The men’s figure skating final ended in a stunning upset as ‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin, the overwhelming favourite for gold, fell twice and failed to make the podium.
The 21-year-old had planned seven quadruple jumps in his free skate programme but popped his attempt at an Olympic-first quad axel, landing only a single, and fell on his quad lutz and a combination including a double salchow.
He ultimately finished down in eighth, 15th on the night, marking the first time he has been beaten in more than two years.
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov produced a near-faultless skate to become Olympic champion for the first time, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato rounding off the podium, the former despite an error-strewn performance with several falls.
Malinin, who skated last in the free skate, was distraught and covered his face at the conclusion of his performance. But he recovered his composure to congratulate a visibly amazed Shaidorov, who was one of few of the top skaters to withstand the pressure in Milan.
Shaidorov, the world silver medallist, scored 291.58 to become Kazakhstan’s first figure skating champion, with Kagiyama – who opened the door to Malinin with his own poor skate – second with 280.06. An emotional Sato was a further six points back, with 274.90.
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