CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Ilia Malinin’s coronation as an Olympic champion will have to wait.
The 21-year-old U.S. figure skater stumbled twice during an uncharacteristically sloppy performance in the men’s free skate Friday, opening the door for Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan to win a stunning gold at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Dubbed the “Quad God,” Milanin came into the final night of competition with a healthy lead of more than five points and appeared to be in good shape after several contenders in front of him struggled.
Milanin was not immune. The two-time world champion who had won 14 straight events coming in, bailed out of a planned jump early in his program and later fell twice.
Shaidorov finished with a career-best 291.58 points to give his nation its first gold medal of the Winter Games, while Yuma Kagiyama earned his second consecutive Olympic silver medal and Japanese teammate Shun Sato took bronze.
Men’s halfpipe
Yuto Totsuka entered the Olympics as the top-ranked men’s halfpipe rider in the world. He’ll leave it with the gold medal to prove it.
The Japanese star soared to victory in the final, edging five-time Olympian Scotty James in the final in Livigno. Totsuka’s winning run included back-to-back jumps with three head-over-heels flips and ended with a score of 95, the best of the night.
Ryusei Yamada of Japan earned the bronze medal.
Weston slides to gold
Matt Weston’s run of dominance in men’s skeleton now includes Olympic gold.
The 28-year-old from Britain dominated across two days at the sliding center in Cortina. His combined time of 3 minutes, 43.33 seconds was nearly a full second better than silver medalist Axel Jungk of Germany at 3:44.21. Christopher Grotheer, who won in Beijing four years ago, claimed bronze.
Teenager win gold in 10K meters
Czech speedskater Metodej Jilek is an Olympic champion before his 20th birthday.
The 19-year-old shook off cold symptoms to cover 10,000 meters (6.2 miles) in 12 minutes, 33.43 seconds. Vladimir Semirunniy of Poland earned silver but was well back after finishing more than 5 1/2 seconds back.
Jorrit Bergsma, more than twice Jilek’s age at 40, earned bronze a dozen years after winning gold in Sochi.
History for Klaebo
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo insists the 10-kilometer race is the distance he struggles with most because it forces him to race the clock instead of another competitor.
The 29-year-old Norwegian star made his trademark late surge to win the interval-start race. His time of 20 minutes, 36.2 seconds gave him his eighth career gold medal, tying fellow countrymen Marit Bjoergen, Bjoern Daehlie and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen for the most ever at the Winter Olympics.
The all-time mark could soon be Klaebo’s alone. He’s scheduled to compete three more times at Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium.
Baff wins snowboardcross
Snowboarder Josie Baff gave Australia its second gold medal of the Games when she stormed to victory in the women’s snowboardcross.
The 23-year-old Baff, who finished a distant 18th in Beijing four years ago, beat Eva Adamczykova of the Czech Republic and Italy’s Michela Moioli to the finish line. Baff, the 2020 World Junior Champion, is the second-ranked racer in the world.
Cooper Woods earned Australia’s first gold in Italy by triumphing in men’s moguls earlier this week.