- Ilia Malinin, known at the “quad god” in the world of figure skating, shocked fans after finishing in eighth place in the men’s figure skating final at the Olympics.
- The athlete failed to complete several of his jumps, and fell twice during his routine.
- Ilia said that negative thoughts affected his mental state before the competition.
Ilia Malinin—the Olympic figure skater whose made a name for himself by being the only person ever to land a quadruple axel in the sport—left fans shocked on February 13 after struggling to make several jumps during the men's figure skating final, even falling twice during the program. Fans were left wondering what led to the “quad God” performing so poorly when it mattered most—but according to Ilia, it largely had to do with his nerves.
“Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened. It’s a lot of mixed emotions,” he said moments after leaving the ice and learning he placed eighth overall in the competition. “Going into this competition, I felt really good. This whole day, I felt very solid, and I just 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.”
“It was really just something that overwhelmed me, and I just felt like I had no control,” he added.
Though Ilia noted that the ice was “not [in]the best condition for what I would like to have,” he admitted that “negative thoughts” largely got in the way of his performance.
“Right before I got into my starting post, I just ... all the negative thoughts just rushed into my head, and all the negative, just traumatic experiences, you know,” the first-time Olympian told reporters. “I've been through a lot and it's not easy, so being the Olympic gold hopeful is really just a lot to deal with, especially for my age.”
Malinin has made major achievements in the world of figure skating, and was on track to making it to the 2022 Olympic Team at just 17, but was not selected to compete in the games despite finishing in second at Nationals. While a trip to the Olympics then may have helped prevent this year’s outcome, Ilia would still be unsure of how it would affect his performance now.
“I think if I went to '22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment, but also I don't know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there,” he said. “So now all I can do is just regroup from this and really just take in the information that happened and just figure out how to manage in the future.”
