Winter Olympics 2026

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm happy for the kid from Kazakhstan though!

Me too! He was so shocked - he had no expectation of winning gold!

Same! It reminded me a little of Lillehammer, when the favored veterans all stumbled (Browning, Boitano, and Petrenko) and Alexei Urmanov pulled off a stunning upset. The planets had to align just right.

And Alexei Urmanov is Mikhail Shaidorov‘s coach. He trains with him in Sochi.

Not a political post, but as someone who loves figure skating, the Russian influence on the sport was everywhere at the 2026 men's Olympic event, even with the ban. So many in men's singles had Russian roots or training:

Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan – 1st) – Trainsin Russia with Alexei Urmanov in Sochi and speaks Russian.

Stephen Gogolev (Canada – 5th) – Has dual Canadian and Russian citizenship, started skating in Russia as a kid before moving to Canada.

Petr Gumennik (Russia – 6th) – Russian competing as a neutral athlete.

Ilia Malinin (USA – 8th) – His parents Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov were Olympic figure skaters from Uzbekistan/former Soviet Union.

Andrew Torgashev (USA – 12th) – Parents were Russian figure skaters who toured with ice shows before settling in the US.

Maxim Naumov (USA – 20th) – His parents Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were the 1994 World Champions in pairs for Russia.

Vladimir Samoylov (Poland – competed) – Born in Moscow, trained in the Russian system before switching to Poland.

I know many of these skaters have left Russia or represent other countries, but the technical foundation and coaching tradition of Russian figure skating still clearly influences the sport.

Also, even if Adeliia Petrosian lands a quad and triple axel in the women's event, will she podium, or will the judges give her a low enough component score to keep her out of the top 3? Her actual skating is much more entertaining than Kaori Sakamoto (I think she's so boring, personally, and prefer the other Japanese women to her).

Yeah, there was a sizeable diaspora of coaches and skaters-turned-pro in the years after the Soviet Union broke up. Most of them ended up in the US where there was more money to be made going on tour, better training facilities, and better opportunities to coach.

Figure skating enjoyed a surge in popularity in the mid-90s after the Olympics and all publicity around Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, so there was a growing and ready-made audience for all the shows and lessons. I started taking lessons as an adult and competed for a bit Usova & Zhulin and Stekolnikova & Kazarlyga all taught at my rink, and Ilya Kulik trained nearby.

And then many of the expat Russian skaters from that original mid-90s influx stayed and had kids, who are old enough to compete for the US now. It’s fun to see familiar names coming around again.

Personally, I love the Russian style. It’s so balletic and lyrical, and the artistic side often gets neglected these days in the rush for quads. The ballet influence provides a good technical foundation for the jumps and spins.

It's the balletic foundation, yes, but the true bedrock of the Russian style is superior blade control built through hours and hours of drilling the most basic of maneuvers until the sweet spot of generating enough speed without friction is achieved. Oleg Vassiliev said they would start practice working on nothing but crossovers (basic steps to get around the ice) for 90 minutes, nothing but crossovers until they are perfected to the point of being able to cross the entire rink in a two or three pushes. Ice dancers would spend an hour working on nothing but a single turn until that turn makes a perfect line on the ice and the skater is perfectly centered over the blade. Recall the famous "quiet blades" of Gordeeva and Grinkov who could generate awe-inspiring speed around the ice making barely any sound at all - because they were riding on that sweet spot of the blade that met no friction of the ice.

This training foundation, sadly, will never be replicated. One, because no one has patience any longer to drill the basics before moving to the showy stuff. And two, because it was sustained by the system that had no concern whatsoever about paying for ice time.

And three, the demise of compulsory figures. Yes, they were boring to do and boring to watch, but years of doing them created edge mastery.

[Anonymous]

Yes, agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

+1

This team event is cute, but what's the point? I think it would mess up athletes' abilities to peak during the individual performances (you know, the whole point of them coming to the Olympics)

Yeah, I don’t get it. It isn’t a team sport. When do they start doing this?

But to that point, I also don’t think they should have a gymnastics team medal either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

+1

This team event is cute, but what's the point? I think it would mess up athletes' abilities to peak during the individual performances (you know, the whole point of them coming to the Olympics)

Yeah, I don’t get it. It isn’t a team sport. When do they start doing this?

But to that point, I also don’t think they should have a gymnastics team medal either.

All sports have been adding medal events. Mixed relays for swimming, alpine skiing combined (downhill/slalom), mixed biathlon Nordic skiing relays, dual moguls, team snowboard cross, synchronized diving, synchro trampoline, pole vaulting while reading Great Expectations (OK I made that one up). Maybe they want more medal opportunities for ratings or to fill up the extra time created by streaming tv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

+1

This team event is cute, but what's the point? I think it would mess up athletes' abilities to peak during the individual performances (you know, the whole point of them coming to the Olympics)

Yeah, I don’t get it. It isn’t a team sport. When do they start doing this?

But to that point, I also don’t think they should have a gymnastics team medal either.

All sports have been adding medal events. Mixed relays for swimming, alpine skiing combined (downhill/slalom), mixed biathlon Nordic skiing relays, dual moguls, team snowboard cross, synchronized diving, synchro trampoline, pole vaulting while reading Great Expectations (OK I made that one up). Maybe they want more medal opportunities for ratings or to fill up the extra time created by streaming tv.

Don't forget the luge relay. One of the more insane concepts I've seen. Yet somehow I ended up watching the whole thing, so I guess it worked.

[Anonymous]

I wanted to feel bad for Malinin, but somehow I just didn't. To declare yourself the Quad G0d and strut around with this plastered across your shirt, to skate a program to the sound of your own voice making navel-gazing pronouncements, is so arrogant and unlikable. NBC overhyped him but a lot of that hype and branding was created by his own team and it turned into a monster that ate him in the big moment. Hopefully he learns a bit more humility from this very humanizing and embarrassing moment.

Watching Shaidorov's gradual realizations that he would medal, then that it would be silver, then that it would be gold was much more enjoyable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

+1

This team event is cute, but what's the point? I think it would mess up athletes' abilities to peak during the individual performances (you know, the whole point of them coming to the Olympics)

Yeah, I don’t get it. It isn’t a team sport. When do they start doing this?

But to that point, I also don’t think they should have a gymnastics team medal either.

It's interesting because in gymnastics, it has always been the event that matters most. Team gold is the pinnacle.

I actually really like the Team Event and think the skaters themselves have started to treat it as a realer thing. The fact that Ilia would even consider doing both programs... I think it should clearly come after the individual events though. I dont understand why they don't just flip the timing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

He’s an overhyped bum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

Yes, you heard right.

And as he is local, let’s just say that my reference to his arrogance is from direct knowledge of who he is.

New poster.
One doesn’t need deep insight to notice that he is unfortunately full of himself, which is not the end of the world for a 21 yo but I am surprised his parents don’t keep him in check.
He invented his own nickname, put it on a t shirt and wears it. He skates to his own inspirational quotes.
It’s normal for a young person to feel that their thoughts and feelings are more significant and novel than they are, but there needs to be an adult to tell them it’s ridiculous.

At the same time, he was extremely gracious to the gold medal winner, going to him immediately and congratulating/embracing him, and in his interviews afterward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm happy for the kid from Kazakhstan though!

Me too! He was so shocked - he had no expectation of winning gold!

Same! It reminded me a little of Lillehammer, when the favored veterans all stumbled (Browning, Boitano, and Petrenko) and Alexei Urmanov pulled off a stunning upset. The planets had to align just right.

And Alexei Urmanov is Mikhail Shaidorov‘s coach. He trains with him in Sochi.

Not a political post, but as someone who loves figure skating, the Russian influence on the sport was everywhere at the 2026 men's Olympic event, even with the ban. So many in men's singles had Russian roots or training:

Mikhail Shaidorov (Kazakhstan – 1st) – Trainsin Russia with Alexei Urmanov in Sochi and speaks Russian.

Stephen Gogolev (Canada – 5th) – Has dual Canadian and Russian citizenship, started skating in Russia as a kid before moving to Canada.

Petr Gumennik (Russia – 6th) – Russian competing as a neutral athlete.

Ilia Malinin (USA – 8th) – His parents Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov were Olympic figure skaters from Uzbekistan/former Soviet Union.

Andrew Torgashev (USA – 12th) – Parents were Russian figure skaters who toured with ice shows before settling in the US.

Maxim Naumov (USA – 20th) – His parents Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were the 1994 World Champions in pairs for Russia.

Vladimir Samoylov (Poland – competed) – Born in Moscow, trained in the Russian system before switching to Poland.

I know many of these skaters have left Russia or represent other countries, but the technical foundation and coaching tradition of Russian figure skating still clearly influences the sport.

Also, even if Adeliia Petrosian lands a quad and triple axel in the women's event, will she podium, or will the judges give her a low enough component score to keep her out of the top 3? Her actual skating is much more entertaining than Kaori Sakamoto (I think she's so boring, personally, and prefer the other Japanese women to her).

Two more to add to your list:

-Diana Davis, ice dancer from Georgia, daughter of (notorious) Russian coach Eteri Tutberidze.

-Anthony Ponomarenko, American ice dancer, son of Sergei Ponomarenko and Marina Klimova, Russian ice dancers and Olympic gold (and silver and bronze) medalists.

Add Nikita Volodin, German pairs figure skating, currently they are in 1st. Russian born and raised. He became a German citizen in 2025.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

Yes, you heard right.

And as he is local, let’s just say that my reference to his arrogance is from direct knowledge of who he is.

New poster.
One doesn’t need deep insight to notice that he is unfortunately full of himself, which is not the end of the world for a 21 yo but I am surprised his parents don’t keep him in check.
He invented his own nickname, put it on a t shirt and wears it. He skates to his own inspirational quotes.
It’s normal for a young person to feel that their thoughts and feelings are more significant and novel than they are, but there needs to be an adult to tell them it’s ridiculous.

At the same time, he was extremely gracious to the gold medal winner, going to him immediately and congratulating/embracing him, and in his interviews afterward.

+1 He's full of himself and overconfident, yes. But he's also kind and self-aware. He never says anything rude or unkind about his competition. After he lost, he said in interviews immediately after that I had been a mental problem, he had been on overwhelmed by the Olympic atmosphere, and that he had been too confident.

The only petty thing he said was the comment about "them" not sending him to Beijing in the kiss & cry, but I think it is reasonable, in recognizing how the mental side impacted him, to wish he'd had the trial run on another olympics. Sports structured around Olympic cycles can be brutal -- you look at the calendar and realize you are at the mercy of your physical peak coinciding with an event that occurs only once every 4 years.

Chock & Bates were asked about coming back for the next olympics to see if they can get an individual gold. Bates was kind of sarcastic in his response -- why not aim for Salt Lake in 8 years of we're hoping for things? They are 32 and 36.

Ilia is not in that position yet but with his quads -- who knows how 4 or 8 years will impact his skill set. This was his year, and he blew it with nerves. And he knows it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

+1

This team event is cute, but what's the point? I think it would mess up athletes' abilities to peak during the individual performances (you know, the whole point of them coming to the Olympics)

They should try moving the team event to the end. Then countries could decide who to skate based on who has energy/something to prove/who wants a victory lao AFTER they've completed the individual medal events.

Not sure that would have helped Ilia -- he looked nervous in the team event. His best skate was the individual short program, so his third. But I do think that would be the most fair to the athletes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ilia’s arrogance did him in.

Wasn't he heard saying after his performance waiting for his results that only if they had let him go to Beijing in 2022, he would be on that podium?

How so?

NP. Because, theoretically, he would have gotten his nerves and Olympic inexperience over with, and then his second games would have been fruitful. See also: Nathan Chen Olympics 1 vs. Nathan Chen Olympics 2.

It was a controversial decision at the time in 2022 to send Jason Brown instead of Ilia. That said, Jason Brown performed well and was decently ranked. It’s impossible to say what could have or would have happened. I love Jason Brown and was glad he was on the team in 2022; Ilia did not perform well at that Worlds just a few weeks later.

Anyway, I wish Ilia all the best and hope he continues to mature, as a person and as an athlete. I feel for him, to have skated so well to help USA win team gold and then to fall so short in the individual event.

They underutilized him last Olympics and overextended him this time. As a result, he was instrumental in securing gold for the team and was left with nothing in individual event.

They had absolutely no business putting their A team into the team event. He burned it all there and there was nothing left for the individual event. They should either hold the team event after the individual meet or explicitly slot a different set of skaters into the team event. You cannot expect top level runthroughs of the same program so frequently.

There were days in between. There was a day in between team and men’s short program, then a couple days between individual short and free skate. An Olympic level athlete should be able to give top performance with that schedule. If anything, having the team run through first should have helped with nerves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chloe Kim what a crash out

I would not say that. She still did very well and the girl she mentored and asked to come to the US to train with her won the gold.

I read an interview with her recently and she said she's already got a retirement date in mind. She's been doing this literally her whole life--the article talked about how she slept for 2-3 nights at a time in the airport when she was a little kid to go to competitions, and was homeschooled from middle school onward, all with the goal of making her star. She qualified for the Olympics at age 13 (but was too young to go according the rules) and was financially responsible for supporting her family as a teenager.

[Anonymous]

This Japanese guy bawling his eyes out is giving me life.