You can't win the competition in the short program....

[TallyT]

There have been cases where a skater has flopped the short so badly and knew their chances of podium were so screwed up that they were free to throw everything to the winds and do a banger of a free that - had the pressure still been on them - wouldn't have happened.

On a tangent, there have also been cases where you might argue a skater has lost the championship in the first 30-60 seconds of their free: Sasha in the 2006 Olympics, Shoma in 2018. That might be a worse feeling It's a funny ol' sport, ours is.

 

[JeanA]

Anna Shcherbakova won the 2022 Olympics in the short program. So yes, you can win the competition in the short program. Johnny can continue saying this, and Tara can keep saying hands over head in jumps adds to GOE, but it doesn't make it true.

 

[Anna K.]

Add Ilia Malinin to the list: he just won the GP final thanks to his massive lead after the short program!