Malinin: I Was Hit With 'Negative Thoughts' Before Skate

Ilia Malinin arrived in Milan as the man to beat. He left with a team gold medal, but also with an eighth-place finish in the event that was supposed to define his career. The 21-year-old American, dubbed the "Quad God" for his unmatched jumping ability, needed only a solid free skate on Friday to secure top Olympic honors after rivals stumbled. Instead, he fell twice, completed just three of seven planned quadruple jumps, and posted a 156.33—far below the 183.43 that would have sealed gold. "I just felt like I had no control," he said afterward, describing a wave of pressure and "negative thoughts" that hit him as he took his opening pose, per the Athletic.

The outlet notes that Friday's skate was Malinin's fourth in seven days, "a daunting load for any skater." Add in Malinin's shaky state of mind, and the free skate simply fell apart. "I just felt like all the ... traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head," he said. "I just did not handle them." He told reporters right after the skate, "Honestly, I still haven't been able to process what just happened," per CNN, which notes that Malinin had "seemed at ease carrying the weight of Olympic expectation on his shoulders—until he wasn't."

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov delivered a clean skate to win gold, while Japan's Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato took silver and bronze. Malinin's free skate ranked just 15th on the night, the lowest Olympic finish for a top American man since 2014. Malinin noted that not being selected for the 2022 Beijing Olympics may have cost him valuable seasoning under Olympic pressure. Still, he rejected blaming ice conditions or other related factors, saying his task now is to "regroup" and learn how to manage the Olympic environment for the future. He'll be 25 when the Winter Games move to Nice, France, in 2030.

Meanwhile, WTOP has more from Malinin's hometown of Reston, Virginia, where locals saw his Olympic dreams crumble at a watch party. "Horrible. Just horrible," one teen spectator said of Malinin's on-ice tumbles. "Not what any of us expected at all. He's been thinking about this for years." Another fan, however, held up a sign intended to offer support. The sign read: "Ilia. Keep calm and quad on."