Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Men's singles

Men's single skating was contested during the figure skating events at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Men's singles at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Figure skating pictogram
Venue	Palavela Turin, Italy
Dates	February 14, 2006 February 16, 2006
Competitors	30 from 22 nations
Winning score	258.33
Medalists
Evgeni Plushenko  Russia Stéphane Lambiel  Switzerland Jeffrey Buttle  Canada
← 2002 2010 →

This individual event was structured in a similar manner to the pairs event, with a short program and a free skating. 30 skaters entered the short program, but only the top 24 competitors continued to the free skating.

The 2002 Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin from Russia did not defend his title because he announced retirement in 2003. On the other hand, reigning World Champion Stéphane Lambiel from Switzerland did compete.

The clear favorite before the competition was three-time world champion Evgeni Plushenko, who withdrew from the 2005 World Championships due to injury. Reigning world champion Stéphane Lambiel was considered Plushenko's main competition for the gold. Other notable competitors coming into the event included Canadians Jeffrey Buttle (the reigning world silver medalist) and Emanuel Sandhu, France's Brian Joubert, Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, and the strong American team of Johnny Weir, Evan Lysacek (reigning world bronze medalist), and Matt Savoie.

Short program

The men's short program took place on February 14. Plushenko took the early lead after the short program. He set a new personal best (also the world record) score with a massive 90.66 points, over 10 points ahead of Weir, who finished in second with 80.00 points. Lambiel doubled his planned triple Axel but still ended up in third place with a score of 79.04 points, less than a point behind Weir. Joubert was fourth in the short program with 77.77 points, followed by Takahashi and Buttle with 73.77 and 73.29 points respectively. Buttle and fellow Canadian Sandhu, who ranked seventh, both had trouble with their jumps, but their high program component scores kept them in contention for medals. Savoie had a solid skate to finish eighth, while teammate Lysacek fell on his triple Axel and doubled his triple flip to finish a disappointing tenth in this phase of the competition.

Free skating

In the free skating, completed on February 16, Plushenko set another world record by garnering 167.67 points for his free skating. He started his program off with quad-triple-double and had only one flaw, doubling his triple flip. He finished with the highest technical and program component scores of the night.

Despite struggling with his jumps in his free skating (completing no triple Axels), Lambiel's opening quad combination and exquisite spins kept him in second overall, though he finished only fourth in the free skating. Buttle's free skating, although marred by a fall on his quad attempt, had the second highest program components scores which helped to finish him second in the free skating and third overall. Joubert had a crowd-pleasing free skating but made several jump errors and finished a disappointing seventh in the free skating, sixth overall.

The Americans got off to a strong start in the free skating led by Lysacek. He skated his best free of the year and landed two triple Axels, getting 152.28 points. This was the third best free of the night and a huge improvement from his short, moving him up to fourth overall. Weir omitted his planned quad toe and only had one jump combination, which left him short on technical content and in sixth place in the free skating. Overall, he finished right behind Lysacek in fifth. Savoie had a solid skate with gorgeous transitions and jumps, though he doubled his two final planned triples to finish fifth in the free and seventh overall.

Takahashi skated fairly strongly in his free but was penalized in the marking for repeating too many jumps and underrotating others. He finished ninth in the free and eighth overall. Belgium's Kevin van der Perren made huge leaps in the free with 132.03 points and moving up from thirteenth in the short to ninth overall. Sandhu, on the other hand, fell apart in his free skating, falling twice and popping a couple of jumps. His high program component scores couldn't keep him in the top ten. He finished thirteenth overall.

That year made Jeffery Buttle the only non-European man on the podium.

Results

Short program

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS	TES	PCS	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	–	StN
1	Evgeni Plushenko	Russia	90.66	49.69	40.97	8.29	7.82	8.29	8.25	8.32	0	#02
2	Johnny Weir	United States	80.00	40.99	39.01	7.86	7.64	7.79	7.79	7.93	0	#13
3	Stéphane Lambiel	Switzerland	79.04	40.61	38.43	7.79	7.50	7.68	7.64	7.82	0	#11
4	Brian Joubert	France	77.77	40.59	37.18	7.57	7.11	7.57	7.36	7.57	0	#23
5	Daisuke Takahashi	Japan	73.77	38.45	35.32	7.21	6.86	7.04	7.07	7.14	0	#01
6	Jeffrey Buttle	Canada	73.29	37.01	37.28	7.46	7.39	7.36	7.46	7.61	1	#05
7	Emanuel Sandhu	Canada	69.75	33.00	37.75	7.57	7.36	7.50	7.50	7.82	1	#30
8	Matthew Savoie	United States	69.15	35.22	33.93	6.89	6.68	6.79	6.75	6.82	0	#22
9	Gheorghe Chiper	Romania	67.66	37.12	30.54	6.29	5.82	6.14	6.04	6.25	0	#08
10	Evan Lysacek	United States	67.55	33.80	34.75	7.07	6.68	7.00	6.96	7.04	1	#26
11	Zhang Min	China	67.39	36.29	31.10	6.50	5.93	6.21	6.21	6.25	0	#14
12	Shawn Sawyer	Canada	67.20	35.02	32.18	6.50	6.29	6.46	6.39	6.54	0	#03
13	Kevin Van Der Perren	Belgium	65.36	33.50	32.86	6.61	6.36	6.68	6.50	6.71	1	#18
14	Sergei Davydov	Belarus	64.65	35.58	29.07	6.04	5.61	5.82	5.71	5.89	0	#15
15	Ivan Dinev	Bulgaria	63.64	34.29	29.35	6.18	5.64	5.82	5.82	5.89	0	#06
16	Anton Kovalevski	Ukraine	63.41	33.95	29.46	6.07	5.64	5.93	5.86	5.96	0	#21
17	Viktor Pfeifer	Austria	62.17	34.28	27.89	5.71	5.43	5.61	5.50	5.64	0	#10
18	Ilia Klimkin	Russia	61.61	29.90	31.71	6.57	6.21	6.29	6.32	6.32	0	#27
19	Frédéric Dambier	France	61.17	30.48	31.69	6.54	6.11	6.29	6.32	6.43	1	#09
20	Stefan Lindemann	Germany	60.52	27.94	32.58	6.68	6.36	6.43	6.57	6.54	0	#19
21	Li Chengjiang	China	60.23	30.55	30.68	6.46	6.00	6.04	6.14	6.04	1	#04
22	Tomáš Verner	Czech Republic	59.71	30.25	29.46	6.04	5.64	5.89	5.89	6.00	0	#16
23	Kristoffer Berntsson	Sweden	59.55	31.34	28.21	5.89	5.43	5.57	5.61	5.71	0	#07
24	Zoltán Tóth	Hungary	55.07	29.67	25.40	5.29	4.86	5.07	5.00	5.18	0	#29
25	Karel Zelenka	Italy	53.46	27.96	26.50	5.50	5.11	5.32	5.25	5.32	1	#25
26	Trifun Zivanovic	Serbia and Montenegro	53.40	29.44	23.96	5.04	4.57	4.71	4.82	4.82	0	#12
27	Jamal Othman	Switzerland	52.18	24.46	27.72	5.71	5.36	5.54	5.50	5.61	0	#17
28	Vakhtang Murvanidze	Georgia	49.68	24.32	26.36	5.50	5.00	5.29	5.21	5.36	1	#20
29	Gregor Urbas	Slovenia	46.48	20.28	26.20	5.46	5.07	5.25	5.21	5.21	0	#28
30	Han Jong-in	North Korea	42.11	19.50	22.61	4.75	4.29	4.57	4.50	4.50	0	#24

Free skating

Pl.	Name	Nation	TSS	TES	PCS	SS	TR	PE	CH	IN	–	StN
1	Evgeni Plushenko	Russia	167.67	85.25	82.42	8.46	7.75	8.39	8.18	8.43	0	#19
2	Jeffrey Buttle	Canada	154.30	76.80	78.50	7.79	7.75	7.82	7.89	8.00	1	#22
3	Evan Lysacek	United States	152.58	78.24	74.34	7.50	7.14	7.50	7.46	7.57	0	#13
4	Stéphane Lambiel	Switzerland	152.17	76.89	76.28	7.75	7.39	7.54	7.64	7.82	1	#20
5	Matthew Savoie	United States	137.52	65.80	71.72	7.25	7.00	7.11	7.21	7.29	0	#14
6	Johnny Weir	United States	136.63	61.27	75.36	7.75	7.25	7.50	7.57	7.61	0	#21
7	Brian Joubert	France	135.12	62.54	73.58	7.54	7.11	7.32	7.36	7.46	1	#23
8	Kevin Van Der Perren	Belgium	132.03	66.01	66.02	6.75	6.36	6.68	6.54	6.68	0	#10
9	Daisuke Takahashi	Japan	131.12	58.82	73.30	7.54	7.14	7.25	7.36	7.36	1	#24
10	Ilia Klimkin	Russia	130.19	65.97	65.22	6.75	6.29	6.50	6.57	6.50	1	#07
11	Zhang Min	China	128.88	65.16	63.72	6.75	6.00	6.36	6.39	6.36	0	#17
12	Shawn Sawyer	Canada	123.63	55.13	68.50	6.89	6.71	6.86	6.86	6.93	0	#18
13	Li Chengjiang	China	121.98	66.04	56.94	6.25	5.39	5.68	5.54	5.61	1	#03
14	Emanuel Sandhu	Canada	120.49	52.27	70.22	7.21	6.86	6.82	7.11	7.11	2	#16
15	Tomáš Verner	Czech Republic	120.36	63.14	57.22	5.96	5.50	5.68	5.68	5.79	0	#01
16	Sergei Davydov	Belarus	119.94	59.00	60.94	6.36	5.68	6.11	6.18	6.14	0	#09
17	Gheorghe Chiper	Romania	118.53	54.23	64.30	6.61	6.25	6.36	6.43	6.50	0	#15
18	Ivan Dinev	Bulgaria	116.47	57.97	58.50	6.14	5.57	5.79	5.86	5.89	0	#12
19	Frédéric Dambier	France	116.42	55.92	62.50	6.39	6.11	6.07	6.36	6.32	2	#06
20	Stefan Lindemann	Germany	112.05	51.05	62.00	6.43	5.96	6.11	6.25	6.25	1	#02
21	Anton Kovalevski	Ukraine	109.43	53.93	57.50	6.00	5.57	5.61	5.82	5.75	2	#11
22	Kristoffer Berntsson	Sweden	102.40	48.32	56.08	5.75	5.50	5.50	5.68	5.61	2	#04
23	Viktor Pfeifer	Austria	101.70	45.26	57.44	5.79	5.57	5.75	5.79	5.82	1	#08
24	Zoltán Tóth	Hungary	90.40	42.20	50.20	5.14	4.89	4.96	5.04	5.07	2	#05

Final standings

Rank	Name	Nation	Total points	SP		FS
1	Evgeni Plushenko	Russia	258.33	1	90.66	1	167.67
2	Stéphane Lambiel	Switzerland	231.21	3	79.04	4	152.17
3	Jeffrey Buttle	Canada	227.59	6	73.29	2	154.30
4	Evan Lysacek	United States	220.13	10	67.55	3	152.58
5	Johnny Weir	United States	216.63	2	80.00	6	136.63
6	Brian Joubert	France	212.89	4	77.77	7	135.12
7	Matthew Savoie	United States	206.67	8	69.15	5	137.52
8	Daisuke Takahashi	Japan	204.89	5	73.77	9	131.12
9	Kevin van der Perren	Belgium	197.39	13	65.36	8	132.03
10	Zhang Min	China	196.27	11	67.39	11	128.88
11	Ilia Klimkin	Russia	191.80	18	61.61	10	130.19
12	Shawn Sawyer	Canada	190.83	12	67.20	12	123.63
13	Emanuel Sandhu	Canada	190.24	7	69.75	14	120.49
14	Gheorghe Chiper	Romania	186.19	9	67.66	17	118.53
15	Sergei Davydov	Belarus	184.59	14	64.65	16	119.94
16	Li Chengjiang	China	182.21	21	60.23	13	121.98
17	Ivan Dinev	Bulgaria	180.11	15	63.64	18	116.47
18	Tomáš Verner	Czech Republic	180.07	22	59.71	15	120.36
19	Frédéric Dambier	France	177.59	19	61.17	19	116.42
20	Anton Kovalevski	Ukraine	172.84	16	63.41	21	109.43
21	Stefan Lindemann	Germany	172.57	20	60.52	20	112.05
22	Viktor Pfeifer	Austria	163.87	17	62.17	23	101.70
23	Kristoffer Berntsson	Sweden	161.95	23	59.55	22	102.40
24	Zoltán Tóth	Hungary	145.47	24	55.07	24	90.40
Did not advance to free skating
25	Karel Zelenka	Italy		25	53.46
26	Trifun Zivanovic	Serbia and Montenegro		26	53.40
27	Jamal Othman	Switzerland		27	52.18
28	Vakhtang Murvanidze	Georgia		28	49.68
29	Gregor Urbas	Slovenia		29	46.48
30	Han Jong-in	North Korea		30	42.11

Referee:

• Rita Zonnekeyn

Technical Controller:

• Fabio Bianchetti

Technical Specialist:

• Katerina Kamberska

Assistant Technical Specialist:

• Viktor Petrenko

Judges:

• Kenji Amako
• Hermann Schulz
• Mona Jonsson
• Patrick Ibens
• Alexander Penchev
• Raffaella Locatelli
• Jiang Yibing
• Nicolae Bellu
• Alexei Shirshov
• Philippe Meriguet
• Steve Winkler
• William Thompson

References

External links

• 2006 Winter Olympics at the International Skating Union
• https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/20060218_SKATEMENS_GRAPHIC/index.html