Ilia Malinin’s Olympic Dream Derailed by Unexpected Setback

In an unexpected turn of events, American figure skating prodigy Ilia Malinin’s dream of Olympic glory came crashing down on Friday night. During the men’s single skating finals, his hopes were dashed by multiple falls in what became one of the most surprising episodes of the games.

At just 21, Malinin, celebrated as the ‘Quad God’ due to his remarkable ability to execute quadruple jumps, was widely anticipated to claim the Olympic gold. His primary rival was predicted to be Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama.

However, the evening turned into a nightmare for Malinin, who struggled to hold back tears after enduring one of the most challenging performances of his career. The audience at the Milano Ice Arena watched in disbelief as the events unfolded.

Plummeting from a potential gold medal position, Malinin ended the night in eighth place, marking one of the most dramatic downturns in the history of Winter Olympic figure skating.

With the skaters preceding him, including Kagiyama, faltering, the stage seemed perfectly set for Malinin to seize the gold.

US skating sensation Ilia Malinin’s quest for Olympic gold crashed and burned on Friday night

The 21-year-old fought back tears as he left the ice following a shocking collapse 

The American fell multiple times throughout his free skate program in the men’s single skating

Malinin, 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. 

But he faltered multiple times, throughout his program. Firstly, he bailed out of the highly-anticipated planned quad axel – which would have been the first in Olympic history – and downgraded it to a mere single axel.

And it only went downhill from there. 

Malinin only doubled a planned quad loop, throwing his timing off. He fell on a quad lutz, preventing him from doing the second half of the quad lutz-triple toe loop combination that would have earned him big points. And in his final jumping pass, which was supposed to be a high-scoring quad salchow-triple axel, Malinin only could muster a double salchow – and he fell on that.

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

‘I blew it,’ Malinin said. ‘That´s honestly the first thing that came to my mind.’ 

Malinin finished with a score of 264.49, ending a two-plus year unbeaten streak that covered 14 full competitions, including the past two world championships that he won with ease. 

But it wasn’t his Japanese rival Kagiyama – the last man to beat Malinin – who walked away with the gold medal, either.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov (middle) claimed gold, Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama (left) won silver, while his compatriot Shun Sato (right) earned bronze

Malinin pushed back onto his blades after falling during his free skate program 

He appeared distraught as he left the ice in front of a stunned, quiet crown in Milan 

US Olympic gymnastic legend watched on from the stands of the Milano Ice Skating Arena

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who was somewhat of an underdog, claimed triumphed with a score of 291.58 to give his nation its first medal of the Winter games.

Meanwhile, Kagiyama took silver, despite tumbles of his own, and his compatriot Shun Sato won bronze.

‘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.’ 

Malinin had taken a five-point lead over Kagiyama and Adam Siao Him Fa of France in the individual short program on Tuesday night. 

But what followed in the free skate on Friday was a performance that might well haunt Malinin for the rest of his career.