Mikhail Shaidorov

Mikhail Stanislavovich Shaidorov (Kazakh: Михаил Станиславович Шайдоров; born 25 June 2004), nicknamed Misha, is a Kazakh figure skater. He is the 2026 Olympic Champion, 2025 World silver medalist, 2025 Four Continents champion, 2025 Asian Winter Games bronze medalist, a four-time Grand Prix medalist, a three-time Challenger Series medalist, and a five-time Kazakhstani national champion (2019–23). At the junior level, he is the 2022 World Junior silver medalist.

Shaidorov is the first skater from Kazakhstan to ever medal at a World Junior Championships as well as the first skater from Kazakhstan to qualify for a Grand Prix Final on the senior level.

Personal life Shaidorov was born on June 25, 2004, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. His father, Stanislav, is a former competitive figure skater and a three-time Kazakhstani national champion. Prior to becoming a figure skater, Shaidorov trained in artistic gymnastics as a young child. While his mother tongue is Russian, he can also speak some Kazakh and English.

Shaidorov has publicly condemned Russian media outlets for often labelling him as a Russian athlete, saying, "It's disrespectful to me... I was born, lived, and still live in Almaty, and I spend a lot of time in Kazakhstan, in my beloved city. I'm very happy to have the opportunity to train under Alexey Evgenievich Urmanov, with whom I've been working together for a long time. But I started skating at the Ramstore shopping center, where many figure skaters got their start, including Denis Ten. It had one of the very first rinks in Kazakhstan." He is currently a student at the Kazakh Academy of Sports & Tourism.

Following his win at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Kazakh singer, Dimash Qudaibergen, announced that he would gift Shaidorov with a car as thanks for using one of Qudaibergen's songs as his free skate music during the Games. A couple weeks following that announcement, Qudaibergen personally delivered Shaidorov a Hyundai Palisade with the inscriptions, "Mishabai, congratulations on your victory" and "Pride of Kazakhstan." Kazakh businessman Arsen Tomsky also gifted Shaidorov's father with an Audi Q8 after having learned that Stanislav had once sold his car to help fund Shaidorov's career as a competitive figure skater. Moreover, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan bought Shaidorov a three-bedroom apartment in Astana.

Career Early career In 2010, at the age of six, Shaidorov began learning how to skate after being constantly brought to the outdoor rink in the parking lot of a Ramstore shopping centre by his father, Stanislav, who worked as a figure skating coach. Shaidorov initially did not enjoy the sport, instead choosing to pursue artistic gymnastics. However, Shaidorov's interest in figure skating returned after a year and a half, at age seven. Ten's contribution to the development of figure skating in Kazakhstan served as an additional motivating factor for Shaidorov.

In early 2017, Shaidorov and his dad attended a training camp hosted by former Russian Olympic champion, Alexei Urmanov. During the training camp, Shaidorov landed his first double Axel and successfully landed his first triple jumps less than a year later.

2019–20 season: First national title Shaidorov won his first national title at the 2020 Kazakhstani Championships. He was then selected to compete at the 2020 World Junior Championships, finishing in twenty-second place. Despite Shaidorov's lack of salary from his skating federation, his coach, Alexei Urmanov, decided to continue coaching him for free due to Shaidorov's talent as a figure skater. Due to Shaidorov's Grand Prix series results, he was named as the first alternate for the 2024–25 Grand Prix Final. Shaidorov was ultimately called up to compete following the withdrawal of Adam Siao Him Fa. This marked the first time in history that a skater from Kazakhstan qualified for a Grand Prix Final on the senior level.

Prior to World Championships, reigning World Champion, Ilia Malinin, gave a nod to Shaidorov in an interview:

"I mean, I really want to just throw my hat down for him," said Malinin. "I'm really impressed and really happy for him that he went for these combinations. It's something that I really like to see, people pushing their own limit, pushing the sport to its boundaries to really come out as unique or different from all the other skaters. So, I really give him big props and we’re really friendly with each other. We talk about these combos a lot and it's just really fun to see another person really trying to push their own body and their own physical limit." He also credited his jump combinations for his medal success, adding that the sport is "extremely demanding."

Shortly after that achievement, Shaidorov approached Kazakhstan's Sports Development Directorate to request a salary increase for both him and his coaches, which they ultimately approved. Because of this, Shaidorov was able to move his training back to his hometown of Almaty, where he began training at the Halyk Arena. "I'm grateful I was able to train in Almaty, my beloved hometown," he later shared in early 2026. "That was my dream... I always wanted my training process to be at home."

In June, the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced that Shaidorov would receive a grant for the upcoming Olympic season.

2025–26 season: Historic Olympic gold medal in Milano Cortina

Shaidorov opened his season by winning gold at the 2025 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge for a second consecutive time. He then competed on the 2025–26 Grand Prix series, winning the bronze medal at the 2025 Cup of China.

On 10 February, Shaidorov competed in the short program in the men's singles event at the 2026 Winter Olympics, placing fifth in that segment.

Two days later, on the day of the free skate, Dimash Qudaibergen, who performed the vocals for "Confessa - The Diva Dance," the song that Shaidorov selected for his free program, wished Shaidorov luck on his Instagram Stories. Shaidorov delivered an almost perfect free skate, with his only error being his quad Lutz attempt being deemed as landing on the quarter. The rest of the program contained four clean quadruple jumps, including his signature triple Axel-Euler-quadruple Salchow jump sequence. With this performance, he scored a personal best free skate and combined total score. During the free skate, the top three skaters, including heavy favourite Ilia Malinin, faltered and made several jump errors. Because of this, Shaidorov managed to climb up to first place overall. With this gold medal-winning result, he became the first figure skater from Kazakhstan to win an Olympic gold medal, the second figure skater representing the country to win an Olympic medal following Denis Ten's bronze medal finish at the 2014 Winter Olympics, the second Kazakhstani Winter Olympic champion (the first being Vladimir Smirnov, who won in the men's 50 km cross-country at the 1994 Winter Olympics), and the only athlete from Kazakhstan to medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Following the unexpected result, Shaidorov expressed, "I don't even know... these emotions are incredible. I've been working for this since childhood. Today, I just wanted to enjoy the moment and show everything I've worked on for all these years — and I did that. I don't even know how to describe how I feel. I gave everything, and it feels like life rewarded me." He further reflected, "It would have probably meant a lot to Denis [Ten] because he paved the road for us. He paved the road for young athletes, not only for me. Perhaps this road was very thorny for him and for me, but that's the way things turned out, and I want to thank Denis for what he did for our sport, for our country. It means a lot for me and for my country because I really want to see our sport to grow in Kazakhstan. I will do everything to make that happen and I hope that little kids will sign up for this sport, that there will be conditions that encourage that, and that this medal will bring a lot of motivation to young athletes who will now know that there are no limits at all." He was selected as the flagbearer for Kazakhstan at the closing ceremony.

A couple weeks following his Olympic win, it was announced that Shaidorov would not compete at the 2026 World Championships to focus on resting after having competed in ten major international competitions in 2025 alone. On February 25, 2026, he was awarded the Order of Barys from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Honours and awards OrdenBars 1kl rib Order of Barys (II Degree), honoured by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 25 February 2026.

Programs

Figure skating program list exhibition=yes season1=2019–20