Clare Balding was left stunned after Ilia Malinin finished eighth in the final of the men’s single skating at the Winter Olympics – despite the Team USA star being the favourite to win gold.
Despite his most fierce challengers preceding his time on the ice, giving him what should have been a clear pathway to at least a podium place, the 21-year-old suffered a number of high-profile mistakes under immense pressure. As a result of falling twice, Malinin tallied a total of 264.49 – his lowest free skate score in years.
As a result, Malinin dropped to eighth in the standings, while Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov secured gold with a score of 291.58. Japan’s Yugi Kagiyama and Shun Sato secured silver and bronze, respectively, with scores of 280.06 and 274.90.
Reacting to Malinin’s performance, Balding was left stunned. Speaking to BBC Sport, she said: « We didn’t expect that anything could happen to Ilia Malinin, but it did – and he will leave these Games without a medal. »
BBC commentator Kat Downes, meanwhile, was also astounded at Malinin’s fumble. She added: « This is taking some computing from everybody.
« The ‘quadgod’ has fallen. Beaten for the first time in two years, the gold that was supposed to be his. That was supposed to be the most predictable gold of this games but Ilia Malinin has fallen to eighth.”
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