“I blew it.” Those were the first words that came to Ilia Malinin’s mind after his dream of winning Olympic gold in men’s figure skating fell apart in Milan. The American star was visibly emotional as he left the ice, struggling to hold back tears after a mistake-filled free skate cost him a place on the podium. Malinin arrived at the 2026 Winter Olympics as the overwhelming favorite but finished eighth in the individual event. But several months later, the 21-year-old has found a different perspective on that painful night and is ready to return to the Grand Prix circuit with a renewed sense of purpose.

“I’ve learned that I’m tougher and stronger mentally than I thought I was,” Malinin said in an interview with The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II on November 5. He admitted that he had endured more than he expected during the Olympics, but he no longer looks at the experience only as a failure. “Even with everything that happened, it was still such an unreal experience,” he added. Now, he is preparing to compete at Skate America, which runs from November 13 to 15 in Everett, Washington.

The road back to competition was not easy for the American star. Although he returned to the ice just six weeks after the Olympics and won his third consecutive World Championship in Prague, the victory did not immediately mean he was ready to continue competing. Malinin even considered taking several months away from the sport, possibly sitting out the remainder of 2026, to give himself time to recover mentally. He wanted to make sure he could enjoy skating again without constantly feeling the pressure to win and live up to the expectations surrounding his Quad God nickname.

His experience on the Stars on Ice tour this year played a major role in changing that outlook. Away from judges, scores and the pressure of competition, Malinin found the freedom to perform simply because he loved skating. During the tour, he entertained audiences with four consecutive backflips and performed to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Looking back, he admitted that he had not realized how much he needed that experience until it began. 

The Olympic experience also made him understand how much the pressure surrounding the Games had affected him. Before arriving in Milan, Malinin had been enjoying an extraordinary run, with his signature quadruple Axel making him one of the biggest names in figure skating. He had also helped the United States win gold in the team event, earning his first Olympic medal just five days before the men’s individual final. However, the attention and expectations surrounding his individual performance proved overwhelming.

But Malinin believes the disappointment brought him closer to his fans. He feels that people connected with him on a more personal level after seeing him struggle, rather than viewing him only as the skater who seemed capable of doing the impossible. “We’re human,” he said. He also made it clear that one disappointing performance did not mean his career was over.

Now, Malinin is ready to put that new perspective into practice as he begins the 2026-27 season, and his sights remain firmly set on the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps, where he hopes to get another chance at the individual gold that slipped away in Milan. But before he starts thinking about another Olympic challenge, he has something much more personal to bring to the ice.

Ilia Malinin brings personal tribute to Skate America with new short program

For his upcoming season, Malinin has chosen music from Karl Jenkins’ Cantata Memoria for his new short program. Rather than focusing only on his technical skills, he wants the performance to carry a message of remembrance. The program will honor the 28 members of the figure skating community who lost their lives in the January 2025 midair collision near Washington, D.C. He is scheduled to debut it during the men’s short program at Skate America on November 13 in Everett, Washington, with the men’s free skate taking place the following day.

The choice of music is deeply personal for Malinin because several of the victims were connected to his own Washington Figure Skating Club. The January 29, 2025, collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter claimed 67 lives, including young skaters, their family members, and coaches. For Malinin, the tragedy was not just another heartbreaking news story. It involved people from the skating community he knew and cared about.

When announcing his new program on October 13, Malinin shared an emotional message: “In honor of the past. In remembrance of those never forgotten.” He also described the performance as a way to turn sorrow into remembrance, writing, “From the depths of tragedy emerges a timeless tribute of remembrance. Through every note, sorrow becomes beauty, silence becomes memory, and the echoes of those lost live on forever.” 

Speaking about the crash in an earlier interview with NPR, Malinin called it “a very traumatic experience for me and really just devastating for me to hear.” Now, he hopes to keep their memories alive through a performance that will show audiences a side of his skating that goes beyond jumps, scores and medals.