Ilia Malinin Fan Thread!

[Laura4]

Poor kid! The pressure simply got to him. I always thought he should've been sent to Beijing instead of Adam Rippon. I understand using the body of work as criteria for certain skaters, but Rippon was never going to get on the Olympic podium. And the U.S. had a talented young gun with the potential to do well at those Games plus gain some valuable experience that might have served to benefit him in these Games. It was a missed opportunity by the U.S. in my opinion.

 

[Baby Yoda On Skates]

Adam went in 2018 over Ross Miner. It was Jason Brown who got the 3rd spot 4 years ago.

 

[Allskate]

I always thought he should've been sent to Beijing instead of Adam Rippon. I understand using the body of work as criteria for certain skaters, but Rippon was never going to get on the Olympic podium.

Definitely true because Adam Rippon wasn't in Beijing.

I think that Beijing is an easy target for Ilia and others to blame. For his own sake, I hope Ilia looks for additional reasons and doesn't just assume that he'll be fine next time since he has Olympic experience. He needs tools to deal with the massive expectations and pressure placed on him by others as well as the massive expectations and pressure he placed on himself. Seven quads, including a quad loop and quad axel, within days of the TE, at the Olympics was a lot.

Kagiyama has been to the Olympics before and was a mess today. Having Olympic experience didn't save Simone Biles from an Olympic implosion or Mikaela Shiffrin. The amount of pressure he was under this past week is nothing like he would have experienced four years ago.

 

[Debbie S]

Poor kid! The pressure simply got to him. I always thought he should've been sent to Beijing instead of Adam Rippon. I understand using the body of work as criteria for certain skaters, but Rippon was never going to get on the Olympic podium. And the U.S. had a talented young gun with the potential to do well at those Games plus gain some valuable experience that might have served to benefit him in these Games. It was a missed opportunity by the U.S. in my opinion.

Adam competed at the 2018 Olys and then retired. He did not compete in Beijing. You are probably thinking of Jason Brown?

 

[Fiero425]

Adam competed at the 2018 Olys and then retired. He did not compete in Beijing. You are probably thinking of Jason Brown?

Probably a wise decision! W/O a quad & relying on simpler jumps & choreography wasn't going to be enuf! Brown is barely surviving w/ just that! Such an embarrassment for Adam at 2018 Nat'ls, predicting great things! He thought his competitors' mothers could be the judges! He crashed & burned ending up relying on the committee to send him to the Olympics instead of the Silver medalist, Ross Miner!

 

[ballettmaus]

Definitely true because Adam Rippon wasn't in Beijing.

I think that Beijing is an easy target for Ilia and others to blame. For his own sake, I hope Ilia looks for additional reasons and doesn't just assume that he'll be fine next time since he has Olympic experience. He needs tools to deal with the massive expectations and pressure placed on him by others as well as the massive expectations and pressure he placed on himself. Seven quads, including a quad loop and quad axel, within days of the TE, at the Olympics was a lot.

Kagiyama has been to the Olympics before and was a mess today. Having Olympic experience didn't save Simone Biles from an Olympic implosion or Mikaela Shiffrin. The amount of pressure he was under this past week is nothing like he would have experienced four years ago.

I don't think you can use Shiffrin as a comparison. She has PTSD from her crash during the 2024/25 season (which she has been addressing) and the slope conditions seem to be leaving something to be desired for both men and women. Additionally, she's had three DNFs in Beijing and stated that she worked on things she found challenging during the slalom run the day before yesterday. So, as much as someone like Shiffrin competes to win, I wouldn't be surprised if all things considered, subconsciously her primary concern was to finish and finish safely.

I read that Ilia said he was too confident. I wonder if you really can be too confident or if might be how he felt when in actuality he wasn't.
In connection with Sasha Cohen and her tendency to have at least one fall in the Olympics, I remember reading that things like jumps are muscle memory and when you start to think about the movement, you disrupt the process. I wonder if that happened to Ilia.

I have mixed feelings about the jumps Ilia performs because I wonder about the impact on the body. But they seem to be coming naturally to him and I have tremendous respect for his incredible ability. My heart broke for him; this is not the Olympics you want to have. The Olympics is not the competition where you want to have the skate he had. I sincerely hope that he can put the competition behind him and that the jumps aren't taking too much of a toll on his body so that he can be back in four years!

 

[Anita18]

Individual figure skating competition teaches grit like no other - there's no tapping out, no running out the clock, no depending on teammates if you're having an extraordinarily bad day. There's just the skater staring down the empty ice, wishing they could just get off and hole up in a dark corner, but knowing they have minutes left to go and they'll have to somehow find something in themselves to finish.

Ilia will become a stronger person for this. I'm just sorry he had to experience this on the biggest stage imaginable. I wish I could give him all the hugs.

 

[princeton123]

So sad for Ilia, he looked completely heartbroken

People should also cut him some slack for what he says on a hot mic 2 minutes after the worst moment of his life. I'd be screaming crying throwing up

 

[Anita18]

I can't stop thinking about the way Ilia immediately turned around and had that true moment of sincerity and sportsmanship to congratulate Misha on his win. He wasn't just getting in a quick hug for the cameras and then dashing backstage, he really took the time to connect. And it’s not like he’s had a lot of experience doing that either, with his win streak!

To me that's who he truly is, not the immediate outburst in the K&C.