Figure skater from Kazakhstan Mikhail Shaidorov sensationally won Olympic gold
Games favorite American Ilia Malinin failed the free skate program.
Mikhail Shaidorov. Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Figure skater from Kazakhstan Mikhail Shaidorov sensationally won Olympic gold yesterday in men's single figure skating. Games favorite American Ilia Malinin — is only eighth.
The 21-year-old US citizen Ilia Malinin was considered the favorite for the Games, who was born into a family of Russian figure skaters Tatiana Malinin and Roman Kushnyakov, who competed in the USSR and Russian championships, and internationally for Uzbekistan.
Malinin led after the short program, however, he made a large number of mistakes in the free skate program, falling at least twice. The judges placed him 15th in the free skate program, the final result (short and free programs combined) — 8th place.
The Games champion was athlete Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan (silver medalist of the 2025 World Championship), he is also 21 years old.
Japanese Yuma Kagiyama won silver, third place was also taken by athlete Shun Sato from Japan.
Mikhail Shaidorov performed 19th in the free skate program, and Malinin last, 24th.
After his performance, the athlete who takes the lead sits next to the other skaters, and it was very interesting to watch Mikhail's emotions, who saw his rivals fall. At first, he couldn't believe he had won at least bronze, then silver, and after Malinin's low scores, Shaidorov was in shock.
On Sunday at the Olympics, the short program in pair skating will take place, on Monday — the free skate.
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