Japanese Women Take Three of Four Top Spots in Short Program; American Alysa Liu, in Third Place, is Well Positioned for a Medal Finish

(18 February 2026)  The Japanese women dominated the short program placing first, second and fourth.  Alysa Liu score best of the American women, placing third.  Russian three-time champion Adeliia Petrosian placed fifth skating as an individual athlete.

Unlike previous Olympic figure skating events, the nearly all the top contenders had clean programs, skating personal or season bests, or close to them. The most surprising exception to this was American Amber Glenn who placed 13th in the short program.

Ami Nakai skated 18th among the 29 competitors in the event.  Of these, the top 24 qualified for the free skate.  Nakai holds a 1.48 point lead over teammate Kaori Sakamoto. 

Seventeen-year-old Nakai was in command from her opening element, a solid triple Axel in her routine to “La Strada.” The program was presented with enthusiasm and a look of confidence, receiving new personal best of 78.71 points.

Ami Nakai

“Honestly, I'm surprised, and I'm very happy now that I was able to perform like this on this stage,” Nakai said. “I feel like I'm dreaming.”

"I was in quite good condition in practice, so I thought I just had to do the triple Axel in the competition. I also had a lot of confidence.”

“I didn't feel scared at all, and I wasn't as nervous as I expected,” Nakai continued. "I was really excited about it."

“I was the first to skate [in the fourth group], so I was able to carry this feeling from the six-minute warm-up into properly challenging this performance. I think that really helped."

"If you ask honestly whether I want a medal, of course I do. But I didn’t come to these Olympics focusing only on results. 

“I’m really looking forward to how much I can enjoy these Olympics, and I hope I can enjoy them until the very last moment,” Nakai shared.

Performing as the penultimate skate, Kaori Sakamoto also showed no sign of Olympic nerves.  Performing to “Time to Say Goodbye,” she began confidently, and by mid-program that turned into a look of joy.  She had two minor errors, an edge attention call on triple Lutz and a q-call on triple toe loop in her triple flip plus triple toe loop combination.  She scored77.23 points for her effort.

Kaori Sakamoto

“I focused not to be too nervous and I tried to calm myself by relaxing and tried to have fun during the performance,” Sakamoto said. 

“I think that's why I was able to perform as I did today. 

“Compared to the Japanese National Championships, I was not nervous, but every day up to yesterday, the Pairs Free Skating, I was nervous every day,” she added. 

“My hands were shaking, my legs were shaking, but maybe I got too tired of getting too nervous, and that's why I think I could settle down today,” she continued with a laugh.

Sakamoto commented that she is satisfied to be chasing the leader. 

"It's easier to be the one chasing, so I'm grateful to Ami for letting me stay in the chasing position until the very end. Heading into the free skate, I don't feel like I have anything to protect. Until the very end, I want to give my all and show my full power. If I can do that, I think I'll be able to deliver a good performance. I don't want to skate defensively. I want to skate with attack."

Alysa Liu’s performed expressively to “Promise,” to place third.  Other than a q-call for triple loop in combination with triple Lutz, her elements were solid.  She received a personal best score of 76.59 points.

Alysa Liu

“Tonight I performed for the people. I performed for them specifically,” Liu said. 

Comparing this Olympic experience to her first in Beijing she said, “Genuinely I could not even describe how different it is.  Just the fact that my family and friends are here, the fact that there isn’t COVID, the fact that I’m here with programs that I love and I’m proud of to show the people and wear dresses that I love.  I’m super confident in myself and everything. It goes beyond my skating. I’m really glad that I got to this stage that I am on right now.”

The third Japanese woman, Mone Chiba placed fourth with 74.00 points skating to “Last Dance.”  She had two minor errors, an edge attention call on triple Lutz and a q-call on triple flip plus triple toe loop.

“Since I was the last skater today, I was very nervous, and during the six-minute practice, I felt very very anxious,” Chiba said, But then I had time to settle down, so I was able to control everything.”

“Going into the Free Skating on Thursday, I just wanted to focus on myself and try to believe in what I’m capable of and see what happens,” she noted. 

Adeliia Petrosian placed fifth with a personal best performance to a medley of Michael Jackson songs with 72.89 points.

“I really enjoyed my performance and I hope the audience did as well,” the 18-year-old commented. 

“Since these are my first Olympic Games, I don’t feel a lot of pressure. We’ll see how it will be in the Free Skating.”

“I did not yet meet them and therefore, honestly, I don’t really feel that I am competing with them,” she said, It will be very nice to be next to them and to skate with them.”

The high hopes for American Amber Glenn were dashed when she doubled a planned triple loop.  She opened the program with one of the best triple Axels she has executed in competition this season.  Subsequently she got a q-call on the triple toe loop in combination with triple flip, but worse yet she doubled the final jump element and it received no points - as a triple is required.  Finally, with extraordinarily stupid marks from the judges, her step sequence received GoEs ranging from -3 to 3.

Glenn ended in 13th place, with 67.39 points, 9.2 point behind third place Alysa Liu.  It will require an extraordinary effort for her to reach the podium with this deficit.

Amber Glenn

The third American entry, Isabeau Levito placed 8th with 70.84 points.  It was a charming skate, with only a minor error of a q-call for triple loop.

Canadian Madeline Schizas finished 25th, one spot out of qualifying for the free skate.   Like Glenn, she doubled an intended triple loop, which cost here dearly.

“I made a couple of errors and I’m very disappointed with the way I skated today,” Schizas said. “I really didn’t expect that; I’ve been practicing well.”

I want to say I wasn't nervous, I got no points for a whole element which was really un