Malinin Leads After Men’s Short Program at the 2026 Winter Olympics

The men’s short program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games has concluded. After the first day of competition, American skater Ilia Malinin took the lead, receiving strong support from the crowd and earning 108.16 points.

Malinin opened his program with a quadruple flip, followed by a clean triple Axel performed as a solo jump. Despite fans’ expectations, there was no quadruple Axel in the program — instead, the American finished the jumping pass with an impressive quadruple Lutz–triple toe loop combination, which received a high GOE. In the closing section, he added a backflip, this time landing it confidently, unlike in the team event. The judges awarded level three for the sit spin and the step sequence. The arena responded with an enthusiastic reaction and a standing ovation.

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama placed second after the short program with 103.07 points. Kagiyama cleanly executed a quadruple toe loop–triple toe loop combination and a quadruple Salchow but made a mistake on the triple Axel, taking a step on the landing. This prevented him from closing the gap to Malinin, although the rest of his skate was performed at a high level. In the kiss and cry area, the skater was smiling, as were his coaches — Carolina Kostner and his father, Masakazu Kagiyama.

France’s Adam Siao Him Fa finished third with 102.55 points, keeping the battle for medals tight ahead of the free skate.

Top 8 after the men’s short program:
Ilia Malinin (USA) — 108.16
Yuma Kagiyama (Japan) — 103.07
Adam Siao Him Fa (France) — 102.55
Daniel Grassl (Italy) — 93.46
Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan) — 92.94
Cha Jun-hwan (South Korea) — 92.72
Kevin Aymoz (France) — 92.64
Andrew Torgashev (USA) — 88.94

Russian skater Pyotr Gumennik, who performed to music by Edgar Hakobyan, finished in 12th place.

Twenty-five skaters advanced to the free skate, which will take place on Friday, February 13. The fight for the men’s Olympic medals at the 2026 Games promises to be one of the most intense.