U.S. Men 2025-26 Discussion - Quad God and the Mere Mortals

[Sylvia]

Well, he'll be in good company. Kurt Browning doesn't have an Olympic gold either.

It's still mind-boggling to me that Kurt doesn't have an Olympic MEDAL!

Can people outside the USA watch NBC Sports' Andrea Joyce's interview with Ilia as soon as he had finished his FS?

NBC Olympics & Paralympics on Instagram: "An honest Ilia Malinin after a disappointing free skate."

9,554 likes, 400 comments - nbcolympics on February 13, 2026: "An honest Ilia Malinin after a disappointing free skate.".

www.instagram.com

 

[skatfan]

Oh, please, there was no such message. Your obsession with Jason is leading you to post some really ridiculous stuff. (But, hey, at least it's not super nasty and gleefully celebrating when an athlete has his worst day!) Each time Andrew took the ice at Worlds, he had no way of knowing if Jason would earn another spot for next year since Jason skated after him. All the guys knew that Jason could possibly (but not necessarily) earn a third spot at Worlds and the Olympics, but if they wanted to be on that next team, they had to make it happen for themselves. And they all were a mess. It's not like these guys went to competitions and said to themselves, I don't care how I place. Do you really think that Andrew didn't care about how he did at Worlds?



Why? Raf is a jump doctor. Even with skaters based in California, he reportedly doesn't do a lot more than that. Ilia does not need more help with his jumps. Raf has been one of his coaches for years, saw what happened with Nathan when the American media's focus and sponsors expectations were on him, and doesn't seem to have been able to help Ilia. Having read what Nathan wrote and listening to what Mariah, Ashley, and Adam have said about Raf, I don't see how spending more time with Raf would help at all.

I think Ilia needs the name of the sports psychologist Nathan used leading up to 2022.

 

[Sylvia]

Tomoki Hiwatashi 樋渡知樹 posted 3 times on X:

Feb 10:
So happy for all three US Men's today!!!!
You all are amazing!!
Good luck in Free skate too!!

Feb. 13:
So proud of the US Men athletes for fighting till the end. Hoping they can all get a good rest and enjoy the rest of the experience being at Milan.
It's also amazing how I've been able to compete with almost everyone at Olympic.
Congrats to everyone there!!! https://x.com/Tomostar0120/status/2022532784951337149

 

[AYS]

I am so sad for Ilia, and for us fans who he's thrilled over the past 2-3 years.

I do have to say it was either coaching or athlete malpractice to go for the quad axel when skating from ahead for Olympic gold (if he was way behind, it would have been worth the risk). He did not need it, but there was always the potential for it to rattle him it to go right. Hindsight, blah, blah, but I was literally yelling at the screen when he took his starting position not to do it.

My feeling is he might have taken the winning part a little for granted here and was too focused on the history part.

 

[Sylvia]

Arizona figure skater Camden Pulkinen reflects on missing Olympics by Erika Tulfo, a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism (Feb. 7, 2026): https://www.azcentral.com/story/spo...lkinen-reflects-missing-olympics/88571569007/
Excerpts:

In a December Instagram post, he told supporters he was making the difficult decision to withdraw from the 2026 U.S. Championships, effectively ending his chances of qualifying for the Olympics. “I've done 20 years of skating in my life so far and I've worked my whole life for this, but I don't want to be crippled at 25 and not be able to move anymore,” Pulkinen said a week ago via Zoom.
“The Olympic motto is ‘faster, higher, stronger,’ and I internalize that in everything I do, but I don't think that should come at the cost of your quality of life or your body or your mental health.”

“From the time he was little, he just had that ability to catch on to things quickly,” said his former coach Karen Gesell. “He’s a big jumper, he’s very charismatic, and he carried that onto the ice in his programs.”
Gesell trained Pulkinen when he started skating at the Ice Den Scottsdale with the Coyotes Skating Club and was with him for 10 years throughout his meteoric rise to his junior debut at the 2016 U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
“His goal was always to go as far as he could go, and I always saw he had the potential to be an Olympian,” Gesell said.
Pulkinen has come close to the Olympics before. In 2016, he skated at the Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway, making him the first male figure skater to compete as part of Team USA for the men’s singles event. In 2022, he was even selected as an alternate for the American team at the Beijing Olympics alongside Malinin, current Team USA athlete and gold-medal favorite.
“I was really in that next cream of the crop that was ready to go,” he said. “I was ready to push from 2022 until 2026 for the Games. I failed to recognize that four years is a long time. This season is the one that really matters. No one really remembers what you did in 2024, 2023 or 2022. 2026 is the Olympics.”

Pulkinen had been battling lower back pain he said was caused by taking too many hard falls on the ice. What began as a persistent dull ache, grew to the point of crippling whenever he moved, which made training impossible.
He first recognized the signs of a severe injury after his performance at the 2025 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, South Korea, where he finished eighth.
“I remember clutching my back as soon as I finished my free skate in Korea last year,” he said. “I've always had back pain through skating, but never to the point of crippling back pain where I couldn't actually skate.”
Pulkinen admits he has always been an overachiever. He continued to compete from 2021 through 2025 while he was a full-time student at Columbia University and a corporate strategy associate at Capital One.
But with his injury forcing him to take a step back from skating, he said he had time to reflect on his life independent of the sport.
“What I miss most is moving on the ice freely and carving my soul and identity into the ice,” he said in his December Instagram post. “To have that taken from me is the deepest pain, one that carries the weight of feeling as though I have let down past versions of myself.”

But Pulkinen’s absence from this year’s Olympics has raised questions in online fan spaces about the future of his skating career. The next Winter Olympics are set to take place in 2030 in the French Alps, and Pulkinen will be 29, past the age most male competitive figure skaters retire.
Pulkinen said it’s still too early to make a call on whether he would try to qualify for the next Winter Olympics, but one thing’s for sure. He plans on staying on the ice one way or another.
“I'm not closing the door to skating,” he said. “I love the sport. I don't know if that means I make a run for 2030. I don't know if that means I take a different role like a coach or choreographer. The thing that's true is I will never not be a skater.”

 

[Debbie S]

It's still mind-boggling to me that Kurt doesn't have an Olympic MEDAL!

And he's had a pretty good career in show skating and doing choreo. He's had a better career than some Oly medalists.

Ilia is a great performer. We've seen that in his gala programs, like the NF number and To Build a Home at Worlds last year. And he choreos most of them himself. He's talked about wanting to improve the non-jump aspects of his skating.

Can people outside the USA watch NBC Sports' Andrea Joyce's interview with Ilia as soon as he had finished his FS?

NBC Olympics & Paralympics on Instagram: "An honest Ilia Malinin after a disappointing free skate."

9,554 likes, 400 comments - nbcolympics on February 13, 2026: "An honest Ilia Malinin after a disappointing free skate.".

www.instagram.com

Yes, but i'm using a VPN.

 

[DreamSkates]

Ilia needs to decompress for a while. If it were me, I'd stay away from all media for a few days, be surrounded by friends family and coaches and chill. Then make a plan for Worlds if he decides to go.

In retrospect, one of the best things Nathan had was a worthy domestic competitor in Vincent. Vincent attempted practically the same number of quads as Nathan and although not as consistant as Nathan Chen, he was always there ready to take advantage of any mistake. That's what Ilia needs. Real competition not winning by 60 points.

Asking out of curiosity. Shadarov earned 114 technical points in his long program Do you think that, with time and he develops artistically, he could be the kind of competitor you mentioned?

 

[DreamSkates]

I'm not saying that there wouldn't have been any benefit, and I wish his parents/coaches had planned more for that. But, I just don't think going to the Olympics with very little senior competitive experience - he didn't even have the required minimums when the Olympic team was named - and without the major expectations and media attention would have been the same.

I'm really sad for him, and I hate to think of the crap he's going to get from haters.

I would hope that over time he has learned or is learning to ignore the haters.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I'm not sure why there needs to be "blame" at all. What happened happened. It happened TO ILIA, so blaming him as if he did something to others is ridiculous. I'm sure there are a lot of reasons why this happened. Some that were in his control, some that were in the control of others, and maybe some that weren't in the control of anyone. Ilia didn't mean for it to happen, and neither did anyone else, and the person suffering the most over it is him. So maybe some people should go ahead and give him a break.

I also notice that a lot of people who do not know him in person at all are very quick to ascribe a wide variety of personality traits to him based on his internet persona, despite the fact that most of us are old enough to know that someone's social media persona is not necessarily reflective of who they are.

 

[YukiNieve]

Maxim’s words of support for Ilia via Access Hollywood today:

Thank you so much for this link! As I wrote in another thread, Ilia really cared about Max when he was going through a very difficult time after losing his parents. Now, Max is saying that they are caring about Ilia. It's always amazing (and understandable) to see how much these athletes care about each other, even though they're competitors since they're in the best position to understand each other.

Personally, I think he mentioned Beijing amidst confusion after finishing such dissapointing skate and was experiencing raw emotions and searching for an explanation.

I don't think he minds it (the lack of Beijing experience) as much as he minds his self-worth, as Max mentioned ("A lot of times for skaters in general, their performance is so-tied to their self-worth, so it's a massive blow to us personally").

Ilia has repeatedly said that one of his objectives is to "become a better version of himself," which implies that his goals are further out and that he is not satisfied yet with who he is or what he does now. So I think he is most likely blaming himself now and not the lack of Beijing experience.

But I am somewhat relieved to hear what Max said at the end: "Knowing him, he's gonna be OK."

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I do have to say it was either coaching or athlete malpractice to go for the quad axel when skating from ahead for Olympic gold

We don't actually know that he WAS going for the quad, as far as I know. We know that Tara said he was planning it, but I don't believe Ilia has said that's what he was doing. I think people are assuming he was because he popped and we assume he wouldn't pop the 3A, but we don't know.

That being said, Ilia's hit rate with the quad axel is quite high. It's a wildly difficult jump, but he's consistent with it, so I don't really see how it's malpractice to go for a jump he's consistent at. Someone with more data would have to confirm, but I would bet he's more consistent with the 4A than the 4L.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I thought his 3A entrance is different, and that he used his typical approach for a 4A. However, if he was planning to change it into a 3A, perhaps his muscle memory and his planning brain crossed wires. How many program variations do we expect him to keep in his head?

 

[AYS]

We don't actually know that he WAS going for the quad, as far as I know. We know that Tara said he was planning it, but I don't believe Ilia has said that's what he was doing. I think people are assuming he was because he popped and we assume he wouldn't pop the 3A, but we don't know.

That being said, Ilia's hit rate with the quad axel is quite high. It's a wildly difficult jump, but he's consistent with it, so I don't really see how it's malpractice to go for a jump he's consistent at. Someone with more data would have to confirm, but I would bet he's more consistent with the 4A than the 4L.

Ilia never telegraphs 3axels like that. He was thinking quad.

 

[barbk]

Maybe this isn't a bad thing though. Ilia has more to offer than just quads. I think he could thrive in a new way given the chance (and maybe save some wear and tear on his body).

And perhaps he will work on more completeness in his skating. He's way ahead of the leaderboard on jumps (most of the time)--but lacks some of the quality others have in spins, footwork, and sheer edging. He has room for growth and I don't doubt his ability to achieve that if he turns his attention in that direction.

 

[Debbie S]

We don't actually know that he WAS going for the quad, as far as I know. We know that Tara said he was planning it, but I don't believe Ilia has said that's what he was doing.

His planned program content had 4A listed. Of course, skaters don't always do exactly what their plan says, but if it was listed, i'm pretty sure that was the intention going in.

If he consciously was planning to do a 3A on the approach, I don't think he would have popped it. His vertical leap also seemed more in line with the 4A than the 3A.

 

[Allskate]

We don't actually know that he WAS going for the quad, as far as I know. We know that Tara said he was planning it, but I don't believe Ilia has said that's what he was doing. I think people are assuming he was because he popped and we assume he wouldn't pop the 3A, but we don't know.

I think people are assuming he was going for the quad axel because he indicated to Andrea Joyce that he probably was going for seven jumps, and the quad axel would have been a part of it. Plus, my understanding is that the skaters do submit a planned element list that is entered into the system and that the NBC team can see it. The skaters obviously don't have to stick to it, though.

That being said, Ilia's hit rate with the quad axel is quite high. It's a wildly difficult jump, but he's consistent with it, so I don't really see how it's malpractice to go for a jump he's consistent at. Someone with more data would have to confirm, but I would bet he's more consistent with the 4A than the 4L.

I don't know what the stats are, but he probably has done fewer quad loops than quad axels. I suspect that the 4L is probably the quad that he has the least confidence in. There was so much hype about the quad axel that I think he really wanted to do it. I think the axel and the loop definitely were the two riskiest and stressful for him. Most of the guys seem to not like the quad loop much.

Ilia could have left out the quad loop and quad axel and still won easily, but I think it's in his nature to go for broke. It's a double- edged sword. Pushing the limits is what has made him such an amazing skater, but it also can cause him problems.

 

[elka_sk8]

I think Ilia usually believes he's competing against himself and what he wanted was to achieve a repeat of the seven quads from the GPF on Olympic Ice to cement his place in history. And I think that led to his unraveling when things started to go wrong. Instead of focussing on what he could do to still win, he kept trying to keep with his planned program. He didn't seem to have a Plan B and he needed one. But I hope he realizes that the Olympics may not be the best time to try and break records. I don't think his team participation or not going to Beijing would have made any difference. We'll never know, though.

Agreed- I just kept thinking while the commentators were hyping up the possibility of the quad axel, ugh just go for the triple. Particularly after the shakiness in the team event. Trying to both win the gold and make history just felt like too much pressure.

As much as I love Jason, I thought that Ilia earned the spot 4 years ago. But I’m also not sure it would have made a difference here- sure he would have gotten valuable experience but it would have been a different situation with much lower pressure and expectations.

 

[Spiralgraph]

Asking out of curiosity. Shadarov earned 114 technical points in his long program Do you think that, with time and he develops artistically, he could be the kind of competitor you mentioned?

Probably. If he and his coaching team see that Ilia and the other international top skaters are being rewarded for their components and "artistry".
But Ilia still needs competition from other USA skaters as well. Those younger guys like Sanchez, Blackwell etc have to keep improving so they can challenge Ilia at Nationals and the Grand Prix. That will inspire everyone to keep developing.

 

[Trillian]

That being said, Ilia's hit rate with the quad axel is quite high. It's a wildly difficult jump, but he's consistent with it, so I don't really see how it's malpractice to go for a jump he's consistent at. Someone with more data would have to confirm, but I would bet he's more consistent with the 4A than the 4L.

I agree - it’s been a reliable jump for him, and it was his opportunity to be the first to land it at the Olympics. Maybe I don’t follow the fan chatter closely enough and missed something, but I’m actually more surprised people thought he would leave it out.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

His planned program content had 4A listed. Of course, skaters don't always do exactly what their plan says, but if it was listed, i'm pretty sure that was the intention going in.

If he consciously was planning to do a 3A on the approach, I don't think he would have popped it. His vertical leap also seemed more in line with the 4A than the 3A.

Well, his plan program content also said he was going to do it in the team event SP.

So we’re mostly down to because we don’t think he’d pop the triple.

I agree that it’s most likely he was going for it, but we don’t know for sure unless he says so.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

It would have introduced Ilia to the environment of Olympic competition. There would have Beene something familiar about it the second time around which can give an athlete somone was a teenager at her first Olympics.

Scott Hamilton: 5th 1980, 1984
Brian Boitano: 5th 1984, 1988
Evan Lysacek: 4th 2006, 2010
Nathan Chen: 5th 2018, 2022

I had been saddened at the fact that Nathan was just a teenager in 2018, then he pulled off his Olympic triumph at 22, just a year older than Ilia, who was 21 at HIS Olympic debut. Then I saw this. I had to Google it but Scott, Brian, and Evan were also in their 20s at their respective Olympic debuts. That gives me some solace. And hope for Elia's chances in his mid 20s.

And oh I do so hope that he stays healthy, strong and stays in, fighting to 'reach Mount Olympus' as Kurt Browning said.

Well, let’s see - so far the blame for what happened to Ilia has gone to USFS, the media, Jason Brown. I assume the ice and the weather will be next.

How about we assign the primary blame where it lies? Namely to Ilia Malinin and his parents/coaches.

This will not be a popular opinion but maybe a little less focus on being the “Quad God,” and things like melodramatic voiceovers in his program, a little less ego overall would have also helped here and potentially not left him panicking and melting down when he made the first mistake.

I’m not trying to be nasty here, but he and his team bear the responsibility for setting him up to be invincible in everyone’s eyes in the individual event, and then when the problems started, he didn’t have the capacity to deal with them on the fly like he did in the team event where he wasn’t solely responsible for the medal outcome. I’m not putting this all on him - his parents/coaches should also share in the blame for not preparing him better and letting the media narrative just take over and become way too much for any athlete to navigate.

Put simply - take that dayum “Quad God” shirt and burn it. I love Ilia, but every time I saw him strut in wearing that thing I cringed. The “only every 4 years” American fans don’t take kindly to egotistical displays like that when the athlete doesn’t come through as expected. I’m hoping the gracious way he handled the outcome will temper their response and that he can enjoy the rest of the games and cheer on his teammates.

I agree with a lot of what you said except for the swipe at his voiceover FS. There's not a damn thing wrong with that. That is his truth, his artistic expression of choice, no different at all to Starr Andrews skating to her self-sung programs.

Also one other thing. Ilia spells it QuadG0d with a ZERO, not the letter O. He made that nickname up when he was a teenager to motivate himself to learn all of those quads, including his historic, trailblazing quad Axel.

I hope that he goes right on proudly wearing shirts with QuadG0d if he damn well wants to. Including the beautiful jacket that a fan lovingly made for him which he seems to enjoy wearing a lot. He doesn't have to please you nor anyone else who doesn't like it. And the haters better get used to it because if he (hopefully) decides to stay in and go for the next Olympics, that QuadG0d moniker is going to follow him on his journey all the way. And when he retires after he's already reached legendary status he will STILL be remembered as the QuadG0d. Those who don't like it can just deal.

 

[YukiNieve]

Ilia is back on ice this afternoon for practice. He will probably do exhibition, I think.

 

[BaileyCatts]

..... Including the beautiful jacket that a fan lovingly made for him which he seems to enjoy wearing a lot. ......

What jacket is this? Was he wearing it when TV coverage caught him walking in, etc.? I didn't know this and now I want to see a picture.

 

[clairecloutier]

I don't know what the stats are, but he probably has done fewer quad loops than quad axels. I suspect that the 4L is probably the quad that he has the least confidence in. There was so much hype about the quad axel that I think he really wanted to do it. I think the axel and the loop definitely were the two riskiest and stressful for him. Most of the guys seem to not like the quad loop much.

The quad loop was the last quad that Ilia landed in competition, and the one he has done the least overall, so yes I think it’s the hardest for him. He still often does a big smile or fist pump when he lands it.

And I’d be surprised if he wasn’t planning to do quad Axel because he was practicing it in Milano, it’s his signature jump, and it was a chance to make history.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

For me the issue isn’t just about Jason and Illia but the fact that I felt they were rewarding Jason for never improving his jumps and simultaneously punishing Illia for pushing the technical envelope

Like of course Jason is going to be the more consistent skater his jump content was easier than all the other men. He was just hoping others would fall. And I am sure Jason would have those quads if you could but he didn’t.


Trying a six quad program and getting it stablized is difficult. So of course at 15/17 Illia will be inconsistent.

But you have to encourage your young men to do it and you have to reward the young men who do because otherwise your never going to have a US man on the Olympic or World program.

Hoping others fall is not a winning strategy.

If you look at Vincent yes his lows were much lower than Jason’s or Adam Rippons but his highs were also higher and you felt comfortable giving Nathan a break in Beijing.

I am all for body of work but when you are looking at body of work you also need to factor in that their results showed they were never competitive for the top results when you show a young skater who is displaying the ability to be competitive

I agree except that I don't think that Jason ever 'hoped' that someone would fall. None of us can know if he ever thought such a thing. As a former athlete I never thought that way. I always wanted everyone to do their best, and then that I could do even better. That being said, I prefer to say that Jason (as well as Alysa with her current tech content) must rely on mistakes from others who are better skaters to make mistakes. And when I say better I mean the quadsters for Jason, and the ladies who can do them and/or triple Axels, or sheer speed and skating skills (Kaori) for Alysa. Currently it's the same for Jacob Sanchez.

We can't go back in time. Quads and triple Axels are here to stay. Young skaters like Sophie Jolie Von Felton and Mao Shimada already have such jumps in their arsenal. And if the Russians are eventually allowed to compete in ISU events, they are coming with Ultra C jumps. Especially in the ladies event. Even Kaori could barely compete with the lady quadsters and triple Axel jumpers from Russia.

Back OT, with the 6 jump layout for (next?) season it will be interesting to see how the quadsters like Ilia adjust. I do hope that he gets the quad loop out of his system this season. It's his weakest jump and don't even triple loops cause hip problems for skaters?

 

[just tuned in]

Ilia is back on ice this afternoon for practice. He will probably do exhibition, I think.

Ooooh, I would be so excited for him to do the quad axel in the exhibition. Just 4a, 4a, 4a for a minute and a half.

 

[million$momma]

I also notice that a lot of people who do not know him in person at all are very quick to ascribe a wide variety of personality traits to him based on his internet persona, despite the fact that most of us are old enough to know that someone's social media persona is not necessarily reflective of who they are.

People are very quick to assume they know the personality of well-known athletes. Look at the number of Americans on this board who 'hate' FB & C.

 

[Karen-W]

What jacket is this? Was he wearing it when TV coverage caught him walking in, etc.? I didn't know this and now I want to see a picture.

It's this letterman-style jacket. Ilia has worn it quite a bit this season.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1908313083296030783

 

[VGThuy]

People are very quick to assume they know the personality of well-known athletes. Look at the number of Americans on this board who 'hate' FB & C.

Is it just Americans?

 

[Karen-W]

Is it just Americans?

With regard to FBCiz? No. And with regard to people assuming they know someone's personality based on their public persona, that certainly isn't a new phenomena nor is it limited to any nationality - Fanyus, VMies, Yunabots all spring to mind just within the FS fandom.