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American men’s figure skater Ilia Malinin revealed that his mind was flooded with “thoughts and memories” before his performance in the men’s free skating final at the Winter Olympics on Friday.
Malinin, a top contender to win gold for the United States, surprisingly fell twice during his routine. He dropped to eighth place and missed the podium.
“I had so many thoughts and memories flooding back right before I took my initial stance, and I think it almost overwhelmed me a little bit. I’ve been through a lot in my life, a lot of good and bad experiences,” Malinin told reporters after the competition.
“So I feel like it’s the pressure of hoping to win the Olympic gold medal. It was something I can’t control now.”
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Ilia Malinin of the United States competes during the men’s free skate program in figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Feb. 13, 2026. (Ashley Landis/AP Photo)
Malinin emphasized the impact of “Olympic pressure” on his first Olympic Games.
“The pressure of the Olympics is really something different, and I think not many people understand it. They just understand that from the inside and coming into this competition, especially today, I felt really confident, really good,” he said. “But it actually happened so fast that I didn’t have time to process it.”
Malinin took solace in knowing he will return to the U.S. with the team gold medal he helped contribute to earlier in the week as he tries to mentally process what happened Friday.
“I think that’s definitely a positive for me. And honestly, maybe it makes me think that I need to understand why that happened in the individual event. I think going into this competition I made sure that I could prepare for at least four shows or four performances,” Malinin said.
“So, honestly, I haven’t had time to fully understand what happened.”
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Ilia Malinin of the United States reacts after competing in men’s single skating at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on February 13, 2026. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Malinin dominated the short program earlier this week, entering the day leading by more than five points with a score of 108.16.
But his final performance was the worst.
When he began his routine on Friday, Malinin landed a quad-flip to start, but then settled for a single axel. Then it had a double loop instead of a quad loop.
He then fell on a quad Lutz attempt and then fell on another jump shortly after. He earned a score of 156.33, a far cry from the world record of 238.24 he set in December and the mark of 200 he routinely hits in the free skate.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won gold with a total score of 291.58, his personal best. His score of 198.94 in Friday’s free skate was also the highest of his career.
Yuma Kagiyama of Japan took silver and Shun Sato, Kagiyama’s teammate, took bronze.
Malinin, who regularly posts total scores in the 300, settled for just 264.49. His personal best is 333.81.
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Ilia Malinin of the United States reacts after competing in men’s single skating at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on February 13, 2026. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Malinin congratulated his Kazakh competitor right after the event concluded.
While on the bench, Malinin said that if he had been in Beijing four years ago, he wouldn’t have skated as badly as he did. Malinin was 17 when he was left off the roster in favor of veterans. That was a telltale sign of a mental battle, which Malinin confirmed almost immediately after leaving the ice.
Malinin’s result sparked widespread disappointment among the US team and ice skating fans in general on social media.
