By Gina Capellazzi, Team FSO website administrator
Photos by Robin Ritoss and Giada Arioldi
Milan, Italy — Many people left the Milano Ice Skating Arena Friday utterly shocked and surprised with results of the men’s free skate. That’s because two-time world champion Ilia Malinin of the U.S. had multiple mistakes in his free skate causing him to lose the gold medal and come away without a medal in the men’s individual event. Malinin was the favorite to take home the gold and had an almost five-point lead heading into the free skate.
Instead the gold went to 2025 World silver medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who sat in fifth place after the short program. In his “Confessa” and the “Diva Dance” free skate, Shaidorov delivered his signature triple Axel-quadruple Salchow combination and executed three more quadruple jumps. His only mistake was that his quadruple Lutz was slightly under-rotated. He earned a free skate score of 198.64, which was a personal best free skate score. He earned a total score of 291.58, also a personal best score, to claim the gold. Shaidorov sat in the leader’s chair after he skated. He was surprised when he learned that he had done enough to claim a medal, and then was completely shocked to see that he had become the Olympic Champion, a first for his country.
“These are incredible emotions. I have been working towards this since my childhood,” Shaidorov said. “Today I just wanted to enjoy the moment and do everything I have been working on for all those years. And today I did that.
“I don’t even know how to describe my feelings. I just did everything I can do and apparently life rewarded me,” he added.
Malinin was the one of the first to congratulate Shairdorov. After Malinin received his remarks, he walked over to the leader’s chair and gave Shaidorov a hug and congratulated him on his gold medal. The moment was captured and has gone
“I actually went up to him and congratulated him. I watched him skate from the locker room, and I’m just so proud of him,” Malinin said of the moment.
Malinin was the last to skate. Though looking pretty confident in the six minute warm-up, Malinin looked incredibly nervous as he began his “The Ball”, “The Smell of the Sea” and “Code Duello” free skate. He opened the program with a quadruple flip, but the program began to unravel after he popped his planned quadruple Axel. He then doubled his planned quadruple loop, and fell on his quadruple Lutz and on a double salchow, which was supposed to be a quadruple Salchow. The crowd was stunned in the arena as many gasped as they watched the 21-year-old struggle with his technical elements. He earned a free skate score of 156.33, which was more than 80-points lower than his season’s best free skate score this season. He finished the segment in 15th place, and finished the event in eighth place overall. He will leave Milan without an individual medal, but will go home as a gold medalist in the team event.
“Putting all the negatives aside, the atmosphere was really incredible. The support — honestly, even with that skate — the crowd never stopped cheering. They were supporting me the whole time, and that really meant a lot,” Mallinn said following the free skate.
“It’s not a pleasant feeling, and I’m still trying to understand exactly what happened. But it’s done. I can’t change the outcome,” he said about his skate. “Of course, a lot of people would go back and change it if they could. My life has had a lot of ups and downs, and in that moment, everything just felt very overwhelming. I honestly didn’t know how to handle it.”
Malinin is expected to compete at the World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic in March.
2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama, who was in second behind Malinin after the short program, was favored to win a medal in Milan, even possibly take the gold medal. In his “Turandot: Christopher Tin Finale” free skate, he fell on the quadruple flip and stumbled on his opening quadruple Salchow. He did land a quadruple toe-Euler-double Salchow and two triple Axels. His free skate score of 176.99 was 16-points below his season’s best score 193.64. He finished in sixth place in the segment, but managed to remain in second place overall with a total score of 280.06.
“The fact that I was able to challenge myself, and that I was able to take on that challenge here on this stage, is a very big achievement and carries very big meaning for me,” Kagiyama noted.
This makes Yuma’s fourth silver medal. He was part of the team that won silver in Milan. He took home two silver medals — one in the team event and one in the individual event — at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing.
Fellow Japanese skater Shun Sato, who sat in ninth place after the short program, delivered a strong free skate to jump up six spots to finish third and claim the bronze medal, his favorite Olympic medal. His “Firebird” free skate opened with a quadruple Lutz and he also landed two quadruple toe loops, one in combination with a triple toe. He only lost points on his triple Lutz, his final jumping pass of the program. He earned a free skate score of 186.20 and a total score of 274.90 to claim the bronze.
“Right now, I don’t know if it’s a dream or reality. I didn’t expect to win a medal and stand here tonight,” Sato commented.
“I was reflecting back on my good performance during the team event, and I just imagined doing well again this time around. That’s how the results came out,” Sato noted.
“My goal was to get some kind of medal for both the team event and single skating, so I’m really happy that I did meet this goal, he added.”
Two-time Four Continents silver medalist Junhwan Cha of Korea was in sixth place after the short program. In his “Balada para un Loco by Milva, Astor Piazzolla, NAR International” free skate, Cha opened with a quadruple Salchow, but then fell on his quadruple toe jump. He also had a triple Axel that was slightly under-rotated. He received a free skate score of 181.20, about three points off of his season’s best score. His free skate score was fifth in the segment, and he finished with an overall score of 273.92, which was a season’s best score, to pull up to fourth place, missing the bronze medal by less than a point.
“I really gave my best today here,” Cha said following the free skate. “Even though I made a mistake, I fought through everything else. I gave everything today, so I’m proud of myself that I came here and I didn’t give up.”
Finishing just 0.14 points behind him was Canada’s Stephen Gogolev. In tenth place following the short program, Gogolev’s free skate to “Piano Concerto No. 2” was the second best free skate of the men’s event. The program included three clean quadruple jumps. He earned a free skate score of 186.37, a personal best free skate score. He had the second highest free skate score of the men’s event, and earned a total score of 271.71, also a personal best score, to jump five spots to finish fifth overall.
Finishing in sixth place was Petr Gumennik, an individual neutral athlete. He earned a free skate score of 184.49, which was fourth in the free skate and he finished with a total score of 271.71. Gummenik was in 12th place after the short program.
Malinin wasn’t the only one that saw his Olympic medal chances vanish during the free skate. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa sat in third place after the short program and was looking for his first Olympic medal. The 2024 World bronze medalist struggled in his “The Creation of Adam” free skate. He fell on his opening quadruple Lutz, which was also called slightly under-rotated. He also struggled with his quadruple toe and quadruple Salchow, receiving negative grade of executions (GOEs) on both elements. He received a free score of 166.72, which was 12th in the segment. He earned a total score of 269.27 to finish in seventh place.
Italy’s Daniel Grassl, who sat in fourth place after the short program, dropped to eighth overall. Two of the jumps in his “Conclave” free skate were slightly under-rotated, and he received negative GOEs on his triple Lutz and his triple loop-double toe combination. He earned a free skate score of 170.25, which was eighth in the segment. He finished ninth overall with a score of 263.71.
“I am happy to get into the top ten. Last time, I was seventh,” Grassl recalled of his finish at the 2022 Olympics.
Grassl was part of Team Italy that won the bronze medal in the team event.
Rounding out the top 10 was Georgia’s Nika Egadze. In 15th place after the short program, he earned a free skate score of 175.16, which was seventh in the segment. He climbed five spots to finish in the top 10.
France’s Kevin Aymoz, who was in seventh place after the short program, missed the top 10 by less than a point.
Team USA’s Andrew Torgashev finished in 12th place, while fellow American Maxim Naumov finished in 20th place. Both skaters were making their Olympic debut in Milan.
“It’s very humbling to put out a great performance. It’s the Olympics! All the skaters are great,” Torgashev said following his skate.
“Yes, there were a few mistakes today, but I am so proud to be standing here today after everything I went through,” Naumov told the media after the free skate.
Torgashev will join Malinin at the World Championships, along with Team USA’s Jason Brown. Meanwhile, Naumov’s season has come to a close.
A total of 29 Men competed in the men’s short program with 24 teams advancing to the free skate.
