Mikhail Shaidorov Danced To Kazakhstan’s Second Gold Amid A Shock Loss For Ilia Malinin

Mikhail Shaidorov became only the second Kazakh to secure a Winter Olympic gold medal, following Viktor Smirnov in Lillehammer in 1994.

Mikhail Shaidorov Danced To Kazakhstan’s Second Gold Amid A Shock Loss For Ilia Malinin

Mikhail Shaidorov jumping on to the podium at the men’s figure skating singles medal ceremony (Image via @ISU_Figure on X)

In Short
  • Mikhail Shaidorov won Kazakhstan's second gold medal in figure skating at the Winter Olympics.
  • Ilia Malinin, a favorite for the medal, fell to eighth place after struggling with his performance.
  • Shaidorov and Yumi Kagiyama secured gold and silver, while Shun Sato took bronze in the men's singles event.

In the Unipol Forum in Milan, “Misha, Misha,” rang out through the handful of Kazakhstan flags. It was twelve years ago, in Sochi, when the late Denis Ten stupified the audience with the country’s first podium in figure skating.

And yesterday, the Kazakhs added one more through a 21-year-old Mikhail Stanislavovich Shaidorov, skating his personal best to earn the coveted gold. The Almaty-born, skating to the beats of the Kazakh singer, Dimash Qudaibergen’s Confessa and The Diva Dance, started with a triple axel combined with the Euler, and before ending the sequence with a quadruple Salchow, something that has become a Shaidorov staple.

Apart from a quarter underrotated quad Lutz following the initial sequence, Shaidorov delivered a smooth performance, which included four lofty quads and a score of 198.64. Earlier, in the short program, performing on the soundtrack of “Dune,” he finished fifth with 92.94, combining for 294.58.

In his pursuit of his country’s second gold in the Winter Olympics, the floppy-haired Kazakh upset several of the medal favorites, including the fellow floppy-haired 21-year-old from the United States, Ilia Malinin.

After a strong season, coming into the Olympics, it was said that the singles were his to lose. The pressure grew following the wonderfully technical high performance that put the United States through to a gold in the team event. It was the same pressure that got to Malinin as he went from first in the short program to eighth overall, as he struggled with the quads that came so naturally to him.

After a relatively strong start, Malinin fell twice, once during a quad Lutz and later during a double Salchow. Yuma Kagiyama, a strong contender for the gold medal with Malinin, had the technical elements, but an atypical slow skate from him could only take him to a silver spot on the podium. That was only because of his 103.07 in the short program.

Shaidorov and Kagiyama were joined by Shun Sato in the bronze medal after a third-best free skate among the 24 men who took the ice on Friday. It was the third consecutive time that Japan had at least two men on the men’s figure skating singles podium in the Winter Olympics. Before Shaidorov, Kazakhstan had a single gold medal, Viktor Smirnov‘s 50km classic cross-country ski win in Lillehammer thirty-two years ago.

Ilia Malinin was all praise about Mikhail Shaidorov after his performance

Following his disappointing performance, Ilia Malinin went up to Mikhail Shaidorov, who had a phenomenal night. Despite one of the hardest nights in his recent figure skating career, he hugged Shaidorov and congratulated him on his first medal.

Ilia Malinin congratulated Mikhail Shaidorov on his first career gold medal after his performance (Image via CGTNSportsScene on X)
Ilia Malinin congratulated Mikhail Shaidorov on his first career gold medal after his performance (Image via CGTNSportsScene on X)

In an interview with NBC following the skate, Malinin said that he had watched the Kazakh’s performance from the locker room. He noted that despite being direct competitors on the ice, they are all members of the figure skating family, and he was proud of Shaidorov. Malinin said:

I watched him in the locker room and I’m just so proud of him. All of us are here to support each other, to be there for each other. And that’s what’s so special about the sport, I feel like we’re all a big figure skating family. And I think people forget that when they see us competing against each other.

Shaidorov also showered praise on his fellow competitor, calling Malinin, “very important for figure skating.”

The women’s singles and the pairs skating events are left to be decided at the Winter Olympics. In a highly controversial ice dance, France’s Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry were crowned champions, while Madison Chock and Evan Bates took silver, and Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles finished on the podium.

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