After a heartbreaking performance in the men’s free skate final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin said he felt “overwhelmed” in the moment.
“It was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control,” Malinin said on Friday, February 13, after his shocking eight place finish.
He continued, “Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened. It’s a lot of mixed emotions. Going into this competition, I felt really good. This whole day, I felt very solid, and I just thought that all I needed to do is go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition. But of course, it’s not like any other competition, it’s the Olympics.”
Malinin, 21, was competing in his first-ever Olympics after he was not chosen to compete for the United States at the 2022 Beijing Olympics despite finishing in second place at nationals that year as a 17-year-old.
Figure Skater Ilia Malinin Falls Twice in Shocking Upset at 2026 Olympics
“I think if I went to ’22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment, but also I don’t know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there,” he said. “So now all I can do is just regroup from this and really just take in the information that happened and just figure out how to manage in the future.”
Malinin — nicknamed the “Quad God” — was the gold-medal favorite going into Friday’s final skate, after finishing in first place in the short program earlier this week. But the free skate went awry almost immediately — Malinin fell twice during his performance and botched several other jumps.
After his performance, Malinin immediately looked disappointed, seemingly understanding the magnitude of the moment.
“Right before I got into my starting post, I just … all the negative thoughts just rushed into my head, and all the negative, just traumatic experiences, you know,” Malinin said. “I’ve been through a lot and it’s not easy, so being the Olympic gold hopeful is really just a lot to deal with, especially for my age.”
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won gold in a historic victory for the 21-year-old skater, becoming the first Kazakhstani figure skater to ever win a gold medal.
Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, 22, finished with silver and Shun Sato, 22, also from Japan, earned bronze.
“I feel quite surprised by [Malinin’s] performance tonight, he had a perfect season,” Sato said of Malinin.
Why Fans Are Outraged Over France’s Olympic Ice Dancing Gold Medal
Despite failing to medal on the individual level, Malinin helped Team USA earn gold at the team skating event, alongside Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Madison Chock, Evan Bates, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea.
Sato — who also competed in the team event for Japan — acknowledged the difficulty in performing in both events and attributed Malinin’s missteps to the ‘toxic schedule.’
“If you think about it, he had the team competition as well as the singles, and it was a very toxic schedule,” Sato said. “It’s very bad that this happened to him.”
He continued, “He is still someone to look up to. Because of him, I’m here. I tried my best, and I want to thank him for this. I’m thankful for his presence in this competition.”
