Ilia Malinin falters in free skate as ‘Quad God’ stunningly misses Olympic medal entirely
MILAN — The Quad God is only human.
Unable to execute four of the seven planned quad jumps in his free skate routine, American Ilia Malinin fell off the podium entirely into eighth place as Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov captured gold with a score of 198.64 on Friday night at Milan Ice Skating Arena.
The immense disappointment dripped off of Malinin’s face. The disbelief that he had fallen on two of his jumps.
Ilia Malinin reacts during the men’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics. AP
Ilia Malinin does a back flip while competing during the men’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. AP
Malinin falls after a quadruple lutz jump during his performance on Friday. REUTERS
And when he attempted the most difficult jump in the sport — the quadruple axel — Malinin could only execute a single.
Malinin reacts after competing in the Men Single Skating on day seven of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Ice Skating Arena on February 13, 2026 in Milan, Italy. Getty Images
