In a painful reminder that nothing is certain in sports, two-time and reigning World champion Ilia Malinin — the prohibitive favorite for a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 — faltered on four of his seven planned quadruple jumps to place 15th in the men's free skate on Friday and end the competition in eighth place.
"All negatives aside, the atmosphere was incredible. The support, even with that skate, the crowd never stopped cheering. It's honestly why this is a very special sport. Not in a lot of other sports do you have that privilege. It's not only to be an athlete but you are also an artist. So there is also a lot of pressure in there for what art you make on the ice or how you execute other things. I think all the pressure, all of the media and being the Olympic gold hopeful was too much to handle." — Ilia Malinin
Malinin, who had won 14 consecutive individual competitions dating back to the 2023 Grand Prix Final, entered the free skate with a lead of more than five points. But the 21-year-old from Vienna, Virginia, who had set the world record total score of 333.81 in December, could not replicate that form on the Olympic stage.
Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov won the gold medal. Malinin finished with a total of 264.49 points, well below his world-record capabilities.
After the competition, Malinin immediately embraced and celebrated gold medalist Shaidorov — an act of sportsmanship that would later earn him the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award from the International Committee for Fair Play in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee.
Torgashev Saves Best for Last
Andrew Torgashev, the reigning U.S. silver medalist, provided a bright spot for Team USA with a personal-best performance. The Coral Springs, Florida, native delivered the best skate of his career in both the short program and free skate, finishing 12th overall — an international personal best.
"I'm really proud of how I handled myself out there. I came here to skate the best I could, and I feel like I did that today." — Andrew Torgashev
Naumov Honors His Parents
Maxim Naumov, competing in his first Olympic Games less than a year after losing both his parents in the Washington, D.C., plane crash, skated with evident emotion and finished 16th. The Skating Club of Boston member said afterward that simply being on that Olympic ice, wearing that USA uniform, was the fulfillment of a promise he made to his parents.
Malinin Rebounds at Worlds
At the ISU Figure Skating World Championships 2026 in Prague just six weeks later, Malinin swept aside his Olympic disappointment to deliver a statement short program, posting a career-best 111.29 points, 9.44 points ahead of the field. He went on to win his third consecutive World title with a total of 329.40 points.
"I've thought about the Olympics a lot, and I mainly think about the good points, because there was so much fun at the Olympics. There were a lot of ups and downs." — Ilia Malinin
For full results, visit the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Competition Central.
