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

[misskarne]

I'm glad Ilia is going to Worlds. I hope Jason does too, so that our last memory of him can be something good.

 

[BittyBug]

Re Ilia - I posted this in his fan thread as well (gifted NYT / Athletic link):

Ilia Malinin learning that the greats need to endure heartbreak

For Malinin, the path forward is clear. He is yearning to get back onto the ice.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Jonas]

It could be any number of things. It could be the layout. It could be TE decisions. It could be all the hype and expectations that Ilia and members of his team helped amp up. It could be the media and endorsement stuff he did while he was in Milan. Who knows what else? It would just be speculation. His parents are Olympians and Raf has experience with Nathan having a devastating Olympics. So, if they didn't do much to help protect Ilia from making mistakes, then kudos to Raf for admitting it and talking to Ilia about it.

I agree w/everything you said wholeheartedly, but THIS part in bold caught my eye for some reason. Back in Pyeongchang wasn't there some sort of quibble between Nathan and Raf re: how to go about the SP?? IIRC, Nathan went for the 4Lutz combo against Raf's advice and got stuck in 15th and out of medal contention. Of course, Nathan was glorious in the FS (he won it, right??), so maybe this all got buried quickly, but I don't remember Raf making any sort of public statements seemingly defending 18-year old Nathan. It was kinda just an, "it is what it is" kinda thing with how it all played out. Fast forward two Olympic cycles, Raf seems to go up to bat for 21-year old Ilia -- and he doesn't even coach him full-time. Granted Nathan wasn't as overwhelming a favorite to win in Pyeongchang as Ilia was here in Milan, but still an interesting comparative observation to me. Maybe it is Raf learning from his experience coaching an Olympic gold medal favorite.

Your thoughts...

 

[BittyBug]

Time tends to either harden or soften us. In Raf’s case, it appears to be the latter. Also, being more of an advisor than a full-time coach might give Raf a different perspective.