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By Cole Sullivan
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The “Quad God,” Ilia Malinin of Team USA, entered Friday’s free skate final on top of the world and widely regarded as one of the most dominant skaters at the Winter Games.
He held the lead after his short program earlier in the week, which earned him the final skate of the night. Malinin knew exactly what he needed to do to claim gold — which would have been his second of these Olympics after Team USA captured gold in the team event days earlier.
However, moments into his routine, everything unraveled. He struggled to complete multiple technical elements and fell twice, stunning the entire arena.
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Malinin finished with a free skate score of 156.33 and a total score of 264.49, placing eighth overall — nowhere near the podium despite entering as the overwhelming favorite not just to medal, but to win gold. Instead, the gold went to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov.
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Shortly after the event, Malinin spoke with the media and revealed what happened moments before his Olympic dreams in Milan slipped away, admitting he was battling “negative thoughts.”
“Right before I got into my starting pose, all the negative thoughts just rushed into my head — all the negative, traumatic experiences. I’ve been through a lot, and it’s not easy. Being the Olympic gold hopeful is a lot to deal with, especially at my age,” Malinin said.
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The overall quality of the ice was certainly questioned, as several skaters fell during their routines. But while Malinin acknowledged it could have been better, he refused to place blame on anything other than himself.
When asked about the ice, Malinin said it was “not the best condition for what I would like to have,” but ultimately pointed back to his mindset not being where it had been earlier in the day, when he appeared full of confidence.
“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 was 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.
“It was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control.”
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