US figure skater Ilia Malinin says he wasn't ready for Olympic spotlight after multiple falls cost him medal

United States figure skater Ilia Malinin may have been favored to take home medals entering the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, but he admitted not being well-prepared to do so.

Malinin, nicknamed the "Quad God" for the quadruple axel that he could perform in his routine, shockingly fell multiple times in the men’s free skate final, finishing eighth in the event. The result was surprising to fans and pundits, but Malinin has since had time to reflect on what went wrong in Milan.

During an appearance on the "Today" show Tuesday, he was candid with his response. It wasn’t that he wasn’t technically prepared to perform in Milan. It was the pressure from the fans in the stands and the millions watching around the world.

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"Honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling," Malinin said about the free skate blunders. "The most honest way to say it is it’s just a lot of on you, just so many eyes, so much attention. It really can get to you if you’re not ready to fully embrace it. So, I think that might be one of the mistakes I made going into that free skate was I was not ready to handle that to a full extent."

Heading into the Olympics, it was expected that Malinin would be on the podium after the men’s free skate. He had four competitions leading up to the Games in which his scores ranged between 209 and 238.

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However, the falls led to a final score of 156.33, and Malinin hung his head after the event knowing he wasn’t going to be securing an Olympic medal this time around.

"Of course, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. … All I have to do is just learn from my mistakes there and push to see how I can improve in the future. I can take a different approach leading up to the next Games, hopefully," he said.

But it hasn’t been all bad for Malinin in Milan, as he helped the United States achieve team gold earlier in the Games with a 200.03 free skate.

Malinin will be 25 for the next Winter Olympics in 2030, which will be held in the French Alps.

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