The shock of the Olympic Games! Ilia Malinin, HISTORICAL collapse in the free program! Mikhail Shaidorov took the gold
Article by Mitica Docan – Published Saturday, February 14, 2026, 00:30 / Updated Saturday, February 14, 2026 01:00
On a night that was supposed to shake up Olympic history, with an Ilia Malinin expected to perform a quadruple Axel for the first time, the figure skating free program saw a complete collapse from the American, who appeared to have completely caved under the pressure.
The 21-year-old Malinin competed last, made error after error after missing the ice break for the quadruple Axel, and finished the evening off the podium, only in 8th place with just 264.49 points! Specialists called it one of the biggest twists in the history of the Winter Olympics!
Ilia Malinin, stunned: “I have no words”
Visibly shaken at the end of the competition, Malinin was dazed at the edge of the rink: “I wasn't expecting this. I felt like I came into this competition so prepared … honestly, it just happened. I can't process what just happened … I'm speechless.”
But Malinin was not the only one who stunned the support with his poor performance. Before him, 5 other skaters made big mistakes, led by the skater representing France, Adam Siao Him Fa, who repeatedly missed the elements and fell several times.
“I think it was definitely a mental thing,” said Malinin, who is ending a more than two-year unbeaten run that spanned 14 competitions, including two back-to-back world championships.
“I'm just now finally getting to experience the Olympic atmosphere and it's crazy. It's like no other competition. It's completely different. I'm so grateful that I was able to put in the effort to get here, but obviously this wasn't the program I wanted. Before this competition I felt like I was so prepared. I just felt ready to attack when I got on the ice … maybe I was too confident that everything would go wellMalinin added later.
Mikhail Shaidorov, the surprise of the evening
The winner was the Kazakh Mikhail Shaidorov (291.58 points)21, who ticked off a sensational routine of 5 quadruple jumps and then watched in amazement as the other favorites fell on their heads while he remained in 1st place.
Shaidorov's surprise gold is Kazakhstan's first Olympic gold in any event at the Winter Games since Lillehammer 1994. In a gesture noted by the press, Malinin went to congratulate Shaidorov, who is also his close friend. The Kazakh is coached by Russian Alexei Urmanov, former Olympic champion in 1994.
The podium was completed by two skaters from Japan, Yuma Kagiyama (280.06 points, silver medal) and Shun Sato (274.90 points, bronze).
