On Friday the 13th, Ilia Malinin, a Vienna local and largely considered to be the best figure skater in the world, competed for the gold medal in the Winter Olympics. In first place after the short program, Malinin was favored to win the gold with a large margin due to the technical difficulty of the quad jumps he would perform. In a shocking upset, Malinin placed eighth after numerous mistakes. Before then, Malinin had won gold in every competition he competed in since November of 2023. 

When asked what happened, Malinin cited the pressure he was under to do well as the reason for his poor performance.

“I didn’t understand how much that pressure was really gonna get to me,” Malinin said.

Malinin has been an advocate for mental health in sports and after his devastating skate, Malinin has continued to spread the message about pressure from online hate and how it can have a real impact on athletes. He has also talked about the lessons he’s learned from the experience.

“One loss doesn’t change what you have already won and you learn more from failure than success,” Malinin said.

While it’s not the result he wanted, Malinin will still come home with a gold medal from the team event and is already looking forward to the 2030 Winter Olympics. For now, though, the two-time world champion will be competing in Prague in less than a month, where the 2026 World Championships will be hosted this year.

“Next step, redemption,” Malinin said. “See you in Prague.”