Ilia Malinin Places 8th After Two Big Falls

We are hitting record right now after something shocking.

So, uh, I was gonna ask, how are you doing?

I think probably a little bit stunned, and I don't know if you're, if you've picked your jaw back up off the floor yet, uh, cause I still haven't, but how's it going, Gart?

You're referring to the US women's hockey team, uh, scoring more goals than Italy has shots on that.

No, I'm kidding.

Uh, we're, yeah, we're, you're hearing our reaction in real time to Ilya Malinin's flop, I think is an accurate way to put it, especially given that he did flop like literally on the ice, um.

Finishing in 8th place in the men's singles that we went in with this big cushion, you know, that inherent advantage and just, you know, the skills that he has and the points that are awarded for those skills, and, I mean, really stunning.

I think neither of us has really had time to process it, so you're gonna hear us kinda work through our feelings in real time and, um, yeah, I'm still just, uh, like you said, draw on the ground.

Yeah, that, so that in addition to, as we've discussed, this is our 12th or 13th episode of these games, and I think we've made it, made it very clear we do not have the technical expertise in the figure skating.

That is one small thing we are lacking here on this podcast.

But yeah, I mean, the reaction to this was unbelievable.

Um, the reaction on the broadcast, his reaction afterward was very interesting also.

So, so I don't know if we should start with sort of the basics of what happened, but, um, before we get into sort of everything that happened afterwards, but yeah, I mean, it was, it was sort of like an unraveling.

I gotta feel bad to see it, honestly.

I think a lot of people are going to be talking about the pressure that he was under, um, and how responsible that was.

But yeah, so this was the, um, men's.

Uh, free skate program, which is broken up into two parts.

He was in 1st place after the short program by a pretty healthy margin.

And I think like you just said , you know, he already has such a built-in advantage just because his, uh, his jumps and everything that he does, he has such a higher, a much higher ceiling than anyone else in the competition, uh, from on the technical score.

Uh, and then a couple of the guys before him sort of stumbled a little bit also, so he's the last to go, and it felt like he didn't actually have to have, I mean, he didn't have to have a perfect run.

He, he could have easily just done a good enough run, and I think, um, people were wondering like, OK, is he gonna sort of.

Um, take his foot off the gas and maybe some of these quad jumps, you can dial him down a little bit because you don't have to take any chances.

Of course, this is the guy who does backflips for fun, even though they are all risk and and no upside in the way the scoring works.

Um, so I was excited to see like.

You know, oh man, is this guy just gonna go for it, and like they give out a gold medal every 4 years, but here's an opportunity to maybe do something totally legendary and just put together like an all-time performance.

Instead, very early in his routine, uh, he starts making mistakes.

One of the one of the jumps that he usually does a quad, he goes down to a single, the next one he usually does a quad goes down to a double, uh, twice he actually falls to the ice, ends up, like you said, 8th on the podium is like insane.

I thought the worst that could possibly happen would be him coming in 2nd.

Uh, him, him, him not winning a medal in this event is just like astounding, especially, you know, you and I, um.

In our preparation before the Olympics are doing all of our, uh, you know, studying up and everybody's talking about him like he's just like, you know, a shoo-in.

There's no such thing as a shoo-in.

We saw Simone Biles dealing with the twisties at the, um, Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and so we know that even, you know, these all-time greats, we, we've seen, we saw Mikaela Shiffrin at the Beijing Olympics, um, you know, and, and Lindsey Vonn having a crash, like, of course things happen, but, uh this is a pretty shocking outcome.

Yeah, I mean, so the way he fell, like you said, those two falls and the other, um, you know, kind of alterations where he didn't rotate as much as he usually does, those cost him over 70 points, and when your score, when your score is, you know, his final score was 156, you know, so it, it's, it costs him.

You know, like, nearly half of, you know, the points he ended up getting, right?

So, it's like, those, those mistakes just really dropped him down and like you said, the door was open, not only after the short program portion, but also today as the free skate wore on, the guys ahead of him.

of faltered as well.

So, after the short program, I thought, you know, it was pretty, pretty confident in the fact that we're probably looking at a podium of uh Malinin Yuakayama, and then there was a French skater named Adam Shao Shaofinha, uh Shaohifa.

Um.

Anyway, the, uh, the three of them had had a big cushion above, you know, kind of 4th through 8th place, right?

All they had to do was, you know, take care of business as you might say in another sport, just, you know, make skate their skate, you know, do just a good enough job, no mistakes, and then they're, they're golden.

So, uh, Shaoho Fa of France and Kagiyama of Japan, they both had, they both faltered, uh, Kagiyama less so.

And then the real winner of the day, we should say the gold medalist, an amazing performance by Mikhail Shaidarov of Kazakhstan, who, um, was in 5th place after the short program.

And again, a big, a big gap there, uh, you know, before the top of the podium.

Ends up putting in the best score in the free skate, he vaults to the top, um, and then, you know, like you said, these other skaters are unable to seize on the opportunity, um, to just, you know, work with the cushion they were given and, um, and take advantage.

Yeah, and I, I believe, and as I said, this just happened.

I believe they said on TV that that was the 2nd gold medal ever for Kazakhstan at the Winter Olympics.

Uh, I mean, the, the big winner in so many ways, I mean, obviously he's, he's now an Olympic champion for the rest of his life, but also just like the way this all happened, it, it, it, it's really quite stunning, like, yeah, we.

We knew who some of his top competitors were, uh, from watching the short program and also from, we've already seen the team competition, um, and so we, you know, we've seen a, a bunch of these guys and, and their routines and, uh, this guy was not on my radar at all, and now he's the Olympic champ.

Um, and, and to put in perspective as well, you know, the great day that that uh Shadarov had.

Mallinon, his score in the free skate was we mentioned him finishing in the final standings 8th, but in the free skate, he was 15th, from 1st to 15th.

I mean, just like, a real, a real stunning result, as you said, 15th out of, I'm scrolling down the results here now, 24, um, you know, like, well in the bottom half of the standings, just.

Yeah, shocking beyond words almost.

It is, you do wonder like once it got away from him, like the, sure, you know, the, the second fall, it's like at that point, who knows where his head was, you know what I mean?

Like I like I don't know.

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Some, uh, some interesting comments on the broadcast.

So, uh, Tara Lapinski has been, uh, one of the people calling for NBC, and she said, uh, they were, they were sort of after the routine.

They were going back and looking over the, uh, like the slow-mo, and she said, uh, she didn't see anything that was technical, and she said it was all mental, which is, uh, sort of an interesting thing to say, to just like come out and, and I think a lot of times, uh, especially nowadays, I think people are.

More careful to like blame something on being like a mental mistake or something.

I guess that's different from like, mental toughness or things like that, but, but she just called them like mental mistakes and not physical mistakes , which I thought was interesting.

And, and yeah, she said, uh, that she just never thought that could happen, him being off the podium entirely.

And then I don't know, did you see, um, Malinin's response when he was, uh, sitting there, you know, they sit and they wait for the scores and there are a million cameras on him and everything.

I did.

So this was really interesting, the way that, did you see his interview afterwards as well?

Oh, I didn't see his interview, but let me, let me start with his comments when he was sitting there when I don't know if, I mean, he must know that everything he says is getting picked up by microphones, but he, and I'm sort of paraphrasing because I think the broadcast was relaying the comments, but he basically was saying, um, that if they had sent him to Beijing 4 years ago, that wouldn't have happened.

I did say he looked at the camera, he said it's, it's not easy, it's not easy.

Skating like that.

But we talked about this in the lead up that he was, uh, a lot of people thought he should have been on the Olympic team 4 years ago for the Beijing Olympics.

They didn't select him.

He was very young at that point.

And, uh, you know, I, I guess he's making the case that if he had had that Olympic experience, um, this wouldn't have happened here.

I will say it's a little different, you know, we talked about him struggling also in his very first skate at these Olympics, which was in the team program.

And so, um, and he did seem to rebound from that.

But this is now 2 out of his 4 skates, and I think we talked at the time about like, OK, well, he's getting his legs under and maybe some nerves, um, you know, first time at the Olympics.

He had those like interesting comments that some people thought were misinterpreted about like, um, you know, 50% of his, uh, whatever, and, and I think some people thought he was talking about effort, but he might have just been talking about what happened.

Um, but anyway, to see him, I guess, still struggling with that.

Uh, now having completed his 4th official skate at the Olympics, um, but then also, I mean, just to see that he, he's been at the top of the skating world for years and he's still, I guess, harboring that resentment, uh, and feeling burned by that 4 years later, I guess it's, it's normal that, uh, in a very shocking moment, uh, especially like something.

That public, like all of your, like, I think I'd probably be the same way, like all of my past slights I'd be mad about and like that would, that's an easy, like, that's a human emotion to in that moment, just like, get mad about this thing that happened 4 years ago that you're still thinking about, but, but it does make you wonder if he was like thinking about that, like the whole week that he's been over there in Italy and, and, you know, let alone.

Whole 4 years in between.

Um, but interesting reaction.

So I don't know if you want to share your thoughts on that or if you want to just talk about that interview that you mentioned that I haven't.

Yeah, so it was interesting to see his, you know, we're talking about us processing this, obviously him processing it is a more, is, you know, a more complicated thing , but it was interesting to see him kind of go through, you know, the process of dealing with what happened to him.

Um, what, you know, he buries his hands in his face immediately after the music is over, um, you know, then he, he's, he's distraught walking off the ice, uh, then he goes, like you said, he's sitting and waiting for the score, he's muttering about, or, you know, maybe not muttering, but he, he is talking about, um, you know, this perceived slight being left off the previous team.

He seems kind of bitter in that moment.

The score comes in, he reacts, you know, as you might expect, right?

He's disappointed, he knows it's coming though.

But then immediately, he goes over to congratulate Shadarov, um, which I didn't quite expect him to do, given how he had been reacting, you know, moments earlier, um, and then he has an interview afterwards, and I watched it like, literally, like as I'm walking in, I like, went in the other room to get my bottle of water and I saw him on TV saying this before we go over to the record, but he said, you know, he, he seemed, he was, he was cracking a smile a little bit.

Um, but the thing that stuck out to me, uh, the interviewer, and I, and I, I regret that I don't have her name in front of me, but she asked, you know, what was your first thought when, uh, when that music ended and, and the routine was over?

And he just said, I blew it.

Like that was my first thought was I, I, I blew it.

And we all knew it at home.

Obviously he knew it, he's the one who's, you know, who's taking part in this, in this routine, but, um, he seemed to, in the, in the course of a few minutes, kind of, um, come to grips with what had just happened to him.

Yeah, well, and , and also I'll say I don't blame him at all for the initial reaction either.

Like I, I think, yeah, that's, that's just a, that's a human thing and a lot of sporting events, a lot of times you, uh, if something horrible happens, you're, you get to run into the locker room first and like process it for a little bit.

Figure skating is kind of a unique sport where they make you sit there and wait for the, for the verdict to come down, um, again with, with cameras in your face, um.

Yeah, so that's, uh, that's tough.

I, I guess, um, silver lining and more of a gold lining we can say.

He is an Olympic gold medalist.

They did win the team competition.

I'm sure he is crushed by this and probably will be forever, or at least for 4 years until he has a chance to win another one individually, but, um, but he did win the team competition even if he is not, uh, you know, 100% thrilled with how he skated in that one either.

Um, but yeah, there's just something about like the pressure that some people are under, and we have talked a few times about, um, athletes, I think about like Ben Ogden, the, um, US cross country skier who won silver and was like so excited about it.

And there are a lot of athletes who want to win the gold and make it a big deal, um, you know, their hopes to win gold, but can still be happy with a silver and a bronze.

And then there are other athletes who are just like totally psyched to have silver and bronze, and then there's this much smaller class of athletes who are really viewed at viewed as like gold or bust, and I think that is the case for, um, you know, I think like the, the women's hockey team might even feel that way, like US and Canada might both like some of these people who are in like the top, top place in sports are viewed as like gold or bust.

And Ilya Malinin probably would have looked at silver as a failure, um, just the way he looks at himself, um, probably, you know, I don't, I don't know him, but based on, based on the expectations that have been heaped on him, uh, and, and let me not speak for him.

A lot of people would have viewed that as a failure for him if he had won silver, and, and we had thought that might be possible, like we had seen it, we had seen him stumble a couple times, but him not even winning a medal is just like truly unbelievable.

Yeah, I, I think that the last thing I'll say on this, we talked about how Um, you know, a lot of the other competitors in front of him were also feeling that pressure and also stumbled.

I wonder if, um, the, the size of the cushion getting bigger got in his head, you know, the wig of the Kagiyama, uh, had his own fall and, you know, fell out of, uh, he ended up finishing, uh, he ended up finishing in 2nd, he got the silver, but, um, but his, you know, his, uh, free skate score was 6th best of the day.

So, you know, he had a, he had a rough showing in the free skate.

And it, and it gives Mallinon this much bigger cushion.

And then, you know, to bring it back to hockey, you know, they say the two goal lead is the hardest goal, the hardest lead to protect, right?

Uh, he's got the proverbial two goal lead in this, in this, uh, situation.

And, you know, it, it, it changes your, your mental approach.

The, the, uh, the commentary was talking about, oh, is he now gonna dial back on the quads and turn to triples, right?

And you wonder if, you know, he's, he's trying to make these on the fly adjustments to play it safe and then it ended up biting him.