Singles, Men

With only two years since the last Winter Olympics, most of the same skaters from Albertville were back. In addition, with professionals now allowed to skate, the last two gold medalists, Brian Boitano (1988) and Viktor Petrenko (1992) were back. They were joined by Canadian Kurt Browning, the World Champion in 1989-91 and 1993. They were the three favorites, but after the short program they out of the medal race. Boitano placed only 8th in the short, but that was the best of the favorites, as Petrenko was 9th, and Browning a disastrous 12th. The short program was won by Russian Aleksey Urmanov, who had never won a major title, and had never been on the podium at the Worlds. In second was Elvis Stojko, who had defeated Browning at the Canadian trials. Petrenko, Browning, and Boitano redeemed themselves in the free skate, moving up to final placements of 4-5-6, respectively. But Urmanov hung on and won the free skate to secure the gold medal, with Stojko second. Urmanov never won another medal at a major championship. Browning finished his career as one of the greatest male skaters never to win an Olympic gold medal.