‘Horrible, just horrible’: Reaction from watch party at Ilia Malinin’s home rink in Reston

There was screaming, crying and hands covering eyes and mouths at the Winter Olympics watch party hosted by SkateQuest in Reston, Virginia, on Friday.

They were all in disbelief as they watched Fairfax-native Ilia Malinin’s Olympic dreams crash to the ice from his home rink.

Malinin’s eighth place showing in the Olympic free skate final seemed impossible to everyone in the room; and to most everyone else watching around the world, he was supposed to bring home the gold.

There...