The sports world is shocked. Ilia Malinin, heavily favored to win gold, did not medal at the 2026 Olympics. Ilia is known as the Quad God, but he had a massive meltdown in the men’s free skate on Fri. Feb 13. He ended up 8th place with a score of 264.49.
Malinin had a lead of more than 5 points going into the free skate. Because of all the hype, fans expected something historic. Instead, he fell multiple times and even missed jumps. Many have called this the biggest upset in figure skating history.
The Free Skate Is Malinin’s Last Competition Of The Olympics
Malinin started the Olympics with a great score in the short program, but it all went downhill from there in the free skate. The skater from Fairfax, Virginia fell 2 times during the routine. The jumps that usually set him apart from the rest, are his quad jumps.
He said he felt ready when he stepped on the ice. He said that he did not really understand his performance, and admitted “I blew it” during the emotional interview.
Streak Ends Due To Shocking Loss
He had dominated the competition for so long. People thought he couldn’t be stopped. To go from winning every event for the last 2 years to coming 8th place at the world event was unbelievable.
As expected, there was an immense amount of hate for the event. Understandably, it was tough to watch Malinin, the youngest competitor at the world event, finish so close to the bottom of the ranking. Although the individual performance was not what was expected, Malinin still goes home to the US with a team event gold medal, as team USA placed first.
Moving On From The Meltdown
It is a long road to be able to recover from an 8th place finish, especially for a competitor with such high standards. Some think that due to the immense amount of pressure from being a gold medal favorite, it may have even impacted the final result.
Malinin will be making his 3rd appearance at the world event, leading him to go down as one of the most original competitors of his time. The world is still shocked by the fall of a future superstar from the event. He will have to dig deep to prove that he is capable of coming back from this mental block.
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