Ilia Malinin flooded with ‘thoughts and memories’ during Olympic free skate

U.S. Figure Skater Ilya Marinin Struggles in Men’s Free Skate Final

On Friday, Ilya Marinin, the U.S. male figure skater, expressed that he was overwhelmed with “thoughts and memories” just before his performance in the men’s free skate final at the Winter Olympics.

Despite being a favorite for gold, Marinin unexpectedly fell twice during his routine, landing him in 8th place and missing out on a podium finish.

After the competition, Marinin shared, “Right before I entered the starting pose, a lot of thoughts and memories came flooding in. I might have felt a little overwhelmed. I’ve been through a lot in my life, both bad and good.” He added that the pressure of being an Olympic gold candidate felt immense and was something he found difficult to control.

He reflected on the unique pressure of the Olympics, noting, “It’s really different, and I don’t think a lot of people understand that. They just understand it from within and go into this competition. Especially today, I felt confident, but it went by so fast. I didn’t have time to process it all.” As he continued to process his experience, Marinin found some relief in knowing he would return to the U.S. with the team gold medal he had helped secure earlier in the week.

“I think it’s definitely a plus for me. To be honest, it makes me think I need to understand why something like this happened in the individual events,” Marinin said. He mentioned that he had prepared for multiple performances, yet didn’t have enough time to fully comprehend the outcome of the final.

Prior to the free skate, Marinin had performed quite well in the short program, leading by over five points with a score of 108.16. However, his performance on Friday was considerably weaker. He started with a quadruple flip but then opted for a single axel and attempted a double loop instead of a more challenging quadruple loop. Further errors, including two falls, led to a disappointing score of 156.33 points, far below his usual scores in the range of 200 and his world record of 238.24.

Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidlov took home the gold, scoring a personal best of 291.58 points, while Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama clinched silver and teammate Shun Sato earned bronze. Marinin, who typically scores in the 300s, managed only 264.49 points, considerably lower than his personal best of 333.81.

After the event, Marinin congratulated his competitors from Kazakhstan. Reflecting on his experience, he mentioned that had he been at the previous Olympics in Beijing, he would have likely performed better. At 17, he was removed from the roster in favor of a veteran, an experience he noted left a strong impact on him psychologically.