Kazakh figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov delivered a stunning victory in the men’s singles event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, marking Kazakhstan’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in figure skating.
Competing at the Games held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the 21-year-old athlete emerged as an unexpected champion. The gold medal is only the second in Kazakhstan’s history at the Winter Olympic Games.
Shaidorov also became the first skater in history to land a triple axel-quadruple toe loop combination in competition.
He scored a total of 291.58 points — 92.94 in the short program and 198.64 in the free skate. After the short program, he was ranked fifth, trailing the main favorites. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama claimed silver with 280.06 points, while his compatriot Shun Sato took bronze with 274.9.
Mikhail Shaidorov is a silver medalist at the 2025 World Championships and the winner of the 2025 Four Continents Championships. His coach is 1994 Olympic champion Alexei Urmanov.
The Kazakh figure skating team previously earned Olympic bronze, won by Denis Ten at Sochi 2014.
