Ilia Malinin’s quest for gold took a shocking twist on Friday in Italy
U.S. figure skating star Ilia Malinin came into the 2026 Winter Olympics with sky-high expectations, but a catastrophic free skate performance cost him not just a gold medal in the men’s figure skating competition but a podium appearance in general.
Malinin came into Friday’s free skate with a five-point advantage thanks to a terrific short program performance. And after his top competitor — Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama — struggled through his free skate, Malinin’s routine figured to be an Olympic coronation of figure skating’s biggest star.
Instead, it became a four-minute long train wreck that ended with a shocking eighth place finish for Malinin. Malinin landed his first jump and looked strong, but he bailed twice in his next three jumps, turning quads into a single and a double, scrubbing away a sizable portion of his lead.
At that point, he needed to be mistake-free to win the gold. Instead, things spiraled out of control for the 21-year-old. He fell twice, as the weight of the Olympic pressure proved too much to overcome. As his routine ended, Malinin looked shell-shocked at center ice and put his head in his hands.
“I blew it. That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind was, there’s no way that just happened,” Malinin said in an interview after. “I was preparing the whole season, I felt so confident with my program and so confident with everything, and to go out and have that happen, I have no words, honestly.”
Malinin noted there wasn’t anything physical that caused his struggles on the Olympic ice. He said the shocking outcome was “definitely mental.” As he sat in the kiss-and-cry awaiting his scores, a hot mic caught Malinin lamenting that he wasn’t on the 2022 Olympics team that went to Beijing, insisting he wouldn’t have skated that poorly with some Olympic experience under his belt.
He didn’t offer that same lament in his TV interview after, but wondered if over-confidence led to a lapse in focus on the ice.
“I felt like going into this competition I was so ready, I just felt ready getting on that ice, but I think maybe that might’ve been the reason — I was too confident it was gonna go well,” a stunned Malinin said. “So, you know, honestly it just happened. I can’t process what just happened.”
As the dust settled from Malinin’s shocking routine, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov emerged with the gold medal, while Japanese skaters Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato took home silver and bronze, respectively.
Malinin will now have to wait four more years to get his chance at Olympic redemption, but the immediate challenge is to figure out how to shake off a disastrous routine that will linger in his memory for a long time to come.
USA women’s hockey trounces Italy, advances to semifinals
In the other marquee event of Friday, the U.S. women’s hockey team continued its dominant play by routing Italy 6-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to the medal round against a to-be-determined opponent.
The Americans only led 1-0 after the first period due in large part to the spectacular efforts of Italian goaltender Gabriella Durante. However, the U.S. eventually solved Durante and hung five goals in the second period to coast to a blowout victory in the knockout round.
Megan Keller got on the board first, but it was Kendall Coyne Schofield who got the ball rolling for Team USA. She had two goals in the first few minutes of the middle frame to set the tone for the rest of the game. Caroline Harvey tacked on another assist, giving her eight points and the U.S. women’s record for the most points in a single Olympics for a defender. Laila Edwards also shined with a goal and an assist.
Team USA has now outscored its opponents 26-1 in these Olympics, and it outshot the Italians 51-6 in this game. The Americans have faced little resistance so far, but perhaps that will change in the semifinal game on Monday.
USA women’s hockey routs Italy to reach semifinals
FINAL: USA 6, Italy 0
That game went about as expected for the Americans. Italian goalie Gabriella Durante kept her team in it through the first period, but the U.S. poured it on in the second period. Kendall Coyne Schofield scored a pair of goals, Caroline Harvey kept her hot streak rolling with an assist and Laila Edwards notched two points. It was a team effort from the Americans, and they’ve now outscored opponents 26-1 in these Olympics.
The U.S. should get a tougher test in the semifinals, which are on Monday. The matchup will be determined after the quarterfinals when teams get re-seeded.
Mikhail Shaidorov shocks with gold medal win as Ilia Malinin falls to eighth
Final standings for men’s singles
🥇 Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ)
🥈 Yuma Kagiyama (JPN)
🥉 Shun Sato (JPN)
4th: Junhwan Cha (Korea)
5th: Stephen Gogolev (Canada)
6th: Petr Gumennik (AIN)
7th: Adam Siao Him Fa (France)
8th: Ilia Malinin (USA)
9th: Daniel Grassl (Italy)
10th: Nika Egadze (Georgia)
Ilia Malinin falls twice in disastrous free skate routine, fails to medal in shocking result
However, instead it became a four-minute long train wreck. Malinin landed his first jump and looked strong, but he bailed twice in his next two jumps, turning quads into a single and a double. At that point, he needed to be mistake-free to win the gold, but instead things spiraled out of control for the 21-year-old, as he fell twice later in his routine and stumbled all the way down to eighth in the standings.
Why is Ilia Malinin known as the Quad God?
Malinin is known as The Quad God because he has more quadruple jumps in his arsenal than anyone else. In the free skate, we’ll see Malinin do at least four quads and, potentially, up to seven. However, given his healthy lead after the short program he likely won’t feel the need to max out his difficulty.
Not only can he throw four spins into just about every jumping element, he is the only man in figure skating who does a quadruple axel — which is really 4.5 rotations. Malinin didn’t do the quad axel in the short program, but is expected to show it off in the free skate.
If he can land that and his other big jumps in the free skate, it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to catch him for the gold.
Malinin points to 2022 Olympic omission as reason for poor finish
Malinin has spoken at length about how he was shocked to not make the 2022 Olympic team after finishing second at nationals that year. Although he was left off the team, Malinin said on a CBS Sunday Morning segment that it fueled him over the next four years to get to this spot.
“If it wasn’t for [not making the 2022 Olympic team], I don’t think I’d be here in this moment,” Malinin said. “I feel like, after [the 2026 Winter Games], I’d be done skating. I don’t think I’d be landing a quad axel, trying to revolutionize the sport or pushing the limits of my own capabilities. … I really like to kind of own up an say if someone doesn’t believe in me, I’m like, ‘Watch, I’ll prove you wrong.’”
Had he experienced the pressure in 2022, perhaps the moment wouldn’t have affected him as much as it did today. But if missing the 2022 Games fueled him to get here, there’s no telling what Malinin will bring to his next Olympic opportunity in 2030.
USA vs. Italy getting out of hand
End of 2nd Period: USA 6, Italy 0
The score is getting ugly, and so are the extracurricular activities after the whistle. Team USA tacked on five goals in the second period, two of which came off the stick of Kendall Coyne Schofield. Caroline Harvey notched a pair of assists to give her eight points, which set a new record for a U.S. women’s defender at a single Olympics.
The laugher we all expected has come to fruition, but I didn’t expect tempers to flare quite like this. There has been plenty of rough stuff after the play, and the coaches even had a back-and-forth on the benches toward the end of the period.
Laila Edwards continues the avalanche of goals
2nd Period: USA 4, Italy 0
In just over five minutes, the Americans have tallied three goals in the second period. This time, it’s Laila Edwards finding the back of the net. The U.S. simply worked the puck around the offensive zone, got the puck to Edwards at the top of the point, and she wired a wrist shot through traffic and past Durante. That’s Edwards’ second of the tournament, and it came immediately following a timeout by Italy in an attempt to slow the pace.
Coyne Schofield gets another one
2nd Period: USA 3, Italy 0
The dam has broken, and the U.S. is rolling now. After a failed clear by the Italians, Britta Curl-Salemme found herself with the puck low in the offensive zone. She simply toe-dragged, hesitated and fired a pass over to Coyne Schofield, who had all 24 square feet to deposit the puck. Coyne Schofield didn’t miss, and the Americans have a three-goal lead.
Kendall Coyne Schofield gets her first of the tournament
2nd Period: USA 2, Italy 0
It wasn’t pretty but that probably doesn’t matter much to the Americans. After getting stonewalled by Durante for much of the first period, Coyne Schofield pots one from the goal line. A shot from the outside deflected up and over the net, and the puck kicked off the back board. Coyne Schofield picked it up and banked it in off Durante as she was sliding to close down the near post.
Carolina Harvey registered an assist on the play, her eighth point of the Olympics, and Megan Keller notched her second point of the day with the other assist.