Ilia Malinin seemed at ease carrying the weight of Olympic expectation on his shoulders – until he wasn’t

When Ilia Malinin’s score was displayed on screen at the end of his free skate on Friday, no one could believe what they saw.

Journalists looked at each other in stunned silence, while members of the crowd sat with their mouths open even wider than their eyes.

The eighth-place finish just didn’t look right next to his name. He was supposed to win and make history doing so. This just couldn’t happen.

But then the cruel reality of sport soon kicked in, and the realization of what had transpired in the previous five minutes began to dawn on those inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

The self-proclaimed “Quad God” had not won the gold medal. He hadn’t won any medal at all.