By Rory Carroll
MILAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Ilia Malinin was in the stands for the Olympic figure skating pairs competition on Sunday, two days after his shock poor performance in the men’s free skate left the runaway favourite for the event off the podium.
Malinin practised at the Milano Ice Skating Arena earlier in the day and will compete at next month’s world championships in Prague, according to the NBC broadcast.
He was seen taking in the action with Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo and Piper Gilles, the Canadian bronze medallist in ice dance.
Malinin, 21, has received an outpouring of support after the two-time world champion produced a rare poor performance that included two falls to finish in eighth.
He showed great sportsmanship after his more than two-year winning streak came to an end, immediately congratulating Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, who emerged the surprise champion of the men’s individual event on Friday.
Malinin powered the U.S. to a gold medal in the team event earlier in the competition.
The world championships will be held from March 23-29.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in MilanEditing by Toby Davis)
