In one of the most shocking moments of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, American figure skating star Ilia Malinin failed to reach the podium Friday night after two costly falls in the men’s free skate.
The 21-year-old entered the final segment as the overwhelming favorite. After leading comfortably in the short program, Malinin — nicknamed the “Quad God” for his mastery of quadruple jumps — appeared poised to add individual Olympic gold to the team gold medal he had already secured earlier in the Games.
Instead, the night unraveled in dramatic fashion inside Milano Ice Arena.
Malinin finished eighth overall with 264.49 points, ending a remarkable unbeaten streak that had stretched more than two years and included 14 consecutive competitions — among them two dominant world championship victories.
“I was not expecting that,” Malinin admitted afterward. “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 — I was too confident it was going to go well.”
The gold medal ultimately went to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who delivered a career-best performance to score 291.58 points and capture his nation’s first gold medal of the Winter Games. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal, while teammate Shun Sato claimed bronze.
For Malinin, the performance will be difficult to forget.
He opened strongly with a quad flip and appeared ready to attempt the ultra-difficult quad axel — a jump only he has successfully landed in international competition — but had to bail out mid-attempt. Though he recovered briefly with a quad lutz, the errors began mounting.
A planned quad loop became only a double. He later fell on a quad lutz, costing him a high-value combination. In his final jumping pass — meant to be a quad salchow-triple axel combination — Malinin managed only a double salchow and fell again.
As the music ended, the stunned crowd sat in near silence. Among those watching were 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen, seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, and actor Jeff Goldblum.
Much of Malinin’s Olympic campaign had felt slightly unsettled. He was beaten by Kagiyama in the team short program and later acknowledged that Olympic pressure had begun to creep in. Though he helped Team USA secure a second straight team gold, he never quite looked as dominant as he had throughout the previous two seasons.
Still, after reclaiming his swagger in the individual short program and building what seemed like an insurmountable five-point lead, few expected the dramatic collapse that followed.
For a skater who has built his reputation on fearlessness and technical brilliance, the setback marks the most painful chapter of his young career — and a reminder of the unforgiving nature of Olympic sport.
At just 21, Malinin will almost certainly have more chances on skating’s biggest stage. But in Milan, the gold slipped away.
