Replay Lounge 2026 Olympics | Women

[Blades of Passion]

If Amber lands her two 3A and hold together till her final pose, she will get a huge PCSs boost even in group 3, since she has rep and fed.

She's not doing two 3A and nah, her PCS will definitely be lower. As already seen with Mao Asada in 2014.

I think it's likely though that Petrosian will "hit" her quads and win.

 

[Mathman]

I think it's likely though that Petrosian will "hit" her quads and win.

The sketchy indications form practices seem to be sort of hit and miss on the quads (and no triple Axel)? To me it looks like it will still come down to who makes the fewest mistakes.

 

[Blades of Passion]

The sketchy indications from practices seem to be sort of hit and miss on the quads

They will give her an "upper" right before she competes and Eteri's iron fist and the tech panel will do the rest of the work. They don't call her questionable Lutz edge already and won't ding the pre-rotation on the quad.

 

[donaldjosephv]

As for the women, I wanted Amber Glenn to win but she got cheated on her scores again. How do you not reward someone for doing a double instead you reward someone the triple and a fall? Whatever happened to the clean skate they call clean? I mean take the artistry scores out then? Figure skating is such a disgusting sport use a sport is not to be judged? A sport is a competition who finish first who's faster and who is strongest. Amber has the triple axels its obvious she much stronger than anyone in that list. BUT if you wanna count the artistry then WHY DID MICHELLE KWAN LOSE TO LIPINSKI AT THE 1998 NAGANO THEN? HMMMMM YUNA SHOULD HAVE 2 OLYMPIC GOLDS... HMMMM I dont understand this sport it's sad, i dont get excited watching anyone skate anymore, Michelle Kwans performances made me cry, she was feeling everything about the figure skating, none of these girls do it for me. NONE. it's sad. Watch Peggy Flemings, Dorothy Hamill, Janet Lynn, Sonja Hen, all these girls that go down in history and define figure skating for us all. add Michelle Kwan to that, cuz as for lipinski she's just an olympic gold medal winner, she has not paved way or made any sort of historical made me cry type of perfomance?

 

[yfan1]

Congrats to Alysa for being a double Olympic Champ. I think Kaori should have been 4th behind Mone.

I'd have 1. Ami 2. Alysa 3. Mone 4. Kaori.

Kaori does have the best basic skating, but her programs are totally generic IMO. Ami and Alysa plain performed better. Mone has the best LP choreography, Alysa has the best SP choreography, and Ami has her two 3As...

 

[Livi]

Ami Nakai deserved to win, she was perfect and totally underscorred

 

[ladyjane]

I am no fan of women's skating, but Alyssa is such fun to watch. She enjoys it, that's just so obvious. It makes me feel happy (not that anyone has to care about that) and I'm sure others get that same feeling when watching her. I am devastated for Kaori though. Still, a silver is not to be sneezed at.

 

[Jennyf]

I am no fan of women's skating, but Alyssa is such fun to watch. She enjoys it, that's just so obvious. It makes me feel happy (not that anyone has to care about that) and I'm others get that same feeling when watching her. I am devastated for Kaori though. Still, a silver is not to be sneezed at.

A silver and a bronze Olympic medal for Kaori, just like my all time favorite women’s skater

Still can’t be more thrilled for Alysa. She is just so healthy in every single way, and that’s not something we usually see from OGMs. I hope she sticks around for Worlds.

 

[freedomlover]

Yeah if I'm completely honest, I thought Ami would win this even with the combo 2ft. Two 3As used to mean something. Look at how they propped up Petrosians score even if she fell on the quad.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Judge 8 scoring Petrosian higher than Ami and Kaori …

Do we know who judge 8 was (country?)

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Flip combo errors crop up at the worst time for Kaori Sakamoto (though the error is always different!). I wonder what could've been if it had been placed earlier in the program instead.

 

[throw_triple_flip]

Love that podium though! Ami Nakai and coach clearly thought she'd lost a medal. What a cute reaction to the bronze!

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

I hadn't been keeping up with the Russian race for the Olympic spot, and I know there were only a few skaters who could compete somewhere to get a qualifying score, but was Petrosian the only option for the women's spot? According to practice reports she didn't land a single rotated 4T all week so I'm surprised she wasn't swapped out for someone else (unless there was no one else eligible).

 

[noskates]

Oh my gosh - some are never ever satisfied. Alysa won the competition fair and square. Congratulations dear and some in here will NOT rain on your parade. And a good comeback from Amber. I hope she had the happy Olympic moment she was looking for.

 

[TallyT]

I hadn't been keeping up with the Russian race for the Olympic spot, and I know there were only a few skaters who could compete somewhere to get a qualifying score, but was Petrosian the only option for the women's spot? According to practice reports she didn't land a single rotated 4T all week so I'm surprised she wasn't swapped out for someone else (unless there was no one else eligible).

She was the only Russian woman approved for the qualifier so no, she couldn't be replaced.

 

[soccerjc77]

I'm not Russian, but I find that Adelia Petrosian did a great job here.
I find it's sad that everyone put her down.
She has not choose to be birth in Russia.
She is an human like the others.
She should have be treat like the others.
Her PCS should have been more higher and I think that she was deserving the bronze medal here even with the fall in the quad toe.

 

[Mathman]

My overall feeling was that Alysa went for it and the others in the top group skated not to lose.

 

[Joe Mendoza]

so similar to ice dance, i also asked ChatGPT re: whether any judges and their nationalistic bias made a statistically significant impact on the ranking...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MEMO​

RE: Analysis of Judging Bias — 2026 Olympic Winter Games, Women's Singles
DATE: February 19, 2026

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PURPOSE​

This memo summarizes findings from a statistical analysis of all judges' scores across both the Short Program (SP) and Free Skate (FS) of the 2026 Olympic women's singles competition in Milan, Italy. The analysis sought to determine whether any judge exhibited systematic bias — for or against specific skaters — and whether such bias materially affected final combined standings.

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KEY FINDING​

Two judges — Kevin Rosenstein (USA, SP only) and Youngkyung Han (Korea, both segments) — exhibited extreme and directionally consistent patterns of nationalistic bias. However, unlike the ice dance competition, no single judge's bias can be conclusively shown to have altered a medal position. The tightest affected combined margin — 5th-place Amber Glenn (USA) vs. 6th-place Adeliia Petrosian (Ind./RUS), separated by just 0.38 points — was possibly but not conclusively influenced by Rosenstein's SP suppression of Petrosian.The critical structural difference from ice dance is that Rosenstein — the most biased judge — was not assigned to the Free Skate panel, limiting his influence to approximately one-third of the total score.

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PANEL COMPOSITION​

Short Program ​

Position	Judge	Nationality	Home Skater(s)
J1	Ritsuko HORIUCHI	Japan	Nakai (1st), Sakamoto (2nd), Chiba (4th)
J2	Laimute KRAUZIENE	Lithuania	Variakojyte (27th)
J3	Youngkyung HAN	Korea	H. Lee (9th), J. Shin (14th)
J4	Anna KANTOR	Israel	Seniuk (22nd)
J5	Kevin ROSENSTEIN	USA	Liu (3rd), Levito (8th), Glenn (13th)
J6	Adrienn SZILAGYI-SCHADENBAUER	Austria	Mikutina (17th)
J7	Marina BESCHEA	Romania	Sauter (16th)
J8	Nadezhda PARETSKAIA	Kazakhstan	Samodelkina (12th)
J9	Richard GRAINGE	Great Britain	Spours (29th)

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Free Skate ​

Position	Judge	Nationality	Home Skater(s)
J1	Hélène CUCUPHAT	France	Schild (22nd)
J2	Alice WALDER	Switzerland	Kaiser (20th), Repond (23rd)
J3	Nadezhda PARETSKAIA	Kazakhstan	Samodelkina (10th)
J4	Anna KANTOR	Israel	Seniuk (24th)
J5	Youngkyung HAN	Korea	H. Lee (8th), J. Shin (7th)
J6	Richard GRAINGE	Great Britain	None qualified
J7	Ritsuko HORIUCHI	Japan	Nakai (9th), Sakamoto (2nd), Chiba (4th)
J8	Vessela POPOVA	Bulgaria	None qualified
J9	Magdalena RUSIECKA	Poland	Kurakova (21st)

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Five judges served in both segments:​

Judge	Nationality	SP Position	FS Position
Ritsuko HORIUCHI		J1	J7
Youngkyung HAN		J3	J5
Anna KANTOR		J4	J4
Nadezhda PARETSKAIA		J8	J3
Richard GRAINGE		J9	J6
Notably, Rosenstein (USA) was NOT among them.

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FINDING 1: ROSENSTEIN (USA) — MOST EXTREME INDIVIDUAL BIAS (SP ONLY)​

A. Pro-USA Scoring​

USA Skater	SP Final	J5 Rank	Rank Dev.	J5 TSS	Panel Mean	Score Dev.
Alysa Liu	3rd	2nd	+1	79.68	~76.60	+3.08
Isabeau Levito	8th	5th	+3	71.87	~70.81	+1.06
Amber Glenn	13th	10th	+3	67.44	~67.21	+0.23
Average rank deviation for USA skaters: +2.3

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B. Anti-Rival Suppression​

Rival Skater	SP Final	J5 Rank	Rank Dev.	J5 TSS	Panel Mean	Score Dev.
Adeliia Petrosian (Ind./RUS)	5th	11th	−6	67.26	~72.65	−5.39
Haein Lee (KOR)	9th	14th	−5	64.92	~69.94	−5.02

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These are the two largest negative score deviations by any judge for any top-15 skater in the entire SP.

C. Element and Component Detail​

• Petrosian SP: Rosenstein was at or tied for the lowest GOE on all 7 elements and gave the lowest PCS on all three components (Composition 7.00, Presentation 7.25, Skating Skills 7.50). His PCS total (28.93) was 3.52 points below the panel mean (~32.45).
• H. Lee SP: Rosenstein gave the lowest PCS on all three components (Composition 6.75, Presentation 7.00, Skating Skills 7.25). His PCS total (27.93) was 4.53 points below the panel mean (~32.46) — the most extreme PCS deviation for any top-15 skater from any judge in the SP.

D. Variance Analysis​

Rosenstein had the highest variance of rank deviations among all SP judges for the top 15 skaters (SD = 2.78), and this variance was entirely directional: all three USA skaters received positive deviations, while the two most-suppressed skaters were direct top-10 rivals.

E. Impact​

Rosenstein was not assigned to the Free Skate panel, limiting his influence to approximately one-third of the total combined score. This is the critical structural difference from the ice dance case, where Jézabel Dabouis served in both segments.

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FINDING 2: HAN (KOREA) — MOST CONSISTENT CROSS-SEGMENT BIAS​

Han served in both segments (SP J3, FS J5)and showed directionally consistent bias across the full competition.

A. Home-Country Boosting​

Segment	KOR Skater	Final	Han Rank	Rank Dev.	Score Dev.
SP	H. Lee	9th	4th	+5	+3.89 (highest on panel)
SP	J. Shin	14th	12th	+2	+1.43
FS	H. Lee	8th	5th	+3	+2.46
FS	J. Shin	7th	6th	+1	+1.38
Average rank deviation across both segments: +2.75 for KOR skaters

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B. Rival Suppression (FS)​

Skater	FS Final	Han Rank	Rank Dev.	FS Score Dev.
Petrosian (Ind./RUS)	5th	9th	−4	−4.81
Petrõkina (EST)	6th	11th	−5	−6.52

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In the FS, Han was at or tied for the lowest GOE on 10 of 11 substantive elements for Petrosian (excluding the unanimously penalized 4T< fall).

C. Cross-Segment Consistency​

Han's combined two-segment pattern of boosting Korean skaters and suppressing direct top-10 rivals is the most consistent in the women's event. However, the per-segment magnitudes are lower than Dabouis's in ice dance, and because competing biases from other judges existed in opposite directions (e.g., Rosenstein suppressing Lee in the SP), the net effects partially cancelled.

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FINDING 3: CUCUPHAT (FRANCE, FS ONLY) — HOME BOOST, NO IMPACT​

FRA Skater	FS Final	J1 Rank	Rank Dev.	J1 TSS	Panel Mean	Score Dev.
Lorine Schild	22nd	20th	+2	119.49	~111.56	+7.93

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Cucuphat gave Schild the highest score on the panel across both TES and PCS, with the most extreme single-skater score deviation in the FS.However, at 22nd place, this had zero impact on any meaningful standing. Cucuphat's scoring of the top contenders was unremarkable: she placed Sakamoto 1st and Liu 2nd in the FS (inverting the final FS order by a narrow margin), with no evidence of systematic bias against any national group.

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FINDING 4: HORIUCHI (JAPAN, BOTH SEGMENTS) — EXEMPLARY NEUTRALITY​

This is the most notable absence of bias on either panel, particularly given that Japan had three skaters in the top 4 in both segments.

Segment	JPN Skater	Final	Horiuchi Rank	Rank Dev.	Score Dev.
SP	Nakai	1st	1st	0	−1.05
SP	Sakamoto	2nd	2nd	0	−0.86
SP	Chiba	4th	4th	0	−0.52
FS	Sakamoto	2nd	4th	−2	−2.10
FS	Chiba	4th	3rd	+1	+1.75
FS	Nakai	9th	9th	0	−0.43
SP: Average rank deviation 0.0, average score deviation −0.81
FS: Average rank deviation −0.3, average score deviation −0.26

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Horiuchi scored all three home skaters below the panel mean in the SP and was nearly neutral in the FS. In the FS, she ranked Sakamoto 4th (behind Liu, Glenn, and Chiba), placing her own country's most decorated skater two positions below the final result. This demonstrates that nationalistic bias is not inevitable even when the stakes are highest.

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FINDING 5: OTHER NATIONALISTIC BIASES — ALL INCONSEQUENTIAL​

Judge	Nat.	Segment(s)	Home Skater(s)	Best Home Rank Dev.	Changed Result?
KANTOR		SP + FS	Seniuk	+5 (SP), 0 (FS)	No
KRAUZIENE		SP only	Variakojyte	+2	No
BESCHEA		SP only	Sauter	+2	No
PARETSKAIA		SP + FS	Samodelkina	+1 (both segments)	No
SZILAGYI-S.		SP only	Mikutina	−2 (anti-bias)	No
WALDER		FS only	Kaiser, Repond	−1, 0 (anti/neutral)	No
RUSIECKA		FS only	Kurakova	+1	No

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The Austrian judge (SP) and Swiss judge (FS) each showed no positive home-country bias, joining Horiuchi as examples of neutral judging.

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COMBINED STANDINGS IMPACT ANALYSIS​

Final Combined Standings (top 10)​

Place	Skater	SP	FS	Combined	Margin to Next
1	Alysa LIU (USA)	76.59	150.20	226.79	—
2	Kaori SAKAMOTO (JPN)	77.23	147.67	224.90	1.89
3	Ami NAKAI (JPN)	78.71	140.45	219.16	5.74
4	Mone CHIBA (JPN)	74.00	143.88	217.88	1.28
5	Amber GLENN (USA)	67.39	147.52	214.91	2.97
6	Adeliia PETROSIAN (Ind.)	72.89	141.64	214.53	0.38
7	Niina PETRÕKINA (EST)	69.63	141.19	210.82	3.71
8	Haein LEE (KOR)	70.07	140.49	210.56	0.26
9	Anastasiia GUBANOVA (GEO)	71.77	138.22	209.99	0.57
10	Sofia SAMODELKINA (KAZ)	68.47	138.99	207.46	2.53

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Medal Positions: Not Affected​

The gold medal margin (Liu over Sakamoto, 1.89 points) was robust against judge bias. Rosenstein's SP boost to Liu (~+3.08 above mean) was partially trimmed, and no USA judge served in the FS. Even conservatively estimating a 0.3–0.5 residual after trimming, Liu's combined lead (~1.89) would survive removal of this effect. No medal was at risk.

5th vs. 6th (Glenn/Petrosian, 0.38 pts): Possibly Affected
This is the tightest margin where bias is directionally relevant:

Judge	Segment	Glenn Effect	Petrosian Effect	Net Pro-Glenn
Rosenstein (USA)	SP	+0.23	−5.39	~+5.62
Han (KOR)	FS	+0.73	−4.81	~+5.54

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Two judges across two segments each produced ~+5.5 differentials favoring Glenn over Petrosian. After trimming, the estimated residual is 0.5–1.0 points combined — exceeding the 0.38 margin.
However, the FS also included counterbalancing bias: Paretskaia (KAZ, FS J3) gave Petrosian 147.04, the highest score on the panel (+5.59 above mean), partially offsetting the suppression.

Assessment: The net effect of all biases on the Glenn–Petrosian gap is estimated at approximately +0.2 to +0.5 points in Glenn's favor after accounting for opposing biases. Given the 0.38-point margin, the 5th/6th combined ordering may have been affected, but this cannot be established with the same confidence as the ice dance gold medal finding.

7th vs. 8th (Petrõkina/Lee, 0.26 pts): Not Changed​

Han's pro-Lee bias across both segments (+1.1–1.8 combined residual) was partially offset by Rosenstein's anti-Lee bias in the SP (−0.5–0.8 residual). The net effect was to compress the gap but did not flip the ordering: Petrõkina remains ahead under any plausible bias-removal scenario.

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STRUCTURAL OBSERVATIONS​

A. Panel Assignment​

The ISU's decision not to assign Rosenstein to the FS panel was the single most consequential structural factor in the women's event. Had Rosenstein served in both segments — as Dabouis did in ice dance — his cumulative bias across ~19 scored elements and 6 component marks could have produced a combined suppression of Petrosian exceeding 1.0 point after trimming, almost certainly flipping the 5th/6th combined standings and potentially affecting other close margins.

B. Cross-Segment Judge Reuse​

Of the five judges who served in both segments, Han (KOR) was the only one to show consistent home-country bias. This compounded across the full competition (est. +2.75 average rank deviation for KOR skaters across both segments). The other four cross-segment judges showed either neutral (Horiuchi, Grainge), mild (Paretskaia), or inconsistent (Kantor) patterns.

C. Absence of Key National Judges​

No Russian, Estonian, or Georgian judge served on either panel, meaning the closest rivals to the USA and KOR skaters had no nationalistic advocate on the judging panels. Conversely, France and Switzerland — with lower-ranked skaters — each had a judge in the FS, where their home-country boosts were inconsequential.

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COMPARISON WITH ICE DANCE​

Metric	Ice Dance (Dabouis, FRA)	Women's SP (Rosenstein, USA)	Women's FS (Han, KOR)
Served in both segments	Yes	No	Yes
Home-team avg. boost	+2.17 pts (FD)	+1.46 pts (SP)	+1.92 pts (FS)
Rival suppression (max)	−4.64 pts (C/B, FD)	−5.39 pts (Petrosian, SP)	−4.81 pts (Petrosian, FS)
Elements at/tied lowest for rival	7/9 (C/B, FD)	7/7 (Petrosian, SP)	10/11 (Petrosian, FS)
Final margin at stake	1.43 pts (gold medal)	0.38 pts (5th/6th combined)	0.38 pts (5th/6th combined)
Demonstrably changed result?	Yes	Possible, not conclusive	Possible, not conclusive

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The women's event featured judges whose per-element suppression was actually more comprehensive than Dabouis's in ice dance. The decisive difference was structural: Dabouis served in both ice dance segments, allowing bias to compound across the full competition against the same rival, while Rosenstein was limited to one segment and Han's rival-suppression was partially offset by favorable marks from other judges.

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CONCLUSIONS​

1. No bias demonstrably changed a medal position. The top three combined standings (Liu, Sakamoto, Nakai) were sufficiently separated to withstand any individual judge's influence.
2. The 5th/6th combined ordering (Glenn over Petrosian by 0.38 points) was possibly affected by the combined SP suppression from Rosenstein and FS suppression from Han, both of whom scored Petrosian 4.8–5.4 points below their respective panel means. The estimated net bias effect (+0.2 to +0.5 points in Glenn's favor) overlaps with the 0.38-point margin.
3. Two judges exhibited extreme dual-direction bias (home boosting + rival suppression): Rosenstein in the SP and Han in the FS. Both showed lowest-on-panel GOE across nearly every element for their most-suppressed skater, combined with the lowest PCS marks — patterns inconsistent with random variation.
4. The ISU's panel assignment effectively mitigated the worst-case scenario. By not reusing Rosenstein in the FS, the ISU prevented the compounding effect that proved decisive in ice dance. However, Han's assignment to both segments created a smaller version of the same problem.
5. Horiuchi (Japan) demonstrated that neutrality is achievable even with three home skaters in the top four. Her consistent below-mean scoring of all Japanese skaters across both segments provides a benchmark against which other judges' patterns should be measured.

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RECOMMENDATIONS​

This analysis reinforces the recommendations from the ice dance review and adds two women's-specific observations:

1. Avoid assigning judges from medal-contending nations to both segments, particularly when those nations have multiple entries. Han's assignment to both segments allowed moderate bias to accumulate; Rosenstein's limitation to one segment prevented a potentially worse outcome.
2. Implement real-time PCS deviation monitoring. In both the ice dance and women's events, the most extreme biases appeared in Program Component Scores, where single-judge deviations of 3.5–4.5 points from the panel mean persisted. PCS marks are particularly vulnerable because fewer individual scores are subject to trimming than in TES.
3. Continue to investigate rival-suppression patterns, not just home-country boosting. The most consequential biases in this competition involved judges depressing specific rivals (Rosenstein vs. Petrosian/Lee; Han vs. Petrosian/Petrõkina), which is harder to detect through simple home-country deviation metrics alone.

 

[Mathman]

Ami Nakai and coach clearly thought she'd lost a medal. What a cute reaction to the bronze!

She placed ninth in the segment but her lead from the short held up

My felling is that a triple Axel has greater impact in the sort program (where it is one of three jumping passes), than in the long where there is a "long" way to go even with a successful triple Axel to open.

 

[el henry]

Alyssa has said several times that she skates for herself and for the audience, and Alyssa 2.0 could make me watch women's figure skating again. How refreshing, exciting, progressive, and all those good words, Alyssa's skating now is!

(I say 2.0 because I saw 1.0 at SOI 2022 and she was checked out. So stunned by her even wanting to return, so glad to see it on her terms).

Also thrilled for Kaori and Ami. An excellent podium, as long as you're not salty.