Expect the unexpected in Figure Skating: Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan jumped to gold, giving his country its first ever Olympic title in the sport in a dramatic night that was full of surprises at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. Friday, the 13th, turned out to be Shaidorov’s day.

Shaidorov golden in his Olympic debut

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov surged from fifth place onto the top of the podium, Yuma Kagiyama of Japan matched his Beijing 2022 performance with a silver medal, while his teammate Shun Sato clinched the bronze.

Standing in fifth place following the Short Program, Shaidorov had nothing to lose and gave it his all. Skating to “Confessa” and the “Diva Dance”, the ISU World silver medalist delivered when it counted, reeling off his signature triple Axel-quad Salchow combo and following up with three more excellent quadruple jumps. Only a quad Lutz was slightly under-rotated. He collapsed onto the ice at the end, but he did not know yet what he had done.

Shaidorov smashed his season’s best score and set a new personal best of 198.64 points to rack up 291.58 points overall. Sitting in the leader’s chair, he watched the drama unfold before his eyes.

“These are incredible emotions. I have been working towards this since my childhood,” Shaidorov said. “Today I just wanted to enjoy the moment and do everything I have been working on for all those years. And today I did that.

"I don’t even know how to describe my feelings. I just did everything I can do and apparently life rewarded me.

“I was honestly rooting for each athlete,” he said when asked about watching the competition from the leader’s chair. “I was rooting for Adam, for Yuma, for Ilia. When Ilia started making mistakes, I was surprised. When he congratulated me, he said, ‘You deserve it’.

Mikhail Shaidorov secured Kazakhstan's first ever Olympic gold in Figure Skating © Getty Images

Italian Daniel Grassl, who ranked fourth in the Short Program, was unwell and wobbled on some jumps to drop to ninth at 263.71 points. Adam Siao Him Fa of France was in medal position in third following the first day of the competition but made several errors to slip to seventh with 269.72 points. Shaidorov knew then he was on the podium. 

Up next was Kagiyama. The 2022 Olympic silver medalist stumbled on his opening quad Salchow and fell on the quad flip. The Japanese Champion recovered to land a quad toe-Euler-double Salchow and two triple Axels. However, Kagiyama was sixth in the Free Skating with 176.99 points and remained in second place at 280.06 points. 

“The fact that I was able to challenge myself, and that I was able to take on that challenge here on this stage, is a very big achievement and carries very big meaning for me,” Kagiyama noted. 

“Although today was very frustrating, if I look at it from the bigger picture, on this Olympic stage there were a lot of experiences and important lessons. So overall, I think I can say I did my best."

Then Short Program leader Ilia Malinin stepped onto the ice. The gold was his to lose, and he lost it. The two-time ISU World Champion hit a solid quad flip but ran into trouble when he popped his planned quad Axel. More mistakes followed and he dropped to eighth at 264.49 points. 

“It’s not a pleasant feeling, and I’m still trying to understand exactly what happened,” Malinin shared. “But it’s done. I can’t change the outcome. My life has had a lot of ups and downs, and in that moment, everything just felt very overwhelming. I honestly didn’t know how to handle it.”

Hot favourite Ilia Malinin faltered and fell to eighth during a dramatic evening in Milan © Getty Images

Shun Sato turned in a strong performance to “Firebird” that was highlighted by a quad Lutz and two quad toes to rise from ninth to third with 274.90 points. 

"Right now, I don't know if it's a dream or reality. I didn't expect to win a medal and stand here tonight,” Sato commented.

"I was reflecting back on my good performance during the team event, and I just imagined doing well again this time around. That's how the results came out.

"My goal was to get some kind of medal for both the team event and single skating, so I'm really happy that I did meet this goal."

Yuma Kagiyama, Mikhail Shaidorov and Shun Sato took home medals after a scintillating night on Friday © Getty Images

The 2026 Four Continents silver medalist Junhwan Cha (KOR) pulled up from sixth to fourth place with a powerful Tango program (273.92 points).

"I really gave my best today here,” Cha said. “Even though I made a mistake, I fought through everything else. I gave everything today, so I'm proud of myself that I came here and I didn't give up."

Stephen Gogolev (CAN) turned in the second best Free Skating of the night to climb from 10^th to fifth (273.78 points). Petr Gumennik (AIN) came sixth on 271.71 points. 

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