2026 Olympics: Women's Free Skate

[moonvine]

I wake up and see that Liu won?
Damn, i think i would have even preferred Sakamoto to win.
Poor Adeliia, she must be blaming herself. You still did well in those circumstances baby. I wonder if twitter is happy now or if she is still keeping them pressed.
Congrats to Nakai for medalling in her first olys and senior season. She didn't waste her chance.
Would have like Mone on the podium but that result isn't that bad. Hope she will thrive in the next seasons. I don't know what the next generation of Japanese ladies look like, but i hope the battle for spots won't extremely tough.

Plenty of people on Twitter hate Alysa.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Plenty of people on Twitter hate Alysa.

Plenty of people on the social media hate.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Amber, you made me proud. Thanks for coming to all those Friends of Figure skating breakfasts and putting up with us fans. Love all the pics I have with the skaters. I was even able to make my knees stop shaking enough to get a pic with Zack and Maddie.

 

[klutzy]

So basically never for the women because I know it wasn't 2002, 1998, or 1994 either. For whatever reason, I blocked 2010 out. It might have been the disappointment with USA men's hockey losing to Canada for the gold.

Elizabeth Manley of Canada was happy. It was the battle of the Carmens--Katerina Witt won and and Debi Thomas, who was leading after the short, was undone by nerves and fell to bronze. Manley, meanwhile, ignored by the media, had a great carefree skate and ended up in Silver position. She was thrilled.

So, back in the 80s there was a happy Silver medalist in what was then Ladies Figure Skating.

(Also--hurray for Alysa Liu. It's been a longgg medals drought for American women. Yes, other skaters might be more to my taste, but there's a ton to be said for a skater who can perform with joy under insane pressure. And her good sportsmanship was incredibly refreshing.)

 

[lelaya]

Hi everyone
I’ve been following figure skating for over 10 years (though I don’t usually post much), but after today’s event I felt like sharing my thoughts.
First of all, congratulations to Alisa — she skated well and delivered when it mattered. Huge respect to her.
That said… I can’t help feeling a bit sad about the overall level we’re seeing right now. I know this might be controversial, but to me the technical standard feels significantly lower than what we were used to a few years ago.
I think we can all agree that Adeliia didn’t have her best skate, and she probably wasn’t the strongest Russian option going into these Games, especially considering her recent injury. But beyond individual skaters, what strikes me most is the bigger picture. If I try to think of a comparable major event in terms of technical content, I almost have to go back to around 2014.
Between 2016 and 2022, the depth in Russian skating alone was incredible — multiple quads, consistent triple Axels, difficult jump variations, arms-overhead positions, speed, attack… Even programs that weren’t perfect still had huge technical ambition. Today, it feels like that intensity and complexity just aren’t there in the same way.
Even watching the recent Russian domestic competitions, you could see layouts with much higher base value than what we saw here. Plus, I truly belive that son Medeveva's programs had way more artistry and complexity that the ones that we show today.
It’s not about criticizing the current skaters, they’re talented, but from a technical standpoint, it feels like the bar has dropped.
Maybe this is just a transitional period for the sport, but as a long-time fan it does make me a bit nostalgic for that 2016–2022 peak.
Curious to hear how others feel about it!

To be honest, I really don't care about the bar being set higher and higher.
There is a limit to what physics can do and we will hit that ceiling eventually.
I'd much prefer to have a variety of interesting skaters, creativity and artistry, over seeing higher jumps that can only be achieved by brutal training methods, substance abuse or treating too young girls in such hard ways, their bodies give up at 20.
I just want to watch joyful, beautiful and fair competitions.

 

[moonvine]

To be honest, I really don't care about the bar being set higher and higher.
There is a limit to what physics can do and we will that ceiling eventually.
I'd much prefer to have a variety of interesting skaters, creativity and artistry, over seeing higher jumps that can only be achieved by brutal training methods, substance abuse or treating too young girls in such hard ways, their bodies give up at 20.
I just want to watch joyful, beautiful and fair competitions.

Well stated. I co-sign this.
Skating with great joy (and sportsmanship) under immense pressure - probably the most pressure there is - is more enjoyable and exciting to me than all the 3As and quads on the planet.

 

[yfan1]

Plenty of people on Twitter hate Alysa.

Unlike with Malinin, though, many many many people also love her, and it's quite deserved.

 

[amanda b]

Not generally a huge Alysa fan but her performance was fabulous. I even forgot how much I hate that piece of music. And as someone has said above, just not signing up to the whole ice princess thing. But IMO undermarked, Sameldenkina, Petrokina. Overmarked, Amber - huge fan but she does not have the same skating skills as some of the others.

 

[Blades of Passion]

I find it shocking to see comments that the quality of this event was bad and so poor compared to Beijing and even prior ones. I mean, have people watched the last 4-5 Olympics Women final?

2006: Shizuka wins with 5 triple jumps, no 3-3. Sasha comes in second after missing first two jumping passes.

Shizuka and especially Sasha's programs in 2006 were artistically superior to anything seen today.

In terms of landed jumps this was a perfectly fine competition and there were some pleasant performances. But nothing magical. Nothing as breathtaking as the spiral sequences Shizuka and Sasha did.

 

[Karoltyna]

When I read such statements, I want to suggest to everyone to be consistent, to go further and go back to the 1900s, because development of sport is evil, and degradation and stagnation is good. But there is a problem: nowadays almost nobody knows how to make ice figures that would satisfy the judges from the 1900's

Yeah, sure. Development is totally fine - as long as it isn't trying to defy physics to the point of breaking the athletes. Because physics exists and human body can only take this much.

 

[Mirunna]

Shizuka and especially Sasha's programs in 2006 were artistically superior to anything seen today.

In terms of landed jumps this was a perfectly fine competition and there were some pleasant performances. But nothing magical. Nothing as breathtaking as the spiral sequences Shizuka and Sasha did.

Fully agree, I was talking about the ideea that the sport is declining due to lesser tech content. I actually like the shift in direction these Olympics brought and feel that the overall quality of skating is better than 4 years ago.

 

[norwegianfairytale]

Hello, I have been watching the last event but didn´t have the energy to be here in the live thread.

Some thoughts about the women free:

Wow, this is perhaps the best women Olympic event for years?? I´m so impressed how many had wonderful, clean skates, top 17 with over 190p is simply incredible strong!

Julia Sauter is one my favorite moments I will remember for a long time. Two clean skates and a new PB on both segments and overall. That was so lovely, including her reaction. She is a true inspiration being able to do that in the age of 28, and can you believe the German told her she wasn´t good enough? Wow they messed up big there. Julia is in a very good position now to get GP spot next season, maybe not only one but two. Her SB now puts her in 36th of SB scores, and I even think when they recalculate the world standings after the season is over and with all the retirements she is probably top 25 in the standings as well. Originally it seems she was likely to retire after Olympics, but she said in an interview after the skate that she will take the decision after Worlds, and might be opting for a half season or a season or two. With likely GP spots and the confidence and top form she has found now, I hope she stays for one season at least just to be able to enjoy the GP circuit. However, if she decides to retire on top that is totally understandable too.

Lara Naki skating a almost clean free on home Olympics, such a great moment for here after her disappointing SP.

The last 3 groups was just wonderful in itself. Amber Glenn coming back from her SP mistake was a big victory and itself, and so touching to see her being so supportive to the skaters coming after her. That is good sportsmanship.

Adeliia made a good effort, i´m so sorry that she doesn´t feel proud of herself and pushed with the quad when she had so much trouble landing it in practice. They put too much pressure on her having the ultra-C and I hope she hasn´t injured herself too much. I´m glad the judges didn´t go overboard on the PCS marks on her. Her jumps are powerful and all, but it wasn´t a very memorable performance.

Kaori as wonderful as ever, but i´m not surprised she ended up with a silver here. Unfortunately she made an big error that cost her the gold, and I think she put too much pressure on herself taking that gold. I don´t think she was underscored, the judges would have given it to her if she even had been able to add a 2t-combo somewhere, just having two jumping passes is a mistake you can´t afford if you want to be the Olympic Champion. Her PCS was decent given what she had gotten earlier with a higher TES. If she had been clean she probably scored around 230 which would have been a huge score for her. I think even in all honesty, the judges could have put Ami ahead of her with that mistakes, and could have ended up with the bronze. It´s hard to see Kaori being so sad about the results, but I think she is mainly frustrated with herself for doing this mistake that cost her the gold. This is what I could gather with from the interviews. Hopefully she can be at peace sometimes with the silver - it´s a step up from the bronze in Beijing.

Glad Ami had such a incredible SP and ended with a bronze, all though having some costly mistakes in the free. And she looked very happy.

I´m sorry for Mone Chiba just missing out on the podium but she has been struggling this season and not up to her best.

I´m actually not surprised to see Alysa win the gold at all - with her attitude about skating now I had a feeling she wouldn´t do any mistakes and have clean programs without caring about the result, no pressure and just skating with the absolute joy and on her own terms. With other skaters putting too much pressure on medals and making mistakes, it´s not surprising. And what a beautiful and inspiring story to just go out there and skate for yourself and win gold after her comeback after such a sad and unexpected retirement at a young age. I think it´s healthy for the sport.

I honestly can not understand that some people compare this to Beijing because Kaori didn´t get her gold, the situation it´s not similar at all with all the actual trauma that went off there. This time it was simply because of a mistake made and no overscoring, and in general, the womens event was very enjoyable. For me it was the direct opposite of Beijing - it feels like this was such a healthy outcome of womens figure skating.
Honestly I think people are punishing Alysa for winning Worlds over Kaori, and assuming the same overscoring was done in this event. I can see people question the win in Boston, with some home cooked score and both having clean skates. But this was a different competition with different skating and different outcome. Alysa deserved the gold 100%, Kaori had every chance to win this if she had been clean, it´s the name of the game.

Also in general the panel was very lenient towards all the skaters of regards of rotations, they seem however to punish som edges. So one can´t really argue either with skaters getting away with rotation calls because it was so all across the event - hence the big scores we see with multiple skaters.

 

[yume]

Plenty of people on Twitter hate Alysa.

Hope though they are not talking about her as if she killed their cats in another life. Good thing that i don't have FS content on my twitter feed anymore.

 

[meadow]

First of all, congratulations to all the winners!

Part of me is heartbroken that Kaori didn't win gold, especially after seeing her cry, but unfortunately the mistake in her combination cost her a lot of points. In any case, she has had an incredible career and a silver medal, once the emotion of the moment has passed, will seem like what it is, a huge achievement.

I have to be honest and say that when Alysa first appeared on the scene, I didn't really like her as a skater, despite all the hype. After 2022, I stopped following the competitions so closely, so I saw her a few times after her comeback, but I never really followed her story. I have to say that I like this new version of Alysa (new to me) and I think she deserved first place.

Ami was very good, perhaps still a little raw in her interpretation of the program, but it's still a joy to watch her skate and her reaction after her score was announced and when she realised she had won the bronze medal was very sweet.

As for the others, I only saw the last two groups, but it was really satisfying to see program after program without mistakes after mistakes. They were all fantastic!

 

[cocteautwin]

Just one more world about Kaori - I was really worried for her cause she came to olympics so early, skated two programs in TE, showed up and cheered hard for everyone else from team Japan. Every day olympics, olympics. I was afraid she would be already so emotionally (and phisically) drilled that she would not keep her form for her own event. Yet she did. She made costly mistake which left her extremely frustrated but she was still incredible and her form wasn't a problem at all. It was just a moment of hesitation. I'm so proud of her, she took a very risky aproach to be so present for her team and live every moment yet she didn't fail and I'm happy she lived all those moments. In the end, after swallowing bitter tears she will be left with all of those memories forever as the most decorated and beloved Japanese female skater. Silver medal, golden girl.

As for Alysa - her skating may be not on the very top of my list but I'm truly happy she will be the example and role model for younger skaters. Her autonomy, healthy attitude, perspective and pure love for skating and the skating community - could be such a great legacy of this victory, I hope.

 

[thatdarncat]

I thought the women's free skate was fab, so many great skates, I would have liked to have given medals to most in the top 10.

So many programmes I enjoyed, I can't mention them all, particular highlights for me, were
Gubanova - love this program and her
Isabeau captures everything I love about skating and at 18 hope she continues to improve and move up
Adelia who is competing under a lot of pressure, hope we get to see her in 4 years time and she isn't thrown over for the next lot of Russian talent.
Amber - brilliant skate, making up for her disappoint in the short program, hope she feels she had her Olympic moment.
Alysa - such a great story, how she can go out and skate with such joy at the Olympics is pretty special and rare.
Ami - nerves of steel and young enough to not feel to much pressure and so happy to win a medal

It was also amazing to see all the skaters supporting each other, such a contrast to previous years and nice to see a mostly happy podium after the mess and controversy in the Mens and Dance.

 

[Ares]

I find it shocking to see comments that the quality of this event was bad and so poor compared to Beijing and even prior ones. I mean, have people watched the last 4-5 Olympics Women final?

2006: Shizuka wins with 5 triple jumps, no 3-3. Sasha comes in second after missing first two jumping passes. Irina was a hot mess for the bronze. Fumie in fourth was cleaner. Overall an event riddled with mistakes. No ultra C, Miki Ando fell on her Ur quad attempt.

2010: Yuna wins with 6 clean triples including a 3-3. No 3loop. Mao threw two clean 3A’s but messed up some jumps at the end. Joanie was emotional but not clean. Mirai in fourth was clean with all triples landed. Rest of the field was mediocre at best. Mao only one with landed 3A’s. No quads landed.

2014: Adelina wins with 7 triples generously scored (some were borderline Ur), including a 3-3 combo ending with a 3loop. Controversial winner, but the content was there. Yuna clean in second with 6 triples. Caro in third with 7 triples but only one 2A (not as hard content as Adelina). Mao had the skate of the night and one of the performance to remember. Gracie was strong but with 1 mistake. Mao the only one with a 3A landed, no quad attempted or landed.

2018: Zagitova and Medvedeva won with 7 triples each, Zagitova all in the second half. Osmond was also very good in third. Rest of the ladies were pretty good with ups and downs, but mostly a well skated event. No Ultra C attempted.

2022: Top 2 as we all know with landed quads. Sakamoto clean in third with 7 triples. Vasilieva a hot mess in fourth. Walaba in 5th - I think she tried a 3A. I don’t remember any other ladies trying it. Technical panel was lenient with edges and rotation. Sasha’s program as impresive as it was technically was sub-par in terms of PCS - it was empty and clumsy. Outside of the drama with the Russian girls, the level was not impressive.

2026: two clean 3A. Clean performances with strong content since the second group. Majority of skaters posted SB or PB. The quality of the programs: composition, attention to details and expression improved in my book and I did very little watching in the last 4 years. Sofia’s SP is stuck in my head and planned on repeat. Loena’s LP was so fun and memorable despite the errors. Niina’s LP had a lot of “on the beat” moments with the music. Mone’s SP is a gem. Kaori’s speed and carriage are absolutely breathtaking. Nina’s LP was serene and beautifully choreographed. So many programs I am forthetting about now but I found myself being in awe skater after skater. If this is the direction skating is going, I am all in.

My point is take 2022 stands out as very different in terms of content, the level being somehow constant since last 20 years. And we all know the associated scandal.

I watched women with my mum and she hated Samodelkina's SP She said she's about to give beers to everyone around. I've noticed that she doesn't like folk-themed programs lol.

 

[Baron Vladimir]

I find it shocking to see comments that the quality of this event was bad and so poor compared to Beijing and even prior ones. I mean, have people watched the last 4-5 Olympics Women final?

2006: Shizuka wins with 5 triple jumps, no 3-3. Sasha comes in second after missing first two jumping passes. Irina was a hot mess for the bronze. Fumie in fourth was cleaner. Overall an event riddled with mistakes. No ultra C, Miki Ando fell on her Ur quad attempt.

2010: Yuna wins with 6 clean triples including a 3-3. No 3loop. Mao threw two clean 3A’s but messed up some jumps at the end. Joanie was emotional but not clean. Mirai in fourth was clean with all triples landed. Rest of the field was mediocre at best. Mao only one with landed 3A’s. No quads landed.

2014: Adelina wins with 7 triples generously scored (some were borderline Ur), including a 3-3 combo ending with a 3loop. Controversial winner, but the content was there. Yuna clean in second with 6 triples. Caro in third with 7 triples but only one 2A (not as hard content as Adelina). Mao had the skate of the night and one of the performance to remember. Gracie was strong but with 1 mistake. Mao the only one with a 3A landed, no quad attempted or landed.

2018: Zagitova and Medvedeva won with 7 triples each, Zagitova all in the second half. Osmond was also very good in third. Rest of the ladies were pretty good with ups and downs, but mostly a well skated event. No Ultra C attempted.

2022: Top 2 as we all know with landed quads. Sakamoto clean in third with 7 triples. Vasilieva a hot mess in fourth. Walaba in 5th - I think she tried a 3A. I don’t remember any other ladies trying it. Technical panel was lenient with edges and rotation. Sasha’s program as impresive as it was technically was sub-par in terms of PCS - it was empty and clumsy. Outside of the drama with the Russian girls, the level was not impressive.

2026: two clean 3A. Clean performances with strong content since the second group. Majority of skaters posted SB or PB. The quality of the programs: composition, attention to details and expression improved in my book and I did very little watching in the last 4 years. Sofia’s SP is stuck in my head and planned on repeat. Loena’s LP was so fun and memorable despite the errors. Niina’s LP had a lot of “on the beat” moments with the music. Mone’s SP is a gem. Kaori’s speed and carriage are absolutely breathtaking. Nina’s LP was serene and beautifully choreographed. So many programs I am forthetting about now but I found myself being in awe skater after skater. If this is the direction skating is going, I am all in.

My point is take 2022 stands out as very different in terms of content, the level being somehow constant since last 20 years. And we all know the associated scandal.

I agree that the overall competition have better quality than the ones in the past. However, medalists in those years you mentioned, from 2010 onward, have better and more memorable overall performances than the medalists here. And I'm not talking only about women discipline - yes, the overall quality of performances is better, but top 3 performances this year are not better than top performances in two last Olympics, I would say, in every category we watched. So, while I can't argue about the quality of the competition as a whole, I definitely prefer medal performances from past years comparing to this one, valuing both technical elements and component scores.
EDIT- And i'm not talking about the lack of quads - just compare Zagitova, Medvedeva and Kaetlyn Osmond performances to these ones, or even Kaori performance four years before when she won bronze to this one when she won silver. Also, men's, pairs, and ice dance top 3 performances were better in 2018 than what we saw here

 

[Paulipau]

Hi everyone
I’ve been following figure skating for over 10 years (though I don’t usually post much), but after today’s event I felt like sharing my thoughts.
First of all, congratulations to Alisa — she skated well and delivered when it mattered. Huge respect to her.
That said… I can’t help feeling a bit sad about the overall level we’re seeing right now. I know this might be controversial, but to me the technical standard feels significantly lower than what we were used to a few years ago.
I think we can all agree that Adeliia didn’t have her best skate, and she probably wasn’t the strongest Russian option going into these Games, especially considering her recent injury. But beyond individual skaters, what strikes me most is the bigger picture. If I try to think of a comparable major event in terms of technical content, I almost have to go back to around 2014.
Between 2016 and 2022, the depth in Russian skating alone was incredible — multiple quads, consistent triple Axels, difficult jump variations, arms-overhead positions, speed, attack… Even programs that weren’t perfect still had huge technical ambition. Today, it feels like that intensity and complexity just aren’t there in the same way.
Even watching the recent Russian domestic competitions, you could see layouts with much higher base value than what we saw here. Plus, I truly belive that son Medeveva's programs had way more artistry and complexity that the ones that we show today.
It’s not about criticizing the current skaters, they’re talented, but from a technical standpoint, it feels like the bar has dropped.
Maybe this is just a transitional period for the sport, but as a long-time fan it does make me a bit nostalgic for that 2016–2022 peak.
Curious to hear how others feel about it!

The level is lower indeed, same in Russia and it's a little due to the ban because then I think we would see skaters like Muravieva (who I think has similar talent artistically to Medvedeva and better jumps) would actually be motivated and deliver.
Anna Frolova in Russia is also very solid and well rounded skater that I think could shake things up internationally.

But the biggest reason for tech level dropping is the age restriction, Shimada,Dvoeglazova, Dzepka who are in my opinion the best skaters in the world right now are all in juniors, imagine what a battle it would be if they were in Olympics instead, which they would be under the old rules.

With senior russians now I dont see the same talent, some girls have quad or 3a for a season but have artistry shortcomings, and once they iron out the shortcomings their bodies develop or they are too injured to keep performing at the same level (gorbachova, sadkova).


There is still talent, but it is kept in juniors and we are now in "transition period" coaches will figure out and adapt training programs so that girls peak at 17 or 18 instead of 15. It's normal that the level is lower now.

This change has been made and I don't like to complain about it all that much tbh, it is what it is it's not like we can change it.

The lower tech grade lets skaters like Lara Naki Guttman or Haein Lee who are not strong technicians but are very artistically gifted to shine a bit and I appreciate it very much.

Another quad era will come, don't worry.
We just have to wait patiently.

 

[yume]

Also in general the panel was very lenient towards all the skaters of regards of rotations, they seem however to punish som edges. So one can´t really argue either with skaters getting away with rotation calls because it was so all across the event - hence the big scores we see with multiple skaters.

Indeed.
Someone can argue though. Leniency even if it's with all skaters actually causes harm to skaters with no UR or edges issues. If the other skaters have their flaws called, it can change the rankings. I'm especially thinking about 2019 worlds where Kihira could have medaled with a strict the tech panel. But that panel was extremely lenient.

EDIT- And i'm not talking about the lack of quads - just compare Zagitova, Medvedeva and Kaetlyn Osmond performances to these ones, or even Kaori performance four years before when she won bronze to this one when she won silver. Also, men's, pairs, and ice dance top 3 performances were better in 2018 than what we saw here

Pyeongchang was better in all disciplines. Yes, in ladies there was more memorable performances and i think the technical level was higher than in Milan despite no 3A or quads (minus Mirai).