In a shocking twist at the 2026 Winter Olympics, American figure skater Ilia Malinin didn’t make it to the podium on Friday, failing to medal after falling twice during the free skate. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov took home the gold.
Malinin, known as the “Quad God” for his talent at quadruple jumps, looked visibly emotional after his skate.
The 21-year-old, who led by a comfortable margin after the short program, merely had to deliver a mediocre performance to add individual gold to the gold medal he won in the team event. Instead, he was trying to fight back tears after one of the worst nights of his career, one that left a star-packed crowd inside Milano Ice Arena sitting in stunned silence.
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Shaidorov finished with a career-best 291.58 points to give his nation its first gold medal of the Winter Games, while Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal and Japanese teammate Shun Sato took bronze.
Then there was Malinin, who fell all the way to eighth place. He finished with 264.49 points, ending a two-plus-year unbeaten streak that covered 14 full competitions, including the past two world championships that he won with ease.
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This is a developing story and will be updated.
