Crew USA determine skater Ilia Malinin made a triumphant return to the 2026 Winter Olympics ice after his disappointing eighth place end.
Carrying a darkish sweatshirt and distressed denims, the Olympian carried out on the determine skating exhibition gala on Saturday, February 21, to “Worry” by NF, batting away invisible demons because the music performed throughout a skate that the athlete beforehand teased would characterize the unfavorable impression social media is confirmed to have on younger folks’s psychological well being.
After performing his signature backflip — a transfer that was unlawful from 1977 to 2024 — the 21-year-old skater turned visibly emotional because the crowed roared with applause.
“On the world’s largest stage, those that seem the strongest should still be combating invisible battles on the within,” Malinin wrote after he didn’t podium within the males’s free skate, surprising the determine skating world. “Even your happiest recollections can find yourself tainted by the noise. Vile on-line hatred assaults the and concern lures it into the darkness, regardless of how exhausting you attempt to keep sane by the countless insurmountable stress.”
After a heartbreaking efficiency within the males’s free skate last on the 2026 Winter Olympics, determine skating phenom Ilia Malinin stated he felt “overwhelmed” within the second. “It was actually simply one thing that overwhelmed me, and I simply felt like I had no management,” Malinin stated on Friday, February 13, after his surprising eight place (…)
He continued, “All of it builds up as these moments flash earlier than our eyes, leading to an inevitable crash. That is that model of the story. Coming February 21, 2026.”
Malinin, nicknamed the “Quad God,” missed the rostrum after the lads’s free skate on February 13 on the 2026 Winter Olympics in a surprising upset that noticed him end in eighth place.
USA’s Ilia Malinin
Getty PhotosMalinin was the gold-medal favourite after ending the brief program, however the errors started nearly as quickly as he hit the ice for the free skate. After finishing his first bounce, a quadruple flip, Malinin tried a quadruple axel however managed solely a single.
He went on to fall twice and botched a number of different jumps, together with a quad loop that become a double.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan in the end received gold, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama completed with silver and Shun Satoadditionally from Japan, earned bronze. Shaidorov, 21, is Kazakhstan’s first-ever gold medalist in determine skating. Kagiyama, 22, beforehand received silver on the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“I used to be not anticipating that,” Malinin instructed NBC after his surprising efficiency. “I felt so prepared getting on that ice. Perhaps I used to be too assured it was going to go nicely.”
Days after he stumbled throughout his 2026 Olympics free skate, Ilia Malinin is taking a while to mirror. “On the world’s largest stage, those that seem the strongest should still be combating invisible battles on the within,” the determine skater, 21, captioned a montage of highlights by way of Instagram on Monday, February 16. “Even your happiest (…)
Malinin is the one determine skater in historical past to efficiently land a quadruple axel in competitors, and it had by no means been completed on the Olympics. He was anticipated to try the bounce on Friday.
Malinin went on to confess that he felt “overwhelmed” within the second main as much as his free skate last efficiency.
“It was actually simply one thing that overwhelmed me, and I simply felt like I had no management,” he stated on February 13. “Actually, I nonetheless haven’t been capable of course of what simply occurred. It’s a number of blended motions. Going into this competitors, I felt actually good. This entire day, I felt very stable, and I jus thought that each one I wanted to do is go on the market and belief the method that I’ve all the time been doing with each competitors. However after all, it’s not like some other competitors, it’s the Olympics.”