Ilia Malinin breaks down after shocking falls in men’s figure skating final as Mikhail Shaidorov wins Olympic gold

Ilia Malinin could barely hold back tears on Friday night. The 21-year-old American, known around the world as the “Quad God,” walked into the men’s free skate final as the clear favorite for Olympic gold. He had led after the short program, and the path looked open. But inside Milano Ice Arena, everything fell apart in just four minutes. Ilia Malinin stumbled through multiple jumps and dropped from first place all the way to eighth. His final score was 264.49. The crowd, which included 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen, gymnast Simone Biles, and actor Jeff Goldblum with his wife Emilie, sat in silence.“I blew it,” Ilia Malinin said. “That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind.”For a skater who had not lost in more than two years, it was a stunning end to what many expected to be a golden night.

Ilia Malinin’s quad axel miss opens door for Mikhail Shaidorov as Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato claim Olympic podium spots

Coming into the free skate, Ilia Malinin had a five-point lead over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa after Tuesday’s short program. Even after some early mistakes from skaters ahead of him, the opportunity was still there. He did not need perfection. He just needed control.Instead, nerves or timing got in the way. Ilia Malinin planned to attempt a quad axel, a jump no one has landed at the Olympics. But he pulled out mid-air and turned it into a single axel. That choice cost him valuable points right away. Then came more trouble. He doubled a planned quad loop. He fell on a quad lutz, which stopped him from adding the triple toe combination. In his final jumping pass, meant to be a quad salchow into triple axel, he managed only a double salchow and fell again.Each mistake chipped away at his lead. By the end of the routine, his body language said it all.“Honestly, yeah, I was not expecting that,” Malinin said. “I felt going into this competition I was so ready. I just felt ready going on that ice. I think maybe that might have been the reason, is I was too confident it was going to go well.”While Malinin struggled, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov delivered the skate of his life. He scored 291.58 and earned his country its first medal of the Winter Games. Yuma Kagiyama took silver despite his own errors, and Japan’s Shun Sato secured bronze.For Ilia Malinin, who had won the last two world championships and dominated 14 straight competitions, this loss ended a long unbeaten run. What was expected to be a historic night turned into one he may replay in his mind for years.