The roar inside the arena turned into silence in a matter of seconds. What was expected to be a coronation for skating sensation Ilia Malinin became one of the most shocking moments of the 2026 Winter Olympics men’s figure skating competition. He weighed in on the moment, revealing his first thought after the loss.
After entering the free skate as the heavy favorite and leader following the short program, Malinin’s night unraveled unexpectedly. Two falls, missed jump combinations, and an aborted attempt at his signature quadruple axel left the American star in disbelief and out of medal contention.
He began his free skate with a planned quadruple axel, but instead of the explosive takeoffs that fans expected, the attempt turned into a single axel, signaling that something was off. Following this, he fell while executing the quad lutz and continued with doubled jumps, which he normally completes with more rotations. By the end of the program on February 13, he had earned a score of 156.33 in free skate and a total of 264.49, finishing in eighth place.
Following this shocking upset, Malinin revealed the first thing that came to his mind after he fell.
“That Olympic atmosphere. It’s crazy, it’s not like any other competition. I blew it. That’s honestly the 1st thing that came to my mind, ‘There’s no way that just happened,’” said Ilia Malinin.
Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov clinched the gold medal, while the other two positions on the podium were claimed by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato.
Ilia Malinin Opens Up About the Pressure of the Olympic Atmosphere
For years, Ilia Malinin has looked almost untouchable on the ice. But, after a free-skate performance at the ongoing Winter Olympics that dropped him off the podium, he revealed how overwhelming the atmosphere at the Games truly felt. He also spoke about his fall, saying that it was not a ‘pleasant’ feeling.
“Definitely not a pleasant feeling. Training up all these years, going up to it, it honestly went by so fast. I didn’t have time to process what to do or anything. It all happens so fast,” said Ilia Malinin.
Weighing in on how the unfortunate Olympic moment felt unlike anything he had experienced before, he added:
“The pressure of the Olympics really gets you. People say that there’s an Olympic curse, that the Olympic gold medal favorite is always going to skate bad at the Olympics. So that’s what happens. The pressure is unreal. It’s really not easy, but I’m still proud of being able to get to the finish.”
Ilia Malinin had already contributed to Team USA’s success earlier in the Games, showcasing his trademark athleticism. He stole the spotlight by landing a legal backflip during the team event on February 10, which made it a historic night for him.
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