Japan's Yuma Kagiyama matches Beijing performance with silver medal
Japan's Yuma Kagiyama won silver behind Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, who took home the men's figure skating title at the Winter Olympics on Friday as U.S. favorite Ilia Malinin finished eighth after an error-strewn free skate.
Shaidorov, 21, delivered the performance of his life to win with a total score of 291.58 points.
Kagiyama took silver, as he did in Beijing four years ago (280.06 points), ahead of bronze winner and compatriot Shun Sato (274.90 points).
But the story of the night was Malinin, a two-time defending world champion and undefeated for over two years, not even reaching the podium.
Malinin was considered the overwhelming favorite for gold after leading Tuesday's short program, but he capitulated and ultimately finished 15th in the free skate and eighth overall with a score of 264.49.
"I blew it," Malinin told NBC after finishing a shocking eighth.
"That's honestly the first thing that came to my mind. There's no way that just happened. I was preparing the whole season and was so confident in my program, so confident with everything. I have no words really."
