MILAN (Gray News) - U.S. skating star Ilia Malinin missed the podium after a disastrous free skate at the Winter Olympics.
Malinin’s shocking performance included two falls and some technical gaffes, falling all the way to eighth place.
Malinin scored 264.49. That means Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov wins gold in the men’s single free skate event, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato in second and third.
Malinin, also known as the “Quad God,” had a five-point lead over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa after the short program.
Malinin has been undefeated over two-plus years, a stretch of 14 consecutive victories in full competitions. That includes the past four U.S. championships, the last two world titles, and a host of world records — most crucially, the best mark ever for a free skate, a massive score of 238.24 points that pushed him to a 30-point victory at the Grand Prix Final in December.
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