's Singles: Kazakhstan's Dark Horse Stuns the Field
If one result from Milan-Cortina 2026 will define the narrative for years to come, it's this.
Gold: Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan) Silver: Yuma Kagiyama (Japan) Bronze: Shun Sato (Japan)
Mikhail Shaidorov entered the free skate sitting in fifth place. What followed was one of the most electric performances in recent Olympic history — a technically loaded program delivered with the kind of confidence that makes you wonder why anyone was surprised. He wasn't supposed to win. He won anyway.
For Kazakhstan, it was the first Winter Olympic gold medal in 32 years. For Shaidorov, a 21-year-old who had been quietly building toward this moment, it was proof that the podium isn't reserved for the favorites.
The Ilia Malinin collapse: The story of what didn't happen is just as significant. Ilia Malinin — the reigning world champion, four-time US national champion, and widely considered the prohibitive favorite — had a catastrophic free skate. He popped and fell on multiple jumps, dropping completely out of medal contention. For a skater who had been nearly flawless on the world stage for three years running, it was a stunning turn.
Kagiyama and Sato — both Japanese — delivered the consistency that the podium rewarded, taking silver and bronze respectively.
Pairs: Japan Completes a Remarkable Rise
Gold: Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara (Japan) Silver: Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (Georgia) Bronze: Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin (Germany)
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara added Olympic gold to their growing collection of international titles, continuing Japan's remarkable rise as a pairs power. The Japanese pair skated cleanly in both segments and held off a strong challenge from Metelkina and Berulava — the Georgian team representing one of the more unexpected podium appearances of the games.
Ice Dance: Gold for France, Controversy for Everyone
Ice dance was the most talked-about discipline at Milan-Cortina — and not entirely for the right reasons.
Gold: Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron (France) — dominant across both segments Silver: Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA) — 0.43 points behind Bronze: Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier (Canada)
Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron were exceptional. That much was undeniable. But the 0.43-point margin separating gold and silver — combined with a subsequent data analysis showing significant scoring disparities — transformed a compelling competition into a full-blown controversy.
A Sportico analysis found statistically significant home-country bias across the judging panel: 30 of 36 judges in the short program scored their own country's skaters an average of 1.93 points higher. In the free dance, the disparity widened — 25 of 29 judges favored their own country's skaters by an average of 3.34 points. French judge Jezabel Dabouis gave France 137.45 points while scoring Chock and Bates just 129.74 — a 7.71-point swing on what most observers considered comparable programs.
The US did not appeal within the 24-hour window. Madison Chock and Evan Bates — seven-time US champions and one of the most decorated American ice dance teams in history — left Milan with silver and a firestorm that shows no sign of cooling.
The ISU has since announced a review of its judging processes for the next quad. Whether meaningful reform follows remains to be seen.
Team Event: USA Wins Gold
Gold: United States Silver: Japan Bronze: Italy
The team event saw the US put together a comprehensive performance across all four disciplines to claim the top spot. Japan's strong showing in both singles and pairs lifted them to silver, while Italy — as the host nation — delivered a memorable bronze performance in front of their home crowd.
The Moment Everyone Talked About
Beyond the medals, one moment went genuinely viral outside the skating community: a 61-year-old rink technician filmed preparing the Olympic ice surface while gliding backward effortlessly in a perfectly smooth motion. The footage circulated widely on social media, drawing comparisons to Michael Jackson's moonwalk and briefly making "ice technician" one of the most searched terms in sports.
What Comes Next
The 2026 World Figure Skating Championships at the O2 Arena in Prague — held March 25-29 — gave many of these skaters a chance to regroup and redefine their narratives. Ilia Malinin answered his Olympic disappointment with a third consecutive world title. Kaori Sakamoto added a fourth world title. Those results are covered separately in our 2026 World Figure Skating Championships recap.
For recreational skaters inspired by what they saw at Milan-Cortina, now is the perfect time to find a rink near you and try the ice for yourself. Browse our full rink directory or check state-by-state guides to find a Learn to Skate program in your area.