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.

 

[Sylvia]

"Ilia Malinin update: He has postponed the huge media day that was planned for him here at the Olympics. He is in the village spending time with his U.S. teammates and other athletes. I’m told the Olympic record for supportive hugs for an athlete might be broken today." https://x.com/cbrennansports/status/2022696928870375449

Priscilla Gilman's heartfelt post is worth reading, IMO:

Priscilla Gilman on Instagram: "I am an ardent figure skating fan. I’ve been watching skating since I was five, marveling at Dorothy Hamill & John Curry in the 1976 Olympics. I’ve interviewed skaters like Tai Babilonia & published a piece about the l

452 likes, 17 comments - priscilla.gilman on February 13, 2026: "I am an ardent figure skating fan. I’ve been watching skating since I was five, marveling at Dorothy Hamill & John Curry in the 1976 Olympics. I’ve interviewed skaters like Tai Babilonia & published a piece about the life lessons...

www.instagram.com

OIP's Jordan:

On Ice Perspectives ❄️🎥 on Instagram: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink t

75K likes, 1,942 comments - oniceperspectives on February 14, 2026: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink to help film the...

www.instagram.com

Lucius Kazanecki was at a watch party in Reston, VA yesterday - WTOP news segment with many supportive comments on camera:

WTOP News on Instagram: "There was screaming, crying and hands covering eyes and mouths at the Winter Olympics watch party hosted by SkateQuest in Reston, Virginia, on Friday. They were all in disbelief as they watched Fairfax-native Ilia Malinin’s

220 likes, 0 comments - wtopnews on February 14, 2026: "There was screaming, crying and hands covering eyes and mouths at the Winter Olympics watch party hosted by SkateQuest in Reston, Virginia, on Friday. They were all in disbelief as they watched Fairfax-native Ilia Malinin’s Olympic dreams...

www.instagram.com

 

[skateblessing]

Thanks for sharing this update. I´m sure I and many others are very glad to hear that he is using the day to hang around with people that care about him and that he gets a lot of hugs.

 

[Twilight1]

I am gutted for Ilia. I am also in the group who felt he should have been able to go to Beijing.

As I did for Emanuel Sandhu in 98 and Gogolev to the World's in 2019?

 

[Fiero425]

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!

I've always been concerned about that aspect of the sport! The governing bodies used to protect kids, but it's gotten progressively worse as athletes are getting younger & being allowed free reign to train & perform as they wish! I'm one who think it unnecessary to keep pushing these young, under-developed bodies! Why do we need to see 7 Quads? As much as I miss Russian skaters, it was obscene what they were doing w/ the girls alone; pushing them to prematurely perform like young women! They'll be in wheelchairs later! Replacement hips are being bought in bulk for the future of their athletes! End rant!

 

[Allskate]

Mikaela Shiffrin posted something today, and I hope Ilia sees it. I know that Mikaela and Simone Biles have talked to each other over the years, and it would be nice if Ilia could get their perspectives and see the joy that they have found in their sports and out, despite having super disappointing Olympics when they were in the spotlight and expected to do so much.

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[Spikefan]

I’m glad he canceled media and is spending time in the village. I get the four year sentiment but nothing in life is guaranteed. Enjoy what you have earned and live in the moment.

 

[Twilight1]

Kurt Browning said he needs to chat with Ilia.and I really hope they do chat. Kurt Browning is legit the perfect person to talk with Ilia in this moment IMHO.

 

[Allskate]

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.

You have to be very confident and willing to take some big risks in order to attempt a seven-quad program - including your riskiest and weakest quads - in your fourth competitive skate in a week. How many times has he successfully done that in competition? But, he loves doing what many people think is impossible. Maybe he would have had regrets if he hadn't done the quad loop and quad axel and done "only" four or five quads.

Today, someone released a run-through Ilia did of his program in practice last summer, skating it with triples. It's a reminder of how far he has come with his presentation in the last four years:

On Ice Perspectives ❄️🎥 on Instagram: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink t

148K likes, 3,895 comments - oniceperspectives on February 14, 2026: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink to help film the...

www.instagram.com

 

[DreamSkates]

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.

Yes, hopefully as he processes this experience and his disappointment, he'll get some wisdom about the whole situation and move forward. One bad skate doesn't define you. He is still a legend.

 

[Sylvia]

Today, someone released a run-through Ilia did of his program in practice last summer, skating it with triples. It's a reminder of how far he has come with his presentation in the last four years:

On Ice Perspectives ❄️🎥 on Instagram: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink t

148K likes, 3,895 comments - oniceperspectives on February 14, 2026: "The only true wisdom, is in knowing you know nothing. @ilia_quadg0d_malinin’s 2026 Olympic Free Program, recorded while training at his home rink in August 2025. Last summer, Ilia invited me to his home rink to help film the...

www.instagram.com

That "someone" is Jordan Cowan of On Ice Perspectives (I'm happy that he's in Milan as the person who is filming the skaters as they wave/speak to the camera as they leave the ice - he's been doing this same job at recent U.S. Nationals) - same video is also on his YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1uzfxtWi-s

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Meet Ilia Malinin's Sister! All About Fellow Figure Skater Elli Beatrice Malinina

Meet Ilia Malinin's Sister! All About Fellow Figure Skater Elli Beatrice Malinina — People

Like her brother, Ilia Malinin's sister is also a nationally ranked figure skater

apple.news

NEED TO KNOW


Olympic figure skater Ilia Malinin has a younger sister named Elli Beatrice Malinina


Like her brother, she's also a skater and is nationally ranked in junior competitions


Ilia joked that though he "tries" to coach Elli, she doesn't always listen to him

 

[Sylvia]

^^^ Repeating myself :

People article (Jan. 18) at the "(Exclusive)" that often is used in their headlines: https://people.com/ilia-malinin-doe...s-making-quad-axel-history-exclusive-11886675

Nitpick re.: "Even Malinin’s sister Elli, 11, is a nationally ranked junior skater." She's a "junior" as in lower level skater at the Juvenile level, which currently is the lowest USFS qualifying level.

From the Nov. 2025 Eastern Sectionals competition thread in Kiss & Cry:

Or when Ilia's 10-year-old sister "Liza" has skated well - link to watch their [mom&dad's] cute kiss & cry interactions after her Juvenile FS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqm3hNIQ4ZI&t=230s
She landed a clean 2A at the beginning (unfortunately her original music -- "Don't Go Away" from Rio 2 and the well-known "Real in Rio" from the original film -- has since been replaced except for a few seconds in the middle).

Liza finished 4th/won the pewter medal and has qualified for USFS' National Development Team & Camp.
Last year she placed 17th in Juvenile Girls with a single Axel and doubles.

Ilia joked that though he "tries" to coach Elli, she doesn't always listen to him

Source:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1984670774465016059

ICYMI, Max Naumov showed his compassion & staunch support for Ilia in his Access Hollywood interview on Saturday (day after the Men's FS):

Access Hollywood on Instagram: "That's a teammate 🥹 #WinterOlympics"

14K likes, 217 comments - accesshollywood on February 14, 2026: "That's a teammate 🥹 #WinterOlympics".

www.instagram.com

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting here from the U.S. Men's news thread in GSD:

Some of the Ilia excerpts from Robert Samuels' article on the Men's FS - gift linked by him on X here last night: https://x.com/newsbysamuels/status/2022508795822219579

Only the pettiest haters would imagine such a harsh word would lead to a discussion about Malinin. Shockingly, here we are. But to understand why Malinin faltered, it’s important to consider the conditions in which he has thrived.
Malinin is a self-described adrenaline junkie. He embraces the idea of conqueror like no other American skater. In major international competitions — such as the 2024 world championships, the 2025 grand prix final and even the team event at these 2026 games — his most thrilling skating came after he fell behind in the first phase of competition.
On Friday, he at first appeared to be feeding off the Olympic energy. When he initially stepped on the ice for the top six skaters’ final warmup, he made fun faces with the camera man and coolly glided on the ice. [...]
The gold medal had been practically polished and gift wrapped, but his shoulders were high, and he appeared to be taking deep breaths to calm any doubt inside his head.
Other Olympic champions had chosen big characters and big music to seize victory. In 2022, Nathan Chen was Rocketman sailing to an Elton John medley; in 2018, Yuzuru Hanyu channeled a samurai.

But Malinin chose to channel himself and his vulnerability, skating to his own voice delivering quiet affirmations that he hoped described the man inside the persona of the “Quadg0d” — something he admitted was a bit of a bravado joke at first, until he was so good that it stuck. Even he got tired of talking about the handle.
His free skate’s blend of internal intimacy and extraordinary technical prowess was supposed to be the path to his first individual gold medal, then a second in 2030 and a third in 2034, as well as a resurgent popularity in the sport he loved. That’s a lot of thinking ahead for a man balancing on boots attached to knives, slipping on ice.

His first quadruple jump, taking off on the side of the blade in between his legs, was tremendous. But then he unfurled when he launched into the jump that the world had wanted to see, his trademark quadruple axel. He could only manage a single rotation.
The problems continued to cascade, and his trademark jumping technique seemed to vanish, even when he took off from one his best jumps, the quadruple lutz. In a disappointing competition, it became clear that Malinin’s voice echoing throughout the arena was not simply to help the crowd — it was to help him, a 21-year-old, appropriately emotional, who was buried under the weight of his longing for perfection, his natural talent, his country’s high expectations and his own nickname.

“I don’t want to tell people that I’m untouchable,” Malinin said in an interview a month ago. “I want to do the opposite. I want people to relate to me. Even though, yes, I’m doing all these crazy things on the ice and defying physics, I want them to see that all of us, skaters, we’re still human beings.”
“The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing,” Malinin’s voice says at the beginning of the program, using a quote attributed to Socrates. Before he started jumping, the record instructs us — him — to “embrace the storm.”
When the Olympics are over, Malinin must face another challenge: embracing quiet. Quieting the torrent of emotions and criticism that will come from others — and himself — will be key as he works toward an individual Olympic gold medal that still seems inevitable.

Would anyone like to gift link this article by Marcus Thompson II for The Athletic (NYT)?

https://twitter.com/x/status/2022747557596926131

 

[mattiecat13]

Hope I did this right.

Ilia Malinin squanders his prime Olympic hope: ‘I just felt like I had no control’

Malinin fell twice, downgraded jumps and ended up finishing eighth in a men's figure skating competition in which he was highly favored.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Sylvia]

POSITIVE Breaking News posted in the U.S. Men's news thread via Brennan: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...-the-mere-mortals.112914/page-33#post-6896348

ETA link to Christine Brennan's column yesterday:

How Ilia Malinin responded after Olympic meltdown was simply beautiful

For Ilia Malinin, a terrible night was followed by a wonderful postscript. How he responded in the face of a meltdown was beautiful.

www.usatoday.com

Excerpt:

But Ilia Malinin? After spending significant time hugging and speaking with the surprising gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, he walked purposely behind the curtains to the mixed zone interview area, where, just a couple of minutes after leaving the ice, he spoke calmly, politely and intelligently with NBC’s Andrea Joyce, fully answering the four questions she asked, including saying this:
“I was not expecting that, I felt like going into this competition I was so ready … maybe I was too confident that it was going to go well. … I think it was definitely mental, just now finally experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it’s crazy, it’s not like any other competition, it’s really different. I’m still so grateful that I was able to put in this work and effort to get to where I am, but of course that was not the skate that I wanted.”
And his first thought when his music ended?
“I blew it, that’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind was there’s no way that just happened.”
Joyce thanked him for the interview, and he thanked her back.
Malinin then ran the gauntlet of the maze-like mixed zone, answering the same questions over and over again. When he reached the U.S. journalists, he answered everything again, but none of his answers sounded forced. He was patient and thoughtful. It was as if he was being asked about it all for the first time, offering new words and phrases to describe what he had just done.
"The pressure of the Olympics really gets you,” he said. “The pressure is unreal. It's almost like I wasn't aware of where I was in the program. Usually I have more time and more feeling of how it is, but this time, it all went by so fast. … It just felt so overwhelming. I didn't really know how to handle it in that moment.”
Malinin always has been respectful of the writers and broadcasters who cover him, and Friday night, arguably the worst night of his life, was no different.

 

[Cachoo]

Really a lovely guy and, btw, an Olympic gold medalist. Onward.

 

[Debbie S]

Really a lovely guy and, btw, an Olympic gold medalist. Onward.

I hope his performance in the TE final, where his skate clinched the gold for the U.S., won't be forgotten in the aftermath of the individual. Not a 7-quad program but he came through and did what was needed for the team (and the same skate would have won individual gold ). I hope the media (and fans) will give him the credit he deserves.

 

[Sylvia]

Ilia & Amber out & about in Milan today, Feb. 1st (photos by Damon Allen):

Damon Allen on Instagram: "Day 2 in Milan with Amber Glenn and Ilia."

133 likes, 6 comments - damonenrique on February 1, 2026: "Day 2 in Milan with Amber Glenn and Ilia.".

www.instagram.com

Today Amber shared their Google-sponsored video that was filmed back on Feb. 1:

Amber Glenn on Instagram: "#sponsored Guess who took a much-needed break from training? 😉 TY @Google for the epic itinerary ✨🏛️👂🏽"

1,815 likes, 16 comments - amberglenniceskater on February 15, 2026: "#sponsored Guess who took a much-needed break from training? 😉 TY @Google for the epic itinerary ✨🏛️👂🏽".

www.instagram.com