US skating star Ilia Malinin fights again tears after ‘Quad God’ FALLS and misses medal in nightmare Winter Olympic collapse
US skating sensation Ilia Malinin’s quest for Olympic gold crashed and burned on Friday night when he fell multiple times during the free skate of the men’s single skating finals in the one of the most shocking moment of the games.
The 21-year-old, who has earned the nickname the ‘Quad God’ for his impressive talent for quadruple jumps, had been the standout favorite to top the Olympic podium with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama expected to be his closest competitor.
Instead, he was trying to fight back tears after one of the worst nights of his career, one that left a star-packed crowd inside Milano Ice Arena sitting in stunned silence.
Malinin tumbled from a near-certain gold medal all the way to eighth place in the men’s single skating finals in one of the most stunning collapses in Winter Olympic figure skating history.
After the two skaters in front of him, including Kagiyama, struggled, the path to gold appeared to be clear for Malinin.
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
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 backed 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 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, 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.
More to follow.
