After making history by qualifying for the men’s free skate final on Tuesday, Chinese Taipei’s Li Yu-Hsiang was seen getting emotional. He earlier became the first figure skater from Chinese Taipei to qualify for the Olympic Games since 1998.
Li Yu-Hsiang Makes History and Advances to Men’s Free Skate
Yu-Hsiang finished 24th in the short program standings and secured his place in the free skate, which will also serve as the medal event. He registered a score of 72.41.
After it was confirmed that he would advance to the free skate and thus compete in the men’s figure skating medal event, Yu-Hsiang became emotional. He also went to give his grandmother, who was cheering for him from the stands, a hug. Media from the heartwarming moments was shared by a fan on X. Yu-Hsiang is also the first locally trained figure skater from Chinese Taipei to compete in the Olympic Games.
He is the reigning silver medalist at the Asian Open, having finished only behind Kim Hyun-gyeom at the 2025 event in the Philippines. Yu-Hsiang will be facing tough competition from several big names in the free skate event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Leading the way will be Ilia Malinin, who won the short program with a score of 108.16.
The Team USA star’s short program, “The Lost Crown,” included a triple axel, a quad flip, and a quad Lutz and triple toe-loop. In second place, behind Malinin, was Yuma Kagiyama of Japan, who finished five points behind. Adam Siao Him Fa of France finished in third place. Other Team USA members who made the free skate event include Andrew Torgashev (eighth) and Maxim Naumov (14th).
After the event, Malinin shared his approach to the short program, saying via NBC, “I definitely took a different approach than in the team event. Coming to this short program in the individual, I wanted to take this little more slowly, a little more calm, and just push the autopilot button see what happens.”
Malinin and Team USA have already won one figure skating event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, triumphing in the team event. Japan won silver in that event.
The men’s free skate event is scheduled to take place on Feb. 13 and will get underway at 7 p.m. local time (1 p.m. EST). Fans in the United States can watch the live coverage of the Milano-Cortina Games on NBC and the Peacock streaming service.
