FIGURE SKATING
‘Quad God’ Malinin continues medal hunt as Men take the ice for the Short Program
09 Feb 2026
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The Men of Figure Skating start their individual medal hunt in the Short Program at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Tuesday, February 10.
As they say, you cannot win the competition with the Short Program but you can lose it. The competition at the Milano Ice Skating Arena gets underway 18:30 local time. Here’s what to expect…
Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) is the sole returning medalist from Beijing 2022, where he won silver © Getty Images
Malinin, Kagiyama and Sato lead the field
- Two-time ISU World Champion Ilia Malinin (USA), pictured top, is the hot favorite and is hungry for more gold after winning his first Olympic title with the US team on Sunday.
- Japan’s Yuma Kagyiama, the 2022 Olympic silver medalist, and countryman Shun Sato look ready to challenge Malinin. They won silver with team Japan.
- Malinin holds a season’s best of 108.87 in the Short Program while Kagiyama has as tantalizingly close season’s best of 108.77 points.
- Other top contenders to watch are 2026 European Champion Nika Egadze (GEO), 2026 ISU Four Continents Champion Kao Miura (JPN), 2025 ISU World silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) and 2026 Four Continents silver medalist Junhwan Cha.
- The dark horse in the race is Petr Gumennik (AIN) who won the Olympic Qualifying competition in September.
Shun Sato (JPN) came second behind Malinin in the Men's Free Skating part of the team event © Getty Images
Quick Facts
- A total of 29 Men representing 20 NOCs and one Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN) are competing in the event.
- The top 24 Men after the Short Program advance to the Free Skating on Friday, February 13.
- Kagiyama is the only returning medalist from the 2022 Olympic Games. He won silver four years ago.
- The highest score in the Men’s Short Program currently is 113.97 points, set by Nathan Chen (USA) at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
2026 European Champion Nika Egadze (GEO) is one to watch after his recent success © ISU
