Canada falls short of podium but delivers exceptional performance in team skate<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CP175789275.jpg\")
Stephen Gogolev of Canada competes during the men\u2019s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Christophe Ena)<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s singles is made up of two programs: the short program, which was held Tuesday, and the free skate.<\/p>\n
Gogolev entered the free skate in 10th place. He needed to deliver a near-flawless performance in the free skate to put himself in medal contention, and that\u2019s exactly what he did.<\/p>\n
With a score of 186.37 points, Gogolev sat in the leader chair immediately after he skated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a special moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Those who watched the team event had already seen Gogolev in the free skate\u2014to which he performs to Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninov.<\/p>\n
On Friday, his execution was crisp, his landings were perfect, and his skate exuded confidence.<\/p>\n
Gogolev\u2019s overall score was eventually surpassed by only four skaters.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CP175789235.jpg\")
Stephen Gogolev of Canada, right, reacts to his scores after competing during the men\u2019s free skate program in figure skating while sitting next to choreographer Benoit Richaud, left, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)<\/p>\n
In a stunning result, American Ilia Malinin\u2014the self-named \u201cquad god\u201d\u2014popped three of his planned quad jumps and fell twice, dropping him from first place all the way to eighth. The two-time reigning world champion had been unbeaten for more than two years. <\/p>\n
Kazakshatan\u2019s Mikhail Shaidorov, last year\u2019s world silver medallist, was the only skater to top Gogolev\u2019s free skate and landed atop the podium. Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato achieved a double podium for Japan, claiming silver and bronze, respectively. Gogolev finished just 1.12 points behind Sato. <\/p>\n
Gogolev was his usual, mild-mannered self after the skate, but said his performance further proves he can compete with the world\u2019s best<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this definitely gives me a big confidence boost, especially considering I\u2019ve been pretty consistent throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a fifth-place finish at the Olympics under his belt, the 21-year-old\u2019s potential to be a medal contender at the next Games will remain top of mind for Canadian fans. Gogolev played down the pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think much will change. I think I will go back to my routine, going to school, going through training, and continue training as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AP Photo\/Ashley Landis February 13, 2026 Stephen Gogolev saved his best career performance for his final appearance at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,114464,192711,14471,44,188394,13543],"class_list":["post-474190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-figure-skating","tag-figure-skating-mens-singles","tag-milano-cortina-2026","tag-news","tag-stephen-gogolev","tag-team-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Michael-Charlebois.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"Sharing](\"https:\/\/olympic.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/canadianolympiccommittee\/img\/team-canada-icons\/team-canada-profile-share-red.svg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/CP175789240.jpg\")
Stephen Gogolev of Canada competes during the men\u2019s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Natacha Pisarenko)<\/p>\n