Bryan Graham was at the arena tonight, you can read his full report below:
Shaidorov’s win should be celebrated. He skated brilliantly. He may be Malinin’s rival for years to come.
But it’ll be impossible to remember this event as anything other than a catastrophe for the world’s best skater over the past three years by a wide margin.
The flip side is that Malinin came through in the team event, which means several US skaters will leave Italy with gold medals. That may be of little consolation at the moment.
No other sporting event has the drama of the Olympics. Not the World Cup, where the players all immediately turn around and return to lucrative and high-profile professional careers. Only here. When it goes well, it’s enthralling. In this case, it’s heartbreaking.
Thanks for following along. Now let’s go figure out what happened in curling, which has suddenly turned into pro wrestling …
