As the 2026 Winter Olympics enter its final days, we already know one of the biggest stories of the 2030 Winter Olympics: the redemption of Ilia Malinin.
Marinen’s fall to eighth place in the men’s free skate last weekend sparked not only an outpouring of support from his peers but also an attempt at a postmortem on the question: “How did the world’s best figure skater fall off the Olympic podium?”
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Marinen attempted to answer some of those questions on Tuesday morning’s “Today” show and described his mindset that day as positive:
“Going into that day, I felt really confident, really good. Stepping out on the ice, I really felt that amazing environment, coming from that arena, so much support, so much energy. Stepping out on the ice, I really had a great day and was just happy to get out there.
“Of course, things didn’t go the way I wanted, but we can’t see that now. All I have to do is learn from the mistakes there and drive how to improve in the future.”
When the music stopped, Malinen knew better than anyone what had just happened. As he entered the kiss-and-cry section while waiting to score, NBC microphones captured him saying, “Beijing, I don’t skate like that.”
As commentator Johnny Weir explained, Marinen seemed to be saying that if he could be a part of the 2022 Olympic team, he could avoid disaster when he was 17 and still finished second at the U.S. Championships. With more Olympic experience, perhaps he can avoid disaster in Italy.
When asked about his emotions after his performance, Marinen reinforced this idea, mainly saying that he was under pressure, but also hinting that he could have done things differently at the 2030 French Alpine Games:
“Honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling. The most honest thing to say is, it’s just a lot of attention on you, too many eyes, too much attention. Not just from people, fans, media, it’s just too much. If you’re not ready to fully accept it, it can really affect you. I think that was probably one of the mistakes I made in the free skate because I wasn’t ready to fully process it.
Looking back, I know now I can understand that feeling so I can take a different approach at the next Olympics, hopefully. “
Many skating fans can’t wait to see how he changes his ways. He’ll get his first chance to bounce back next month when he goes for a third straight title at the World Championships in Prague.
