Figure skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Ladies' singles
| Ladies' singles at the XX Olympic Winter Games
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Figure skating pictogram
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| Venue |
Palavela Turin, Italy |
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| Dates | February 21, 2006 February 23, 2006 |
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| Competitors | 29 from 19 nations | ||||||||||||
| Winning score | 191.34 | ||||||||||||
| Medalists | |||||||||||||
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Shizuka Arakawa |
 Japan
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Sasha Cohen |
 United States
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Irina Slutskaya |
 Russia
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Ladies' single skating was contested during the figure skating events at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
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. Unlike the men's event, the free skating is only 4 minutes long. The short program was held on February 21 and the free skating on February 23.
The leading contender heading into the Olympics was 2005 World champion Irina Slutskaya, the first woman to win the European Championship seven times. Prior to the Olympic Games, she had only been beaten once this season, by Japan's Mao Asada, who was too young to compete at these Olympics.
Favorite Michelle Kwan, who had previously won silver at the 1998 Winter Olympics and bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympics, was forced to withdraw due to a groin injury. As a 5-time world champion and 9-time U.S. champion, the Olympic gold was the only major title missing from her resume. U.S. national bronze medalist Emily Hughes (the younger sister of the last Olympic champion Sarah Hughes) took her place on the American team, joining two-time world silver medalist and U.S. national champion Sasha Cohen and U.S. national silver medalist Kimmie Meissner, the second American woman to land the triple axel in competition.
Japan also sent a very strong ladies contingent to Turin with 2004 world champion Shizuka Arakawa, two-time world bronze medalist Fumie Suguri and two-time Japanese national champion Miki Ando. Other potential medal contenders included Russia's Elena Sokolova, who won world silver in 2003; two-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette; 2005 world bronze medalist Carolina Kostner; 2005 European silver medalist Susanna Pöykiö; five-time Swiss champion Sarah Meier; 2005 European bronze medalist Elena Liashenko; and 2004 European champion Júlia Sebestyén.
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