{"id":690,"date":"2026-02-24T05:28:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=690"},"modified":"2026-02-24T05:28:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T05:28:03","slug":"ilia-malinin-sends-quiet-but-strong-message-during-milano-cortina-gala-performance-that-quickly-goes-viral-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vibes15.com\/?p=690","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Malinin Sends Quiet but Strong Message During Milano Cortina Gala Performance That Quickly Goes Viral Worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ilia Malinin delivered a powerful message about the dangers of social media and the unforgiving glare of the spotlight with an emotional gala performance on Saturday to close the figure skating programme at the Milano Cortina Games.<\/p>\n<p>Barely a week on from his shock eighth-place finish in a men\u2019s singles event he had been expected to dominate, the American turned the ice into a quiet rebuttal of criticism and scrutiny.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3\"><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/1b89770f844e37de96ca757eb72adc2d05cc0965\/544_0_5632_4507\/master\/5632.jpg?width=480&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin performs a backflip at the figure skating exhibition gala. \" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-4\"><\/div>\n<p>Skating to \u201cFear\u201d by American rapper NF \u2013 a raw song about mental health struggles and the feeling of losing control \u2013 and dressed in a grey hoodie and frayed jeans, the 21-year-old made it look like he was scrolling through his phone.<\/p>\n<p>He flinched under imaginary flashbulbs. He crouched down and pulled his hood over his head.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ilia Malinin performance to Fear at the Olympics Exhibition Gala\u2728#winterolympics #figureskating\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kjJY9yhh_Do?feature=oembed\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"563\" data-origheight=\"1000\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Malinin and American teammate Alysa Liu, the women\u2019s champion, were among the headliners at the sport\u2019s traditional final bow that celebrates the stars of the previous two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Malinin had arrived in Milan as one of the overwhelming favourites for gold \u2013 among all the sports \u2013 having not lost in more than two seasons.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/wr2msJGO0rM4sfPPwLVHlfm0mo4=\/1500x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(2400x596:2402x598)\/GettyImages-2262854501-60d2f5c7ed55447abffe2153008bdb69.jpg\" alt=\"Ilia Malinin Makes Powerful Return to Olympic Ice at Figure Skating Gala\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But the double world champion crumbled under the weight of Olympic expectations, and his free programme unravelled in stunning fashion as he suffered two falls and nailed only three of his planned seven quadruple jumps.<\/p>\n<p>He said in an Instagram post earlier this week that his pressure-packed Olympic debut resulted in an \u201cinevitable crash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/HBoozFqWgAEVaZC.jpg\" alt=\"ilia malinin at the rehearsals today for the gala \ud83d\udc97\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In Saturday\u2019s exhibition, he did one quadruple jump and then unleashed his trademark backflip with a one-footed landing and had the crowd on its feet roaring with what felt like both an appreciation of his talent and acknowledgement of the weight he had carried.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"An emotional performance by Ilia Malinin at the #FigureSkating Gala! \u2728\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7nU0mZb2nXw?feature=oembed\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-origwidth=\"563\" data-origheight=\"1000\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In a powerful programme ending, he made like he was tugging on headphones, to immediate silence.<\/p>\n<p>The 20-year-old Liu, meanwhile, delighted the crowd with her carefree skate to \u201cStateside\u201d by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/resizer\/v2\/2PYUYFCX25L27JMDAK2VGUGG3Y.jpg?auth=156a0e6bef779a76a9745d081f53025d880777c5be7e882f7a7e2510c746355b&amp;width=1080&amp;quality=80\" alt=\"American Ilia Malinin delivers message about the unforgiving glare of the spotlight at Olympics figure skating gala | Reuters\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Liu\u2019s Olympics could not have been more different than Malinin\u2019s, punctuated by a joy rediscovered after stepping away from the sport for two years.<\/p>\n<p>She said she was at \u201cpeak happiness\u201d competing.<\/p>\n<p>Ice dance gold medallists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France skated a lyrical programme to piano composition \u201cMad Rush,\u201d while pairs champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan skated to Justin Timberlake\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Stop the Feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surprise men\u2019s singles champion Kazakhstan\u2019s Mikhail Shaidorov dressed up as Kung Fu Panda and was greeted afterward by martial artist and actor Jackie Chan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ilia Malinin delivered a powerful message about the dangers of social media and the unforgiving glare of the spotlight with an emotional gala performance on Saturday to close the figure skating programme at the Milano Cortina Games. Barely a week on from his shock eighth-place finish in a men\u2019s singles event he had been expected [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-690","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 Sends Quiet but Strong Message During Milano Cortina Gala Performance That Quickly Goes Viral Worldwide - 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=690\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ilia Malinin Sends Quiet but Strong Message During Milano Cortina Gala Performance That Quickly Goes Viral Worldwide - Vibes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ilia Malinin delivered a powerful message about the dangers of social media and the unforgiving glare of the spotlight with an emotional gala performance on Saturday to close the figure skating programme at the Milano Cortina Games. 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