"For nearly two years, Ilia Malinin has made men's figure skating feel predictable in the most spectacular of ways. On Friday night on the southern outskirts of Milan, the Olympic Games reminded the sport and perhaps Malinin himself that predictability is never guaranteed on its biggest stage. The overwhelming favorite entering the free skate, the 21-year-old American instead saw the Olympic title slip away to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov after an error-strewn performance that will rank among the biggest upsets in modern figure skating history."
"Skating last, with the Olympic title seemingly within reach after his closest rivals faltered, Malinin opened with a quad flip and quad lutz. But mistakes quickly followed. The planned quad axel was reduced to a single, and later he fell on another quad lutz. He also doubled jumps he would normally complete with more rotations, though he salvaged points with a quad toe loop combination."
Ilia Malinin entered the Olympic free skate as the overwhelming favorite after dominating men's figure skating for nearly two years. An error-strewn free skate — including a reduced quad axel, a fall on a quad lutz, and doubled jumps — produced a free skate score of 156.33 and a total of 264.49, leaving him eighth. Mikhail Shaidorov delivered a clean, composed free skate for a season-best total of 291.58 and the gold, rising from fifth after the short program. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama (280.06) took silver and Shun Sato (274.90) won bronze. The result ranks among the biggest upsets in modern figure skating.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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