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Winter Olympics 2026: Ilia Malinin admits he 'was not ready to handle' free skate pressure
We are approaching the final days of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and we already know one of the biggest narratives of the 2030 Games: the redemption of Ilia Malinin.
Malinin's fall to eighth place in men's free skate last weekend has triggered both an outpouring of support from his peers and attempts at a postmortem to answer the question, "How does the best figure skater in the world fall off the Olympic podium?"
Malinin attempted to answer some of those questions on "Today" Tuesday morning, describing his mindset the day of as positive:
"Going into that day, I felt really confident, really good. Stepping on the ice, I definitely felt that amazing environment, from in that arena, so much support, so much energy. Going onto the ice, I really had a nice day, excited to get out there.
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Ilia Malinin reflects on Olympic experience: "You learn a lot more from failure"
When a star athlete delivers a poor performance while the world is watching on the Olympic stage, it's a challenge to move forward.
But Ilia Malinin, Team USA's favorite for a gold medal, doesn't want to dwell on the past after he failed to make it to the podium, finishing eighth in the individual men's figure skating event at the Milano Cortina Winter Games.
"Everything happens for a reason," the 21-year-old told CBS News in an interview Wednesday. He said he has to believe that "you learn a lot more from failure than you do winning."
Malinin stressed he was focused on moving forward and continuing to push the boundaries of the sport. Even though he failed to perform his signature quadruple axel in the free skate portion of the competition, Malinin said he is still going to try to increase the number and difficulty level of his jumps.
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