Nakai, 17, tops women’s short program as Japan dominate

Japan dominated the short program in the women’s figure skating at Milan-Cortina 2026 with their athletes occupying three of the top four places following the short program.

Ami Nakai, 17, stormed to the top of the leaderboard with a season-best score of 78.71.

She is followed by three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto, while compatriot Mone Chiba – who won bronze at last year’s worlds – is in fourth.

They took advantage of errors by the fancied Americans, with reigning world champion Alysa Liu third and Amber Glenn well down the field.

Liu, with her immediately recognisable halo hair and lip piercing, took the roof off the arena as her routine was acclaimed by spectators ranging from team-mate Ilia Malinin to rap icon Snoop Dogg.

However, she lost points on her triple lutz for landing on the quarter – not fully completing the rotation, instead returning to the ice 90 degrees short.

American champion Glenn meanwhile suffered a disaster as she missed her triple loop – meaning it was scored as an invalid element, thus scoring zero points for that element.

Glenn, 26, burst into tears as she exited the rink. She is 13th in the standings and knows her medal hopes are over.

Adeliia Petrosian, the Russian champion competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete (AIN), is in fifth place.

Team GB’s Kristen Spours – in her final event before injury-enforced retirement – finished 29th.

So far, none of the AIN representatives, who come from countries which have been banned from competing at the 2026 Olympics, have won a medal.

The most likely candidate to change that is 18-year-old Petrosian, the Russian national champion.

The teenager is under the tutelage of controversial Eteri Tutberidze – the coach of Kamila Valieva at the last Olympics, and whose involvement with the Georgia figure skating team helped win the country’s first ever Winter Olympic medal with pairs silver last night.

Tutberidze was not listed as a coach for Petrosian on the official start list, and when receiving her score she was only accompanied by listed coach Daniil Gleikhengauz.

Wearing a sparkling red jacket and black trousers, she had plenty of fans in Milan carrying banners bearing her face. However when she was first introduced in the rink there was a smattering of boos – unusual for figure skating.

Petrosian has not been able to compete internationally because of the ban on Russian athletes by the International Skating Union, so this was a fascinating look at her on the global stage for the first time.

And performing to a Michael Jackson medley, she lived up to the hype and showed her medal credentials with a spotless routine including an excelled triple flip and toe loop.

It earned her a season-best score of 72.89, and at the end of the routine her fans pelted the ice soft toys as a sign of appreciation.

For much of last year, it seemed very unlikely that British champion Spours would compete at these Games.

The 25-year-old had disc herniation surgery last June and announced in September that she was taking a break to prioritise her physical and mental health.

But that break helped her rediscover her love of the sport, and she skated here in one final performance before retirement.

Spours was at a firm disadvantage as her injury left her unable to perform a double axel, one of the key elements of the short program. The element requires pressure through the left leg, something she is unable to do without the risk of falling and aggravating her back.

And afterwards she revealed she had been nervous going into the event, leading to an early error on her loop element.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with my mistake on the day,” she said. “That is usually something that I can do in my sleep but it happens. I was more nervous today than I was coming into the team event so I’m happy.”