Ilia Malinin was the biggest disappointment of the Olympics. The overwhelming gold medal favorite in men’s figure skating did not even make the podium during individual competition.
He choked.
No matter how good Malinin might still be at present moment, the figure skating crown is not his. Nobody cares what he does during rehearsals, the only thing that matters is what he does during competition.
Ilia Malinin got right back on the ice.
It did not take long for Ilia Malinin to return to the ice after his catastrophic collapse at the Milano-Cortina Games. The 21-year-old American chose to perform at the Exhibition Gala on the second-to-last day of competition. He decided not to take any time off to recover. He got right back to work.
Although it was an admirable approach to an unfortunate situation, his perseverance does not forgive the disastrous routine that required him to persevere in the first place.
Malinin missed out on the podium all together as the -10,000 favorite to win the gold medal during the individual competition. Terrible ice conditions for figure skating and short track speed skating are in part to blame for his falls but he ultimately could not handle the pressure of the world’s biggest stage.
Everybody saw Malinin implode in real time. He is the first to admit that he let the moment get the best of him. It was super embarrassing. The guy who gave himself the nickname ‘Quad God’ finished eighth.
That is a big reason why he wants to keep skating.
Malinin does not want to let the demons win. To take time off would be a sign of weakness. Fair enough.
With that in mind, Malinin is currently in Zurich to perform at the ‘Art on Ice’ anniversary show this weekend. The figure skating gala will take place from Thursday to Sunday.
Current performances do not excuse the Olympics.
Ilia Malinin performed multiple routines during the first night of Art on Ice. His ‘Pink Lemonade’ performance was the most extravagant.
does it work like this pic.twitter.com/H2bkqIjkTR
— trilly (@sstarbull) February 26, 2026
However, it is his rehearsals that are getting the most eyeballs. Malinin landed a quad axel with the utmost ease on Thursday.
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He tied together a quad axel into a triple toe loop on Friday.
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And then he threw down a quadruple lutz into a quadruple loop. Quad loops require four full revolutions in the air off of a back outside edge without toe-pick assistance. It is one of the hardest quads.
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Ilia Malinin proved his point. He is doing things that nobody else does. That’s great. We get it!
But his tricks during rehearsals and/or art galas do not take away from what happened earlier this month.