2026 Winter Olympics – Men’s Figure Skating

AFP/APP

Milan: US star Ilia Malinin suffered one of the biggest upsets of the Winter Olympics on Friday as the overwhelming favourite for the men’s figure skating title fell twice to finish off the podium, with Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan claiming a surprise gold.

Malinin, a two-time defending world champion and unbeaten for over two years, had led after Tuesday’s short programme. However, he capitulated in the free skate, finishing 15th in that segment and eighth overall with 264.49 points after an error-strewn routine.

“I was not expecting that. I felt like going into this competition I was so ready,” the 21-year-old said.

“I just felt ready getting on that ice. But I think maybe that might have been the reason, that maybe I was too confident it was going to go well. Honestly, it happened. I can’t process what just happened. So it happens.

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“I think it was definitely mental.”

Malinin failed to reproduce the form that secured team gold for the United States last Sunday.

Taking to the ice last to a deafening roar from the crowd, the skater known as the “Quad God” appeared out of sorts from the outset. Dressed in a shimmering all-black costume with gold details, he popped his opening quadruple flip and singled his second quadruple axel — a jump he had been attempting to become the first skater to land at an Olympics.

He fell on his quad lutz and double salchow, landing only three clean quads in his routine set to “The Ball” by Asaf Avidan, “The Smell of the Sea” by Alan Mayer, and “Code Duello” by Power-Haus and Sergiu-Dan Muresan.

After his skate, Malinin buried his face in his hands as his father and coach looked shell-shocked in the “Kiss and Cry” area.

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Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who had been second after the short programme, also fell during his routine, as did France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who had been third.

But Shaidorov surged from fifth after the short programme to secure gold. His free skate to “The Diva Dance” earned personal-best scores of 198.64 for the routine and 291.58 overall, including 21.53 points for a technically demanding opening triple axel–quad salchow combination.

Kagiyama took silver — repeating his result from the 2022 Winter Olympics — with 280.06 points, while compatriot Shun Sato moved up from ninth to claim bronze with 274.90.