American figure skater Ilia Malinin entered the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics as the overwhelming favorite to win gold in the men’s individual event. But after two devastating falls during his free skate routine, the “Quad God” finished well off the podium in eighth place.
After his failure to secure a medal, Malinin admitted that the pressure of Olympic expectations weighed heavily on his mental health.
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“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside. Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure. It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story,” the 21-year-old skater wrote on social media last week, teasing Saturday’s exhibition gala performance.
Watch his full performance below.
Malinin delivered a performance representing this pressure on Saturday, skating to the song “Fear” by NF.
This exhibition gala performance resulted in an interesting ripple effect.
“Fear” surged to No. 1 on the U.S. Shazam chart. The song also entered the top 25 on the worldwide iTunes chart and reached No. 6 on the U.S. iTunes chart, according to a social media account tracking Malinin’s accomplishments.
While Malinin fell short of his Olympic goals in the men’s individual event, he helped Team USA to a gold medal in the team event. His teammates, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Madison Chock, Evan Bates, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, also participated in Saturday’s exhibition gala.
Malinin will return to competition for the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague next month.