US figure skater Ilia Malinin finished eighth today in the Men’s Free Skate, in the biggest upset of these Olympics. Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won gold with an overall total of 291.58. Yuma Kagiyama from Japan took the silver medal with an overall score of 280.06. This was a major disappointment for the 21-year-old “Quad King” from Virginia. He led the US to the team gold on Sunday and staked his claim to the individual title by scoring 108.16 in the technical round on Tuesday.
Malinin’s Disappointing Performance
Kagiyama skated right before Malinin and looked stiff and skated an uneven program. His final overall score left him in second place behind Shaidorov. The only question then was whether Malinin would go for it or play it safe and skate a less challenging program. He started strong, nailing a quad flip, but after that, the wheels fell off. He next performed a single axel, playing it safe and eschewing the quad.
Malinin fell, landing his quad lutz, and received a large deduction. He stabilized and performed a perfect quad toeloop, single euler, and triple flip. But he bailed on his quad salchow routine, only attempting a double and falling at the end of it. The stunned crowd watched in silence, witnessing what was thought to be impossible. He finished shaking his head, knowing that he not only blew his opportunity for the gold, but may have skated himself off of the podium altogether.
Aftermath
Shun Sato of Japan finished with the bronze with an overall score of 274.9. Malinin’s loss was his first since 2023, a streak of 14 in a row. Kagiyama earned his second straight Olympic silver medal in this event. As for Shaidorov, he became only the second Kazakhstan athlete to win an Olympic medal in figure skating with his shocking victory. Denis Ten won the first with a bronze at Sochi 2014.
Malinin, whose final score was 264.49, said this after his skate. “It’s not a pleasant feeling,” he told reporters afterward. “I’m still trying to understand what happened specifically. But it’s done; I can’t change the outcome. Honestly, I’m just speechless. So in shock, I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s just I’ve been training my whole season to get to this point and skate as best as I can, but it didn’t happen. It’s not in my control anymore; the only thing I can really do is look into the future and see what I can do.”
Ilia Malinin has had a tremendous career so far and, at age 21, has a bright future ahead of him. His next chance for an Olympic gold in the Men’s Individual Skate will be in the French Alps at the 2030 Winter Olympics.
