Entering as the heavy favorite for gold, Ilia Malinin had an immense weight of expectations over his shoulders. However, an eighth-place finish in the men’s singles event at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics left both him and his supporters disappointed. Malinin has recently spoken out about the “invisible battles” and immense pressure he faced.

“Yeah, honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling. [It’s] the most honest way to say,” Malinin said in an interview with The Today show.

“Just a lot of on you, just so many eyes, so much attention, not only from people or fans, media. It’s just so much. And it really can get to you if you’re not ready to fully embrace it.”

“I think that might be one of the mistakes I made going into that free skate was [that] I was not ready to handle that to a full extent.”

“So I think looking back at that, I know that now I’ll be able to kind of understand how that feels. So that way I can take a different approach leading up to the next games, hopefully.”

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Ilia Malinin is currently in a regrouping stage after that brutal standing. This momentary lapse occurred because of a “nightmare” free skate on February 13th. It made his points drop from 1st to 15th in the segment. Despite leading by five points after the short program, he accumulated 72 points in deductions and structural scoring losses during his final routine. Why did this happen? The overwhelming pressure possibly.

“The nerves just went, so overwhelming,” Malinin said. “And especially going into that starting pose, I just felt like all the traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head. So many negative thoughts that flooded into there and I could not handle it.”

“All I know is that it wasn’t my best skate and it was definitely something I wasn’t expecting,” Malinin added. “And it’s done, so I can’t go back and change it, even though I would love to.”

Now, why did he have so many eyes and expectations on him? It was because of his unprecedented technical dominance. Malinin is the only skater in history to land the quadruple Axel in competition. And guess what? He failed this signature move and landed on just one axel that made him lose points. Then, he fell twice on major jump attempts, specifically on a quadruple Lutz and a quadruple Salchow.

This is just devastating for the world record holder, who had the highest free skate score (238.24), set in December 2025.

What is ahead for Ilia Malinin? 

After finishing 8th, Ilia Malinin will now focus on developing his mental strength to fight the outside voice. However, there are some major competitions lined up for him in the coming days.

Malinin will perform in the Closing Gala on Saturday, February 21. Although he finished eighth, organizers still invited him to take part in the non-competitive showcase. Afterward, the 21-year-old will also work on a personal project he previously hinted at. It’s a documentary titled “Mental Health Matters” or similar. It focuses on the “insurmountable pressure” and “invisible battles” he faced in Milan.

The main announcement is scheduled for Saturday. After that, the World still awaits to see him. Malinin’s agent has confirmed that he will travel to Prague to defend his title at the World Figure Skating Championships from 26–29 March 2026.

There, he will be aiming for his third consecutive gold. And let us tell you, one major setback isn’t enough to stop Ilia Malinin from participating in the Olympics.

He has expressed a strong desire to participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps.

“All I have to do is just learn from my mistakes there and push to see how I can improve in the future,” Malinin said.