Olympics-Figure skating-Malinin's meltdown proof that pressure can strike even world's best

By Lori Ewing

MILAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Ilia Malinin’s free‑skate collapse at the Milano Cortina Olympics was the kind of sporting shock that reverberates far beyond the rink.

For two years, the American "Quad God" had seemed unstoppable, owning a two-plus-year unbeaten streak and seemingly stepping on the ice as one of the biggest certainties for Olympic gold the sport had seen in decades.

But on Friday night, under the glare of Olympic expectation, Malinin delivered one of the most shocking implosions in figure skating history, tumbling from a lead to a scarcely believable eighth place.

Malinin, 21, did not hide from the moment. He acknowledged what had overtaken him: nerves, pressure, and a mental flood he could not control.

"I blew it," he said bluntly. "It just felt so overwhelming."

BILES APPLAUDED MALININ IN SUPPORT

Gymnastics great Simone Biles, herself no stranger to the suffocating nerves that can strike under the Olympic spotlight, was at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, and stood and applauded Malinin in support.

Having once stepped back from competition at the Tokyo Games after experiencing the "twisties", a sudden and dangerous disconnect between a gymnast's mind and body, Biles has openly discussed the pressures that can destabilize even the most decorated champions.

Her willingness to speak about anxiety, therapy, and the emotional toll of elite sport has made her a symbol of mental‑health advocacy.

From his opening seconds on the ice, Malinin said something felt off. What should have been a coronation quickly became a crisis.

Malinin fell twice, popped jumps, and bailed mid‑air on his quadruple Axel — a move only he has landed in competition.

Each mistake compounded the next, and by the time he struck his final pose, the improbability of what the world had just witnessed hung in the silence of the arena.

When the scores confirmed his fall to eighth, Malinin looked stunned. The gold went to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov, with Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato completing the podium.

The U.S. figure skating team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Malinin's performance.

OLYMPICS ARE 'MOMENT IN TIME', PSYCHOLOGIST SAYS

For a skater who had appeared impervious to pressure for more than two seasons, his vulnerability was striking.

Canadian sports psychologist Penny Werthner, who has worked with summer and winter athletes over an estimated 16 Olympics, said Olympic athletes faced an extraordinary psychological burden, shaped by years of sacrifice collapsing into a single, unforgiving moment of performance.

The Games amplify every expectation — from national pride to personal legacy — creating a level of scrutiny and emotional weight unlike any other stage in sport, she said.

"It's a really stressful environment," Werthner told Reuters, speaking before the Milano Cortina Games started, about the pressures of competing in an Olympics.

"A lot of years have gone into getting to that one point in time, it is one moment in time where you're asking yourself to step up in that moment. And it's incredibly hard."

Werthner said athletes varied greatly in their ability to handle the enormity of the Olympics.

"There are some rare athletes who manage that stress really well," she said. "That doesn't mean they don't get stressed, but they really thrive on that competition. But the vast majority of us as human beings have to learn how to thrive in that environment. It's not easy."

The aim of sport psychology, which emerged in the 1960s and '70s, is to arm athletes with skills to handle the pressure.

"I always say it takes two or three years for the vast majority of athletes to learn these skills," Werthner said. "And it takes training and practice and then reflection on how well it works, because then they're learning. And fundamentally, every athlete is different."

MALININ SAYS HE HOPES TO REGROUP FOR FUTURE

What Malinin was also missing in Milan was the composure and consistency on the Olympic stage that come with experience, strengths more easily summoned by athletes who have already weathered the Olympic storm a cauldron capable of overwhelming the mind and swallowing even the best.

Malinin was second behind eventual Olympic champion Nathan Chen at the 2022 U.S. national championships, but Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown were selected over him for the Beijing Olympic team.

“I think if I went to ’22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment," Malinin said about the impact of not getting experience in Beijing.

"Now all I can do is just regroup from this and really just take in the information that happened and just figure out how to manage in the future.”

Malinin was proof that pressure does not discriminate, that even world-class athletes can find themselves overwhelmed by the intensity. It is seen in professional sports as well.

Golfer Greg Norman's 1996 collapse at the Masters remains one of the most dramatic unravellings in the history of the sport. He later revealed he had not slept the night before, weighed down by doubts. Sports psychologists pointed to warning signs of overthinking what had been automatic skills, and mounting anxiety.