MILAN – American figure skating sensation Ilya Malinin arrived in Italy as the clear favorite for Olympic gold and the biggest sure thing the sport has seen in decades.
But with that hope also came pressure.
And it was enough to sink the skater who had nicknamed himself “Quad God” as a teenager. On Friday night – as Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, reigning men’s figure skating champion Nathan Chen and millions at home watched in disbelief – Malinin launched her famous quad Axel into the air for her second jump, and then unraveled.
The person who had made it so easy, so effortless in the last three years suddenly had its burden on him. The timing couldn’t have been worse, as the skater seemed destined for gold, but he surprisingly finished eighth, with Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shadyrov emerging victorious.
“I blew it,” Malinin said moments after leaving the ice. “Honestly, it’s the first thing that came to my mind.”
With a five-point lead after Tuesday’s short program and him separated from the rest of the field, the 21-year-old was the last skater to take the ice. When many top skaters were clearly struggling with their nerves and falls, Malinin simply had to do what he had done countless times.
But as he proceeded to make his initial stance, Malinin said he was filled with an extreme nervousness which he could not easily shake off.
Malinin said, “I felt like all the… painful moments of my life really started coming to my mind, and a lot of negative thoughts came flooding in.” “And I couldn’t handle it.”
Malinin, the two-time defending world champion who has an unbeaten streak stretching back to 2023, landed his high-scoring opening quad flip jump, but then struggled with an axel jump. She was followed by a successful quad Lutz, but then she doubled the planned quad loop. Malinin soon fell on a quad Lutz, preventing him from performing the second jump of the combination (triple toe loop).
His final jumping pass was believed to be a quad Salchow-triple Axel combination. He fell again.
When the program ended, Malinin stood on the center ice and shook her head. He looked almost in disbelief as he raised his hands in the air to salute the crowd. As he started skating, he puffed out his cheeks, as if trying to stop himself from crying.
When his free skate score of 156.33 was announced – a staggering 15th place out of 24 in this segment – and his total of 264.49 revealed his previously unimaginable eighth-place final result, he immediately stood up. He hugged world silver medalist Shadyrov, who bested the field by more than 11 points, and congratulated him on winning Olympic gold.
Shadyrov told reporters that winning a medal was his ultimate goal and “why [he] wakes up and goes to training [every day]”
While Shchedorov stood on top of the podium, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato standing next to him after winning silver and bronze respectively, Malinin was talking to reporters about what went wrong.
“I definitely knew I was pretty well prepared, but still, there was still a lot to handle in that process,” Malinin said. “So, I honestly don’t know what exactly happened at the moment it happened. I just know that it wasn’t my best… and it was definitely something I didn’t expect. I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to.”
Malinin, who previously told ESPN he was trying to treat the Olympics “like any other competition,” was unsuccessful in his debut during the abbreviated event of the team event in Milan on Saturday. He stepped out of his triple Axel before under-rotating his quad Lutz and then finished a shocking second place, more than 10 points behind Kagiyama.
He later said this was due to unexpected “Olympic pressure”.
But Malinin bounced back for the free skate portion of the team event. Although he was still not perfect, nor did he attempt his quad Axel, he easily won the gold medal for the United States.
When the individual competition started on Tuesday, it seemed like he knew what to expect and how to handle it. Malinin skipped his final practice session at the arena before his brief event, instead practicing elsewhere and arriving at the venue later to give himself “more time to relax”.
He admitted that he wanted to practice at first and “just lie in bed” for a while. The strategy of avoiding pressure and limelight by the time of the competition was successful. Malinin landed two quad jumps, though no Axel, and her signature backflip and “raspberry twist” for a score of 108.16 – and a five-point lead over the rest of the field after the short program.
He did the same routine on Friday also. He said he felt ready for his free skate, and this moment was something he had been dreaming about for years. Throughout the day, Malinin said he kept telling himself that this was what he had worked hard for, and that he had practiced for it “millions of times”. It was just another day, another competition.
But everything came crashing down at the worst possible time. All his preparations went to waste, and he couldn’t get it out of his mind.
He said that it was only after the program ended that he realized “something was wrong”.
Despite his obvious disappointment, Malinin was candid and largely expressionless when describing what happened.
“From here, it’s just regrouping and figuring out what to do next and going from there,” Malinin said of his immediate future.
Andrew Torgashev finished 12th with a total score of 259.06, the next highest-ranked American. Maxim Naumov, passionate fan whose favorite Parents died last year In the crash of American Eagle Flight 5342, his free skate was also prone to error, but most of the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He finished 20th.
This marked the first Olympic appearance for all three American men.
