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Ilia Malinin Returns to 2026 Winter Olympics Ice After 8th Place Finish
Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin made a triumphant return to the 2026 Winter Olympics ice after his disappointing 8th place finish.
Wearing a dark sweatshirt and distressed jeans, the Olympian performed at the figure skating exhibition gala on Saturday, February 21, to “Fear” by NF, batting away invisible demons as the music played during a skate that the athlete previously teased would represent the negative impact social media is proven to have on young people’s mental health.
After performing his signature backflip — a move that was illegal from 1977 to 2024 — the 21-year-old skater became visibly emotional as the crowed roared with applause.
“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” Malinin wrote after he failed to podium in the men’s free skate, shocking the figure skating world. “Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure.”
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 […]
He continued, “It all builds up as these moments flash before our eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story. Coming February 21, 2026.”
Malinin, nicknamed the “Quad God,” missed the podium after the men’s free skate on February 13 at the 2026 Winter Olympics in a shocking upset that saw him finish in eighth place.
USA’s Ilia Malinin Getty Images
Malinin was the gold-medal favorite after finishing the short program, but the mistakes began almost as soon as he hit the ice for the free skate. After completing his first jump, a quadruple flip, Malinin attempted a quadruple axel but managed only a single.
He went on to fall twice and botched several other jumps, including a quad loop that turned into a double.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan ultimately won gold, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama finished with silver and Shun Sato, also from Japan, earned bronze. Shaidorov, 21, is Kazakhstan’s first-ever gold medalist in figure skating. Kagiyama, 22, previously won silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
“I was not expecting that,” Malinin told NBC after his shocking performance. “I felt so ready getting on that ice. Maybe I was too confident it was going to go well.”
Days after he stumbled during his 2026 Olympics free skate, Ilia Malinin is taking some time to reflect. “On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” the figure skater, 21, captioned a montage of highlights via Instagram on Monday, February 16. “Even your happiest […]
Malinin is the only figure skater in history to successfully land a quadruple axel in competition, and it had never been done at the Olympics. He was expected to attempt the jump on Friday.
Malinin went on to admit that he felt “overwhelmed” in the moment leading up to his free skate final performance.
“It was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control,” he said on February 13. “Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened. It’s a lot of mixed motions. Going into this competition, I felt really good. This whole day, I felt very solid, and I jus 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.”