Ilia Malinin has made a brutally honest confession after tearful 2026 Winter Olympic heartbreak.
According to ESPN, the American ice-skating sensation who entered into the Milano-Cortina Game as the favourite for the gold fell twice during the free skate.
Malinin, who is known as “Quad God”, was expected to win gold on Friday night, February 13, but missed his signature quad Axel and fell twice after losing his control.
The pressure hit him hard, and he shockingly ended in eighth place as Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the Milano-Cortina gold medal.
Malinin said moments after leaving the ice, “I blew it. That's honestly the first thing that came to my mind. I just felt like all the ... traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head, and there were just so many negative thoughts that just flooded into there. And I just did not handle it."
“I was not expecting that. I felt like going into this competition I was so ready. I just felt ready getting on that ice. I think maybe I was too confident that it was going to go well. Honestly, it just happened. I can't process what just happened,” he told NBC.
He expressed that he did not know what was actually happening, but all he knew was that it was not his bend and something that he was definitely not expecting.
Malinin nailed Tuesday’s short program with a competition best 108.16 but fell short in the free skate with a score of 156.33 that placed him 15th among 24 competitors, making his total score 264.49.
The two-time reigning world champion was left shocked after seeing his eighth place and stood up from his chair quickly.
Japan's Yuma Kagiyama won silver, while Shun Sato earned a bronze medal.
