Ilia Malinin Explains Hot Mic Moment After Failing to Medal In Olympic Individual Final

The pressure got to Ilia Malinin during the men’s individual figure skating finals on Friday. The 21-year--old American skater entered the day with a 5.09 lead over the next closest competitor, and as the clear favorite to win gold in the event.

Instead of capitalizing and winning his first individual Olympic gold, Malinin fell multiple times during his free skate and did not perform his signature quad axel. He tumbled down to eighth in the standings while Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov won the gold.

As Malinin awaited his score, he was overheard saying on a hot mic, "Beijing, I would not have skated like that,” via USA Today.

Malinin later clarified what he said in that moment, explaining, “I think if I went to '22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment. But also, I don't know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there."

After finishing second at the U.S. national championships in 2022, Malinin had a strong case to head to his first Olympic Games that year in Beijing. Instead, the U.S. opted to take a more experienced skater in Jason Brown.

Malinin recently said to CBS Sunday Morning of that decision to leave him off the 2022 Olympic team, “If it wasn’t for that decision, I don’t think I’d be here in this moment. I feel like after ’26 I’d be done skating. … I I don’t think that I’d be landing a quad axel or trying to really revolutionize the sport or pushing the limits of my own capabilities or the sport in general.”

Understandably, Malinin might have wished he had that prior Olympic experience as he cracked under the weight of the moment in the free skate on Friday. Malinin was candid after the competition about the pressure of competing at the Olympics

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