“Just be prepared for the worst”: Ilia Malinin opens up on Olympic disappointment and painful learning moment

American figure skater Ilia Malinin faced one of the toughest moments of his young career at the Winter Olympics 2026. The 21-year-old entered the Games as the clear gold-medal favorite, but mistakes in his free skate pushed him down to eighth place and shocked the skating world. Soon after the result, Malinin shared an emotional message about failure, learning, and staying strong despite criticism. Speaking to CBS News, Ilia Malinin said, “Honestly, just be prepared for the worst because you learn a lot more from failure than you do winning.And that’s something that a life lesson that I’ve always stuck with and also the concept of everything happens for a reason. And that’s something that I’ll also live with.” His words showed pain, but also calm belief in the future. Even after strong backlash from fans and experts, the American star made it clear that he is not giving up and still sees meaning in this difficult Olympic moment.Malinin also shared a personal habit that keeps him motivated every day. He revealed, “It’s one of my mottos that I like to remind myself. I have it on my phone every day. I wake up in the morning and the first thing that’s what my phone says. So it’s just really something that’s really sentimental to me and I think everyone should try to embrace that.”

Ilia Malinin’s Olympic performance raises mental pressure questions from Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir

Known as the “Quad God” for landing extremely difficult jumps, Ilia Malinin struggled to perform his trademark quadruple axel at the Olympics. He also fell on a quadruple lutz, which led to heavy score deductions and dropped him far from the podium. The unexpected errors surprised fans because Malinin had dominated international skating for years.According to NBC Sports analyst and Olympic gold medalist Tara Lipinski, the issue did not appear technical. She said on NBC, “I don’t think we can even point to anything that truly happened technically. It was all mental. I never thought that he could be off the podium.”Her view pointed toward the pressure of expectations rather than skill problems.NBC Sports analyst Johnny Weir also explained how the Olympic stage feels different from any other event. He said, “Every little skater, every little athlete in any sport that’s in the Olympic Games, across summer and winter, you dream about that moment in front of the entire world. And when you get there, it’s of course a huge and monumental achievement, but then you’re there, and this is what it feels like.”Before the Olympics, Malinin had not lost an international event since 2023 and had won multiple world-level titles. That winning streak increased hopes for gold and made the final result harder to accept. While Malinin admits the pressure affected him, many fans are still struggling to understand the shocking outcome.Yet his emotional message shows one clear thing, Ilia Malinin is already thinking about rising again.