2026 Winter Olympics: Mikhail Shaidorov wins men's figure skating gold as 'Quad God' Ilia Malinin collapses
The men's free skate at Milan-Cortina 2026 produced one of the most dramatic upsets in recent Olympic memory: Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan skated clean and captured gold, while the heavily favoured Ilia Malinin crumbled under pressure and finished eighth. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama took silver and Shun Sato bronze in a night when errors swept through the field.
A night of falls and missed chances
The final segment turned into a chaos of mistakes. Of the last six skaters on the ice, five suffered falls. The only competitor to deliver a fully clean program was Shaidorov, whose composed performance proved decisive when many top contenders could not put together their planned technical content.
The Quad God loses his footing
Ilia Malinin entered the free skate as the runaway favourite. He arrived at the event with a reputation as the sport’s most formidable technical skater and the nickname 'Quad God' after becoming the only man to land the quadruple axel in competition. Competing in his first Olympics at 21 and carrying a five-point lead from the short program, he was expected to cruise to gold.
Instead, Malinin's free skate unravelled almost immediately. He performed only a single axel in the program — a far cry from the quad axel fans have come to expect — and fell on a planned quad lutz. He fell again later in the routine. By the time he left the ice, the 21-year-old was visibly distraught, clutching his hair and shaking his head. He finished eighth overall after a technical score of 76. 61, a dramatic collapse from the dominant form that had defined his last seasons.
Shaidorov's composed championship skate
Shaidorov took full advantage of the errors around him. With no major mistakes, he delivered a clean, well-executed program and outscored the field by a comfortable margin. His victory marked Kazakhstan’s first Winter Olympic gold in 32 years and stood out not just for the result but for the manner in which it was achieved: steady execution when the sport’s most difficult elements broke down for others.
Podium finishers and final standings
Japan secured two spots on the podium. Yuma Kagiyama, who had been viewed as Malinin’s nearest challenger, fell on a quad flip during his free skate and settled for silver. Shun Sato earned bronze with a performance that capitalised on a tumultuous night for the favourites. Shaidorov’s winning total was 114. 68, a figure that underscored how clean skating can still trump higher-risk attempts when those attempts go awry.
How modern scoring magnified the fallout
The result highlighted the unforgiving arithmetic of today’s scoring system. When planned high-value elements are missed or downgraded, the base value of a program collapses and the margin for recovery narrows quickly. Malinin’s early errors forced him to chase points, turn previously high-value combinations into lower-scoring elements, and ultimately try to limit the damage rather than skate from a position of control. On a night when several contenders faltered, one clean program was enough to rewrite the expected podium.
Aftermath and the road ahead
Malinin had earlier in the Games been part of a team gold effort for the United States, but the individual event exposed how pressure, execution and the exacting scoring matrix can conspire against even the sport’s most technically gifted athletes. For Shaidorov, the result is historic: a composed performance delivered a national milestone. The shock outcome will reverberate through the sport, prompting fresh questions about risk, consistency and how contenders plan their programs for the Olympic stage.
