MILAN — He popped the quad axel. He stumbled across the ice. He tried to hide the pained expression.
Ilia Malinin fell apart in the men’s free skate, tumbling from near lock to win the gold medal to eighth place after a disastrous performance Friday. After his music ended, Malinin covered his anguished face. It was the first time since November 2023 that he hadn’t won a competition.
“I blew it,” Malinin told NBC immediately after the performance. “There’s no way that just happened. I had been preparing the whole season. I felt so confident with my program. … I have no words, honestly.”
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov claimed his country’s first Olympic gold in figure skating while Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama shook off several falls in his program to fight for second place.
U.S. teammate Andrew Torgashev finished 12th with his season’s best 259.06-point total. Maxim Naumov stumbled through several jumps in his free skate to finish 20th overall with a 223.36 point total. The 24-year-old who lost both parents in a plane crash last year earned a standing ovation from actor Jeff Goldblum, who was in the stands behind the judges.
As the groups progressed toward the medal contenders, the crowd filled Milano Ice Skating Arena to the brim. Fans in suites in the rafters leaned over glass panes to get a better look. Volunteers and arena workers stood at the top of the concourse with no open seats left to claim.
Malinin was loose as he greeted the crowd. He jogged out of the tunnel and acted as if he would throw a backflip.
Instead, he wagged a finger at the camera lens. The crowd would just have to wait.
Malinin’s first performances in front of the Milan crowds were shaky. He looked tight during the team short program. Although he clinched the gold medal in the team competition with a clutch free program, he also put two hands down on a jump.
Malinin said the slow start to the Games was “Olympic nerves.”
They were gone during the individual event.
Malinin dominated the short program, giving himself a five-point lead going into Friday’s free program. He had not even attempted his signature quad axel yet at the Olympics.
Malinin debuted the historic skill four years ago, soon after he was left off the 2022 Olympic team at age 17. He finished second at the U.S. championships but was skipped over for the Olympic team in favor of more internationally experienced competitors.
At the time, Malinin didn’t attend the national championship competition with significant Olympic hopes. But getting so close sparked something in him.
“It really just gave me that motivation to keep going,” said Malinin, who was still in his first season at the senior level in 2022. “To kind of prove them [wrong] why they decided not to take me.”
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