Milan, Italy, February 13, 2026: Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov produced one of the biggest shocks at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games by winning the men’s figure skating gold medal on Friday evening.
The 21-year-old Harbin Asian Winter Games bronze medallist not only defeated two-time world champion Ilia Malinin of the United States but also held off the two Japanese aces, Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato. Kagiyama won back-to-back Olympic silver medals and Sato took bronze.
Standing fifth after the short programme, Shaidorov smashed his season’s best score and set a new personal best of 198.64 points to rack up 291.58 points overall. Sitting in the leader’s chair, he watched the drama unfold before his eyes.
Kagiyama scored 280.06 points for silver and Sato rose from ninth to third on 274.90 to take bronze.
“These are incredible emotions. I have been working towards this since my childhood,” Shaidorov, known as “Misha”, said. “Today I just wanted to enjoy the moment and do everything I have been working on for all those years. And today I did that.
"I don’t even know how to describe my feelings. I just did everything I can do and apparently life rewarded me.”
Kagiyama commented: “The fact that I was able to challenge myself, and that I was able to take on that challenge here on this stage, is a very big achievement and carries very big meaning for me.
“Although today was very frustrating, if I look at it from the bigger picture, on this Olympic stage there were a lot of experiences and important lessons. So overall, I think I can say I did my best."
Sato added: "Right now, I don't know if it's a dream or reality. I didn't expect to win a medal and stand here tonight. I was reflecting back on my good performance during the team event, and I just imagined doing well again this time around. That's how the results came out.
"My goal was to get some kind of medal for both the team event and single skating, so I'm really happy that I did meet this goal."
NOTE:
*Shaidorov won Kazakhstan’s second Olympic gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games after Vladimir Smirnov took gold in the 50 km Cross Country Skiing at the Olympic Winter Games Lillehammer 1994.
*The late Denis Ten (KAZ) claimed Kazakhstan’s only other Olympic Figure Skating medal at the Sochi Games in 2014.