Ilia Malinin misses Olympic medal after falling in free skate, finishes in eighth place

In a surprising twist on the 2026 Winter Olympics, American determine skater Ilia Malinin did not make it to the rostrum on Friday, failing to medal after falling twice in the course of the free skate. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov took dwelling the gold. 

Malinin, referred to as the “Quad God” for his expertise at quadruple jumps, regarded visibly emotional after his skate.

The 21-year-old, who led by a cushty margin after the quick program, merely needed to ship a mediocre efficiency so as to add particular person gold to the gold medal he received within the group occasion. As an alternative, he was making an attempt to battle again tears after one of many worst nights of his profession, one which left a star-packed crowd inside Milano Ice Enviornment sitting in surprised silence.

Shaidorov completed with a career-best 291.58 factors to present his nation its first gold medal of the Winter Video games, whereas Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal and Japanese teammate Shun Sato took bronze.

Then there was Malinin, who fell all the best way to eighth place. He completed with 264.49 factors, ending a two-plus-year unbeaten streak that coated 14 full competitions, together with the previous two world championships that he received with ease.

“Actually, yeah, I used to be not anticipating that,” he stated. “I felt going into this competitors I used to be so prepared. I simply felt prepared occurring that ice. I feel perhaps which may have been the rationale, is I used to be too assured it was going to go effectively.”

A lot of Malinin’s journey in Milan had felt somewhat bit off.

He was overwhelmed by Kagiyama within the quick program of the group occasion, later acknowledging that the strain of competing within the Olympics had began to get to him. And he nonetheless wasn’t fairly his dominant self regardless of a head-to-head win in opposition to Sato within the group free skate, which clinched the second consecutive gold medal for the Individuals within the occasion.

However by the point of his particular person quick program Tuesday evening, Malinin’s fearless swagger and unmatched spunk was again. He took a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Adam Siao Him Fa of France that appeared insurmountable going into Friday evening.

Malinin determined to observe early within the day at U.S. Determine Skating’s alternate coaching base in Bergamo, simply outdoors Milan, permitting him to flee the Olympic bubble and keep away from having to take a seat within the enviornment all evening. And he was the image of calm all through his warmup, by no means as soon as falling in all of his observe jumps whereas carrying his glittering black and gold ensemble.

Then got here a efficiency which may effectively hang-out Malinin for the remainder of his profession.

He opened with a quad flip, certainly one of a record-tying seven in his deliberate program, then seemed to be going after the quad axel solely he has ever landed in competitors, however needed to bail out. He recovered to land a quad lutz — after which the issues actually started.

Malinin solely did a double as an alternative of a deliberate quad loop, throwing his timing off. He fell on a quad lutz, stopping him from doing the second half of the quad lutz-triple toe loop mixture that might have earned him huge factors. And in his last leaping move, which was alleged to be a high-scoring quad salchow-triple axel, Malinin solely may muster a double salchow — and he fell on that.

By the point the music stopped, Malinin was left making an attempt to masks the sorrow for a crowd that included Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympic champion; seven-time Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles, and actor Jeff Goldblum and his spouse, Emilie.

Shaidorov was simply as shocked as everybody as the belief hit that he had received the gold medal.