Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Ladies' singles

Ladies single skating
Single skating
Single skating is a discipline of figure skating, wherein a single person skates alone. Men's singles and ladies' singles are both Olympic disciplines and are both governed by the International Skating Union. The other Olympic figure skating events are pair skating and ice dancing...

was contested during the figure skating events at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Four figure skating events were held at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, at the Palavela venue.Lithuanian ice dancers Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas became the first figure skaters to compete at five Olympics....

.

This individual event was structured in a similar manner to the pairs event, with a short program and a free skate. 30 skaters entered the short program, but only the top 24 competitors continued to the free skate. Unlike the men's event, the free skate is only 4 minutes long. The short program was held on February 21 and the free skate on February 23.

The leading contender heading into the Olympics was 2005 World champion Irina Slutskaya, the first woman to win the European Championship seven times. Prior to the Olympic Games, she had only been beaten once this season, by Japan's Mao Asada

Mao Asada

is a Japanese figure skater.She is the 2010 Winter Olympic silver medalist, the 2008 & 2010 World champion, the 2008 & 2010 Four Continents champion, a two-time Grand Prix Final champion, the 2005 World Junior champion, the 2004–2005 Junior Grand Prix Final champion and a four-time Japanese...

, who was too young to compete at these Olympics.

Favorite Michelle Kwan

Michelle Kwan

Michelle Wingshan Kwan is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S...

, who had previously won silver at the 1998 Winter Olympics

1998 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...

and bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympics

2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

, was forced to withdraw due to a groin injury. As a 5-time world champion and 9-time U.S. champion, the Olympic gold was the only major title missing from her resume. U.S. national bronze medalist Emily Hughes

Emily Hughes

Emily Anne Hughes is an American figure skater. She is the 2007 U.S. National silver medalist and was a member of the 2006 Olympic team. She is a younger sister of Sarah Hughes, the 2002 Olympic champion.-Personal life:...

(the younger sister of the last Olympic champion Sarah Hughes

Sarah Hughes

Sarah Elizabeth Hughes is an American figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies singles.-Personal life:...

) took her place on the American team, joining two-time world silver medalist and U.S. national champion Sasha Cohen

Sasha Cohen

Alexandra Pauline "Sasha" Cohen is a U.S. figure skater. She is the 2006 Olympic silver medalist, a three-time World Championship medalist, the 2003 Grand Prix Final Champion, and the 2006 U.S. Champion.-Personal life:...

and U.S. national silver medalist Kimmie Meissner

Kimmie Meissner

Kimberly Claire "Kimmie" Meissner is an American figure skater. She is the 2006 World Champion, the 2007 U.S. National Champion, and the 2007 Four Continents Champion...

, the second American woman to land the triple axel

Axel jump

The Axel is a figure skating jump with a forward take-off. It is named after the Norwegian skater Axel Paulsen, who first performed the jump in 1882. An Axel jump has an extra ½ rotation in the air due to its forward take-off...

in competition.

Japan also sent a very strong ladies contingent to Turin with 2004 world champion Shizuka Arakawa

Shizuka Arakawa

is a Japanese figure skater.She is the 2006 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles and the 2004 World Champion. Arakawa is the first Japanese skater to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating and the second Japanese skater to win any Olympic medal in figure skating, after Midori Ito, who won silver...

, two-time world bronze medalist Fumie Suguri

Fumie Suguri

is a Japanese figure skater. She is a five-time Japanese National Champion, a three-time World Championship medalist, a three-time Four Continents Champion and the 2003-2004 Grand Prix Final Champion.-Personal life:Suguri was born in Chiba, Chiba, Japan...

and two-time Japanese national champion Miki Ando

Miki Ando

is a Japanese figure skater. She is the 2007 and 2011 World Champion, 2011 Four Continents Champion, 2004 World Junior Champion, and a three-time Japanese National Champion....

. Other potential medal contenders included Russia's Elena Sokolova

Elena Sokolova

Elena Sergeevna Sokolova is a Russian figure skater. Sokolova is a three-time Russian national champion , a three-time European medalist and the 2003 World Silver Medalist. In the 2006 Olympic Games, she stumbled badly and only finished 14th. She redeemed herself in the 2006 World Championships...

, who won world silver in 2003; two-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette

Joannie Rochette

Joannie Rochette is a Canadian figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2009 World silver medalist, the 2008 and 2009 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2004 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, and a six-time Canadian national champion.-Personal life:Rochette was born in...

; 2005 world bronze medalist Carolina Kostner

Carolina Kostner

Carolina Kostner is an Italian figure skater. She is a three-time World medalist , a three-time European champion , a three-time Grand Prix Final medalist , the 2003 World Junior bronze medalist, and a six-time Italian Champion.-Personal life:Carolina Kostner was born...

; 2005 European silver medalist Susanna Pöykiö

Susanna Pöykiö

Susanna Pöykiö is a Finnish figure skater. She is a two-time European medalist, having won silver in 2005 and bronze in 2009. She is a five time Finnish national champion....

; five-time Swiss champion Sarah Meier

Sarah Meier (figure skater)

Sarah Meier is a Swiss figure skater. She is the 2011 European champion, 2007 & 2008 European silver medalist, the 2006–2007 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist and an eight-time Swiss national champion.-Biography:-Early career:Sarah Meier first stepped on the ice at the age of two years...

; 2005 European bronze medalist Elena Liashenko

Elena Liashenko

Elena Liashenko is a Ukrainian figure skater. She is the 2004 European silver medalist and 1995 and 2005 bronze medalist. She is also 4-time Olympic team member of Ukraine.- Biography :...

; and 2004 European champion Júlia Sebestyén

Julia Sebestyen

Júlia Sebestyén is a Hungarian figure skater. She is the 2004 European Champion and 2002-2010 Hungarian national champion. At the 2004 European Figure Skating Championships, she became the first Hungarian woman to win the European title...

.

Arakawa made history by winning Japan's first ever ladies' figure skating gold in the Winter Olympics and the only medal for Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Japan competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Shizuka Arakawa won the country's only medal, a gold, in women's figure skating. She was the first person born and raised in Asia to become an Olympic champion in that event...

Short Program

Skating last in the short, Cohen wowed the crowd and the judges with a flawless program. Completing her three jump elements and having the best spins and spirals of the night, Cohen came in first place. Slutskaya, beating Cohen technically but not artistically, finished behind Cohen by just 0.03 points. Arakawa also had a clean skate, finished behind Slutskaya by only 0.70 points. With the top three being so close, the winner of the free would likely win the gold.

Suguri had a strong skate but a lack of level 4 spins and spirals kept her out of the top three. Meissner, the second skater in the short and finishing fifth in the short, skated cleanly in her first major international event with a triple lutz - triple toe combination, one of the few landed in the competition. The surprise in the top six was Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

's Elene Gedevanishvili

Elene Gedevanishvili

Elene Gedevanishvili is a Georgian figure skater. She is the 2010 European bronze medalist, becoming the first skater from Georgia to medal at an ISU Championships.-Career:...

, who performed a triple flip - triple toe combination.

Besides a slight stumble in her serpentine steps, Hughes also had a strong debut at her first major international event, finishing seventh in the short. Her sister Sarah was in the stands cheering her on. Rounding out the top ten was Ando, stepping out of her combination; Rochette, putting her hand down on the triple flip; and Sarah Meier

Sarah Meier (figure skater)

, who skated a clean program. Kostner fell on her triple flip combination and finished just out of the top ten, but had strong program component marks and the support of the crowd. Skating early in the competition, Sokolova took herself out of the running for a medal when she fell out of her lutz and singled a loop. She finished 18th in the short.

Free Skate

Arakawa, despite media pressure and being labeled an underdog, performed a five triple jump program which was enough to win the gold medal. Skating right after Cohen, Arakawa's skating was conservative but solid, no triple - triple combinations. She ended up doubling her loop jump, her nemesis jump. Skating with elegance and power, Arakawa had the highest technical and program component scores of the night.

Cohen, looking much more nervous than in the short and having her groin wrapped due to an injury, fell on her opening triple lutz, then stepped out of the triple flip with her hand down, her next jump. Despite these early mistakes, Cohen was able to pull herself together and land the rest of her jumps and execute her trademark spins and spirals. Her only other flaw in the skate was two-footing the second jump of her triple toe - triple salchow sequence.

Slutskaya, skating last in the free like she did in 2002, was trying to become the first Russian woman to win the Olympic title. However, she came up short, doubling a flip, then falling on a triple loop. Her lower technical difficulty (only four triple jumps) and lower program component scores kept Slutskaya behind Cohen but ahead of Suguri.

Suguri had a solid skate that left her in tears and placed her fourth overall. Technically, she scored higher than Slutskaya despite having two jump combinations that were doubles, but finished behind her in program components. Rochette had one of the best skates of the night, completing six clean triples, the most of the top ladies during the free skate. Combined with strong choreography, Rochette's skate was able to move her up to fifth in the free and overall. Meissner was unable to complete her triple - triple combinations in the free and fell to sixth overall, while Hughes finished in seventh, despite a fall on the triple loop. Despite not accomplishing what American teens Tara Lipinski

Tara Lipinski

Tara Kristen Lipinski is an American figure skater. At the age of 15, she won the Ladies' Singles Olympic gold medal in figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Lipinski remains the youngest individual gold medalist in the history of the Olympic Winter Games. She is also the 1997 World...

and Sarah Hughes

Sarah Hughes

Sarah Elizabeth Hughes is an American figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic gold medalist and 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies singles.-Personal life:...

did before them (winning Olympic gold), Meissner and Hughes had respectable debuts at the Olympics.

Meier finished eighth with a relatively clean skate but singled an axel and doubled a lutz jump. Kostner finished ninth overall after making major mistakes. Gedevanishvilli's program was marred by mistakes, but she was able to finish in the top ten.

Short program

Pl.									Deduction
1	66.73	35.33	31.40	7.75	7.54	8.00	7.89	8.07	0	#29
2	66.70	36.21	30.49	7.79	7.21	7.79	7.57	7.75	0	#18
3	66.02	35.93	30.09	7.82	7.29	7.57	7.54	7.39	0	#21
4	61.75	32.61	29.14	7.39	7.00	7.32	7.32	7.39	0	#27
5	59.40	34.20	25.20	6.54	6.14	6.21	6.36	6.25	0	#02
6	57.90	33.25	24.65	6.32	5.89	6.25	6.18	6.18	0	#13
7	57.08	31.71	25.37	6.46	6.04	6.43	6.32	6.46	0	#15
8	56.00	29.12	26.88	6.96	6.50	6.64	6.71	6.79	0	#14
9	55.85	28.87	26.98	6.86	6.61	6.71	6.79	6.75	0	#05
10	55.57	30.69	24.88	6.43	5.89	6.29	6.18	6.32	0	#17
11	53.77	26.25	28.52	7.36	6.93	7.07	7.11	7.18	1	#28
12	53.74	28.43	25.31	6.71	6.14	6.25	6.36	6.18	0	#03
13	52.35	27.47	24.88	6.39	5.96	6.21	6.18	6.36	0	#26
14	50.61	29.38	21.23	5.39	5.14	5.32	5.36	5.32	0	#07
15	49.84	27.24	22.60	5.86	5.43	5.61	5.71	5.64	0	#10
16	49.58	26.75	23.83	6.25	5.61	5.96	6.04	5.93	1	#16
17	47.06	26.74	20.32	5.21	4.82	5.07	5.18	5.11	0	#06
18	46.69	21.13	25.56	6.64	6.14	6.14	6.46	6.57	0	#11
19	46.40	26.78	19.62	4.96	4.71	4.93	5.00	4.93	0	#09
20	44.84	23.84	21.00	5.50	5.00	5.25	5.32	5.18	0	#04
21	44.53	24.33	20.20	5.04	4.82	5.11	5.14	5.14	0	#08
22	44.20	25.70	18.50	4.86	4.36	4.68	4.61	4.61	0	#01
23	42.47	19.87	22.60	5.68	5.32	5.61	5.75	5.89	0	#19
24	41.25	20.43	21.82	5.64	5.29	5.50	5.46	5.39	1	#22
25	40.86	21.21	20.65	5.46	4.89	5.14	5.21	5.11	1	#23
26	39.37	21.49	17.88	4.68	4.29	4.50	4.50	4.39	0	#24
27	39.16	19.37	19.79	5.18	4.79	4.89	4.96	4.93	0	#25
28	38.47	21.06	18.41	4.82	4.36	4.61	4.68	4.54	1	#12
29	38.44	19.06	19.38	5.11	4.68	4.75	4.86	4.82	0	#20

Free skating

Pl.									Deduction
1	125.32	62.32	63.00	8.04	7.61	7.93	7.86	7.93	0	#21
2	116.63	55.22	62.41	7.75	7.57	7.86	7.79	8.04	1	#20
3	114.74	53.87	61.87	7.96	7.39	7.79	7.71	7.82	1	#24
4	113.48	54.23	59.25	7.54	7.14	7.39	7.43	7.54	0	#22
5	111.42	55.29	56.13	7.07	6.75	7.04	7.11	7.11	0	#17
6	106.31	52.77	53.54	6.86	6.46	6.79	6.64	6.71	0	#23
7	103.79	53.82	50.97	6.46	6.11	6.50	6.32	6.46	1	#15
8	100.56	49.31	51.25	6.46	6.21	6.46	6.43	6.46	0	#16
9	99.73	43.84	55.89	7.18	6.71	6.96	7.04	7.04	0	#18
10	95.66	45.38	50.28	6.57	5.96	6.29	6.29	6.32	0	#09
11	95.46	50.40	45.06	5.89	5.39	5.61	5.64	5.64	0	#10
12	94.55	51.83	42.72	5.50	5.11	5.36	5.36	5.36	0	#08
13	93.56	43.60	49.96	6.43	5.96	6.29	6.36	6.18	0	#19
14	92.36	48.84	43.52	5.71	5.14	5.39	5.50	5.46	0	#06
15	89.48	40.54	49.94	6.54	6.00	6.25	6.14	6.29	1	#13
16	84.20	35.69	50.51	6.64	6.11	6.21	6.29	6.32	2	#14
17	84.12	41.70	42.42	5.54	4.96	5.36	5.36	5.29	0	#03
18	81.73	36.01	45.72	5.86	5.46	5.71	5.75	5.79	0	#07
19	80.01	39.15	40.86	5.29	4.93	5.07	5.18	5.07	0	#11
20	79.68	34.86	45.82	6.18	5.50	5.57	5.75	5.64	1	#12
21	79.44	42.64	36.80	4.82	4.21	4.82	4.61	4.54	0	#05
22	77.90	35.67	42.23	5.50	4.82	5.43	5.21	5.43	0	#01
23	73.45	36.58	37.87	4.89	4.39	4.82	4.79	4.79	1	#02
24	65.04	26.77	39.27	4.93	4.68	4.93	4.96	5.04	1	#04

Final standings

Rank	Total Points	SP	FS Free skating The free skating competition of figure skating, sometimes called the "free skate" or "long program", is usually the second of two phases in major figure skating competitions in single skating and pair skating. It is the longer of the two programs, the other one being the Short Program...
1	191.34	3	1
2	183.36	1	2
3	181.44	2	3
4	175.23	4	4
5	167.27	9	5
6	165.71	5	6
7	160.87	7	7
8	156.13	10	8
9	153.50	11	9
10	151.46	6	13
11	145.30	15	11
12	145.16	14	12
13	143.22	12	15
14	142.35	18	10
15	140.20	8	16
16	137.20	20	14
17	134.08	13	18
18	129.26	16	20
19	127.07	17	19
20	125.37	24	17
21	123.64	22	21
22	120.37	23	22
23	119.85	19	23
24	109.57	21	24
Did not advance to free skate
25	40.86	25
26	39.37	26
27	39.16	27
28	38.47	28
29	38.44	29

Referee:

Yang Jiasheng

Technical Controller:

Igor Prokop

Technical Specialist:

Michael Slipchuk
Michael Slipchuk
Michael Slipchuk is a Canadian retired competitive figure skater who currently serves as the High Performance Director of Skate Canada....

Assistant Technical Specialist:

Anett Pötzsch-Rauschenbach
Anett Pötzsch
Anett Pötzsch is a retired German figure skater. She is the 1980 Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, two-time world champion , four-time European champion and five-time East German champion ....

Judges:

Gloria Morandi
Annette Boeren-Maas
Diana Barbacci Levy
Tatiana Danilenko
Susan Lynch
Benoit Lavoie
Laura McNair
Gale Tanger
Zsofia Wagner
Katarina Henriksson
Yuri Kliushnikov
Elisabeth Louesdon

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