Shaidorov shocks field to win men's figure skating gold

MILAN - Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov emerged as the unexpected winner of the men's figure skating gold medal at the Milano Cortina Olympics on Friday as heavy favorite American Ilia Malinin suffered multiple falls in a shocking performance.

Japan's Yuma Kagiyama took silver and countryman Shun Sato captured bronze on a night when many top skaters struggled to execute their jumps.

Malinin said the pressure of being the gold-medal favorite and the enormous media attention on him in his first Games was "too much to handle."

"I'm trying to understand what happened specifically, but I know that it's done," he told reporters.

"So I can't change the outcome. I feel like a lot of people, if they could, they would definitely go back and change all the outcomes they had."

Shaidorov, who like Malinin is aged 21 and known for his technical ability, fell on his back on the ice of the Milano Ice Skating Arena after his aggressive performance but few could have foreseen what was to come after Kagiyama also struggled.

In one of the biggest shocks seen in Olympic figure skating, Shaidorov's win delivered Kazakhstan their first medal of the Games. — Reuters