{"id":604,"date":"2026-02-21T02:04:55","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=604"},"modified":"2026-02-21T02:04:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:04:55","slug":"ilia-malinin-stuns-the-world-with-two-falls-in-olympic-final-quad-axel-dream-collapses-and-gold-favorite-finishes-eighth-in-heartbreaking-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Malinin Stuns The World With Two Falls In Olympic Final, Quad Axel Dream Collapses And Gold Favorite Finishes Eighth In Heartbreaking Meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ilia Malinin\u00a0shocked with two falls and several failed elements during the men\u2019s figure skating final at the 2026 Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n<p>The 21-year-old figure skater finished eighth in men\u2019s figure skating on Friday, Feb. 13, shocking the crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena as he struggled through his free skate program and was holding back tears as he stepped off the ice.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/qSuL8dkWkpMEPozYLCtR.w--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD03NTg7Y2Y9d2VicA--\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/people_218\/8931a4c458b11cc23c1b9f96016767e4\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin Struggles to Hold Back Tears as He Falls Twice in Men's Figure  Skating Final and Fails to Medal - Yahoo Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"eyeo\" data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1757156\" data-uid=\"00ae8\" data-src-id=\"${PUBLISHER_ID}\">\n<div id=\"mgw1757156_00ae8\">\n<div class=\"mgbox\">\n<div class=\"mgheader1767271\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI blew it,\u201d he said in an interview with NBC just after his score of 156.33 in the free skate, and 264.49 overall, was announced. \u201cHonestly, that was the first thing that came to my mind. I have no words, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malinin started with a quadruple flip, which he executed, but didn\u2019t complete his famed quadruple axel, instead doing a single axel. His next move, a quadruple lutz, was clean, but his quadruple loop turned into a double loop. He fell twice from there, and did his best to finish out the four-minute program, throwing in a backflip at the end.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-5\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"standard-img\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/l7cxhlMZCM47wiRfgNkyOw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/people_218\/82dac03b0fbbce90f33acb1bffd11fe1\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin after the free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics WANG Zhao \/ AFP via Getty\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" data-nimg=\"1\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-btn\" aria-label=\"View larger image\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\" data-rapid_p=\"7\"><\/button><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<div><i>Ilia Malinin after the free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/i>WANG Zhao \/ AFP via Getty&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Malinin \u2014 self-nicknamed the \u201cQuad God\u201d \u2014\u00a0is the only figure skater in history to successfully land a quadruple axel in competition, which he did cleanly for the first time at the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Sept. 2022 and has repeated multiple times since. He was expected to make history with the move on Friday, but nerves got the best of him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it was definitely mental,\u201d he told NBC afterwards, and when asked if the Olympics stage caused him to struggle, he agreed, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s not like any other competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Malinin, who was already an Olympic gold medalist after he helped Team USA secure a team event gold on Sunday, came into the night in first place, after earning a score of 108.16 in the men\u2019s short program on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Coming into his skate, it was Malinin\u2019s to lose, with the two previous skaters and his biggest rivals both falling during their programs. But with Malinin\u2019s errors, a jubilant Kazakhstan\u2019s Mikhail Shaidorov won gold, his country\u2019s first-ever first place finish in Olympic figure skating.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"standard-img\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/JKHPqUrTczIrr1TSLIoDjQ--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/people_218\/d971f128afc458f0f5cf6e858cc7b6a8\" alt=\"Kazakhstan&amp;#39;s Mikhail Shaidorov WANG Zhao \/ AFP via Getty\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" data-nimg=\"1\" \/><button class=\"lightbox-btn\" aria-label=\"View larger image\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\" data-rapid_p=\"8\" data-v9y=\"1\"><\/button><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<div><i>Kazakhstan\u2019s Mikhail Shaidorov<\/i>WANG Zhao \/ AFP via Getty&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Fans have been waiting all Olympics for Malinin to bring out the quadruple axel, which two-time Olympic skater and NBC commentator Johnny Weir\u00a0previously told PEOPLE\u00a0was groundbreaking.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s rare in our sport for something to completely shock and awe, and the quad axel does that,\u201d Weir said. \u201cIlia is the figure skating version of the first man on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe skill, talent and bravery to even attempt the quad axel is outrageous, let alone to perform it under the stress of competition,\u201d Weir added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ilia Malinin\u00a0shocked with two falls and several failed elements during the men\u2019s figure skating final at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The 21-year-old figure skater finished eighth in men\u2019s figure skating on Friday, Feb. 13, shocking the crowd at the Milano Ice Skating Arena as he struggled through his free skate program and was holding back [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ilia Malinin Stuns The World With Two Falls In Olympic Final, Quad Axel Dream Collapses And Gold Favorite Finishes Eighth In Heartbreaking Meltdown - Vibes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=604\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ilia Malinin Stuns The World With Two Falls In Olympic Final, Quad Axel Dream Collapses And Gold Favorite Finishes Eighth In Heartbreaking Meltdown - Vibes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ilia Malinin\u00a0shocked with two falls and several failed elements during the men\u2019s figure skating final at the 2026 Winter Olympics. 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