Ilia Malinin was trying to figure out what had happened in a disastrous Olympic free skate Friday night while already turning his attention to what might come next

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov emerged as the shock winner of the men's competition at the Milano Cortina Games on Friday as heavy favourite Ilia Malinin's free programme fell apart and he finished out of the medals in one of Olympic figure skating's biggest upsets.

Thursday is the final day of men’s individual figure skating events at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. And it should be one for the ages. U.S. sensation Ilia Malinin takes to the ice later in the day for a must-watch men’s free skate.

And his teammates also had the skates of their lives, with Maxim Naumov competing in memory of his parents

United States figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin was finally beaten in a dramatic men's singles competition on Friday, finishing eighth overall after an error-strewn free skate routine at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

In the biggest sporting shock of these Winter Olympics, Ilia Malinin – “the Quad God” – literally crumbled in the men’s figure skating to finish only eighth.

When self-proclaimed "Quad God" Ilia Malinin landed seven quad jumps in a single program last December, he boisterously ushered in a new era of skating with his daring routines.