Figure Skating 2018/Ladies' singles

Ladies' singles
General information
Sport	Figure Skating 2018
Date	21-23 February 2018
Competitors	30 athletes
Venue	Gangneung Ice Arena
Previous medalists
Gold	Adelina Sotnikova
Silver	Kim Yu-na
Bronze	Carolina Kostner
Medalists
	Alina Zagitova
	Evgenia Medvedeva
	Kaetlyn Osmond

The ladies' singles of Figure Skating 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 21-23 February 2018 in the Gangneung Ice Arena. With 30 athletes competing, the event was won by Alina Zagitova from Olympic Athletes from Russia, with Evgenia Medvedeva from Olympic Athletes from Russia taking the silver medal and Kaetlyn Osmond from Canada taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate rounds. The first round allows the competitors to perform a routine of around 2:40 minutes, after which the athletes with the twenty-four best scores perform another routine of around 4:00 minutes. The competitor with the best score after two rounds is the winner.

Preview

Thirty athletes qualified for the event. The biggest favorite was Evgenia Medvedeva, who had won almost every meeting in the previous three seasons, only recently losing to youngster Alina Zagitova. The competition of these two athletes representing the Olympic Athletes from Russia existed out of Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond, Carolina Kostner, who won the bronze medal at Sochi 2014, and Maria Sotskova. Outsiders included Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto from Japan, as well as Gabrielle Daleman and home-performing Choi Da-bin.

Alina Zagitova was the youngest figure skater to compete, leading the 19 athletes younger than 18 years old. Carolina Kostner was the oldest competitor, being over 6 years older than second-oldest Mirai Nagasu. Only 7 competitors had competed in previous editions of the Olympic Games, with Kostner competing since Torino, as the only athlete to have competed more than twice before. Nagasu had competed in Vancouver but missed out four years later. Kostner was also only one of two athletes to have finished in the top 10 in Sochi, with Mae-Berenice Meite finishing tenth.

Summary

Short Program

The short program showed plenty of skaters achieving a new personal best, with the first score of 64.01 set by Bradie Tennell, which wouldn't be broken until Kaori Sakamoto after 19 performances, who received a score of 73.18 points, and Mirai Nagasu, who was set 5 points behind Sakamoto. With the final ten performances all contesting for the top spots, Alina Zagitova was able to get the edge over teammate Evgenia Medvedeva, with Kaetlyn Osmond ending up third. The Japanese Satoko Miyahara and Kaori Sakamoto rounded off the top 5, only 0.03 points of a difference with sixth place Carolina Kostner. While Hungarian Ivett Toth surprised with a performance on a rock number, Larkyn Austman, Diana Nikitina, Giada Russo, Anita Oestlund, Anna Khnychenkova, and Aiza Mambekova weren't able to finish in the top 24.

Short Program Results
Rank	Nat.	Athletes	Score
1		Alina Zagitova	82.92
2		Evgenia Medvedeva	81.61
3		Kaetlyn Osmond	78.87
4		Satoko Miyahara	75.94
5		Kaori Sakamoto	73.18
6		Carolina Kostner	73.15
7		Gabrielle Daleman	68.90
8		Choi Da-bin	67.77
9		Mirai Nagasu	66.93
10		Karen Chen	65.90
11		Bradie Tennell	64.01
12		Maria Sotskova	63.86
13		Nicole Rajicova	60.59
14		Nicole Schott	59.20
15		Elizabet Tursynbaeva	58.82
16		Kailani Craine	56.77
17		Isadora Williams	55.74
18		Emmi Peltonen	55.28
19		Alexia Paganini	55.26
20		Loena Hendrickx	55.16
21		Kim Ha-nul	54.33
22		Mae Berenice Meite	53.67
23		Ivett Toth	53.22
24		Li Xiangning	52.46
25		Larkyn Austman	51.42
26		Diana Nikitina	51.12
27		Giada Russo	50.88
28		Anita Oestlund	49.14
29		Anna Khnychenkova	47.59
30		Aiza Mambekova	44.40

Free Program

With little difference between the 16th placed Kailani Craine and 24th placed Li Xiangning coming out of the short program, the battle for classification reigned. While Brazilian Isadora Williams and Ivett Toth scored sub-100, reigning bronze medalist Gabrielle Daleman disappointed with a score of 103.56, finishing 19th in the free program, and home skating Kim Ha-nul surprised with a score of 121.38 good for the tenth place in the free program, allowing her to climb from 21st place to 13th place in the final standings. In the rest of the top 10, Bradie Tennell, Choi Da-bin, and Maria Sotskova were able to climb territory with their performances, while Carolina Kostner and Kaori Sakamoto switched places after their small difference in the short program. Satoko Miyahara and Kaetlyn Osmond were able to retain their positions, while Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova received the exact same score for their free program, Medvedeva edging it based on her component score. Since Zagitova had a 1.3-point lead after the short program, she became the youngest Olympic gold medalist in the ladies' singles since Tara Lipinski at Nagano 1998.

Free Program Results
Rank	Nat.	Athletes	Score
1		Evgenia Medvedeva	156.65
2		Alina Zagitova	156.65
3		Kaetlyn Osmond	152.15
4		Satoko Miyahara	146.44
5		Carolina Kostner	139.29
6		Kaori Sakamoto	136.53
7		Maria Sotskova	134.24
8		Choi Da-bin	131.49
9		Bradie Tennell	128.34
10		Kim Ha-nul	121.38
11		Karen Chen	119.75
12		Mirai Nagasu	119.61
13		Elizabet Tursynbaeva	118.30
14		Loena Hendrickx	116.72
15		Nicole Rajicova	114.60
16		Kailani Craine	111.84
17		Nicole Schott	109.26
18		Mae Berenice Meite	106.25
19		Gabrielle Daleman	103.56
20		Li Xiangning	101.97
21		Emmi Peltonen	101.86
22		Alexia Paganini	101.00
23		Ivett Toth	97.21
24		Isadora Williams	88.44

Results

Alina Zagitova became the youngest Olympic champion of Pyeongchang 2018, at the age of 15. She and Evgenia Medvedeva, who was 18 years old, both won their second medal at the Olympic Games, after winning a silver medal in the team event. Zagitova also won the first gold medal for the Olympic Athletes from Russia, only followed by the men's ice hockey team two days later. Bronze medalist Kaetlyn Osmond completed her trio of medals after winning silver medal at the team event in 2014 and a gold medal at the team event in 2018. Satoko Miyahara, who also made her Olympic debut, finished fourth, with Carolina Kostner, the bronze medalist of the singles event in Sochi, finishing fifth.

Result	Athlete	Nationality	Score
	Alina Zagitova	Olympic Athletes from Russia	239.57
	Evgenia Medvedeva	Olympic Athletes from Russia	238.26
	Kaetlyn Osmond	Canada	231.02
4	Satoko Miyahara	Japan	222.38
5	Carolina Kostner	Italy	212.44
6	Kaori Sakamoto	Japan	209.71
7	Choi Da-bin	South Korea	199.26
8	Maria Sotskova	Olympic Athletes from Russia	198.10
9	Bradie Tennell	United States	192.35
10	Mirai Nagasu	United States	186.54
11	Karen Chen	United States	185.65
12	Elizabet Tursynbaeva	Kazakhstan	177.12
13	Kim Ha-nul	South Korea	175.71
14	Nicole Rajicova	Slovakia	175.19
15	Gabrielle Daleman	Canada	172.46
16	Loena Hendrickx	Belgium	171.88
17	Kailani Craine	Australia	168.61
18	Nicole Schott	Germany	168.46
19	Mae Berenice Meite	France	159.92
20	Emmi Peltonen	Finland	157.14
21	Alexia Paganini	Switzerland	156.26
22	Li Xiangning	China	154.43
23	Ivett Toth	Hungary	150.43
24	Isadora Williams	Brazil	144.18
25	Larkyn Austman	Canada	51.42
26	Diana Nikitina	Latvia	51.12
27	Giada Russo	Italy	50.88
28	Anita Oestlund	Sweden	49.14
29	Anna Khnychenkova	Ukraine	47.59
30	Aiza Mambekova	Kazakhstan	44.40