Ilia Malinin entered the men’s free skate at the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics with a five-point lead and the highest planned technical content in the field. He left the ice Friday night in eighth place.
The 21-year-old American fell twice during his free skate, a performance that reshaped the standings and ended a two-plus year unbeaten streak spanning 14 full competitions. Malinin finished with 264.49 points overall after leading the short program earlier in the week.
“I blew it,” Malinin said afterward. “That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind.”
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov delivered a career-best free skate to win gold with 291.58 points, securing his nation’s first gold medal of the Winter Games. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal, and teammate Shun Sato claimed bronze. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who had been in contention after the short program, finished outside the top three.
Malinin’s five-point cushion after the short program had positioned him as the front-runner. He planned seven quadruple jumps in the free skate, compared with four for several of his closest challengers, giving him the highest base value among the medal contenders. Two falls on those high-difficulty elements significantly reduced his score and altered the outcome.
“Honestly, yeah, I was not expecting that,” Malinin said. “I felt going into this competition, I was so ready. I just felt ready going on that ice. I think maybe that might have been the reason, is I was too confident it was going to go well.”
Before Friday, Malinin had not lost a full competition in more than two years. During that stretch, he won four consecutive U.S. titles, claimed back-to-back world championships, and posted some of the highest scores in the sport.
At the 2024 World Championships, he recorded a free skate score of 227.79, the highest under the current International Skating Union scoring system. He also surpassed the 300-point mark in international competition and earned consecutive Grand Prix Final titles.
Malinin is the only skater, male or female, to land a quadruple axel in competition, accomplishing the feat at the U.S. Classic in 2022. The jump, which takes off facing forward, requires an extra half rotation compared with other quadruple jumps.
Born to former Olympians Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, who coach him, Malinin began skating at age 6 and rose quickly through junior ranks, winning the World Junior title in 2022 before transitioning to senior dominance.
“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it,” he said about the quadruple axel ahead of his free skate performance. “But of course I always prioritize health and safety. So I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it.”
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