Figure skaters and their families from across the D.C. region gathered today (Friday) at Reston’s SkateQuest to watch their homegrown phenom pursue gold and, possibly, history an ocean and continent away at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
In minutes, however, that vision fell apart as Vienna resident Ilia Malinin missed the Olympic podium entirely after a disastrous free skate where he fell twice, finishing in eighth place with 264.49 points.
After Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa made similar slip-ups during their routines, Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov unexpectedly clinched the gold medal in men’s figure skating with 291 points…