When he entered the 2026 Winter Olympics, men’s figure skating icon Ilia Malinin was a shoo-in for the gold medal. The son of figure skating champions from Russia and Uzbekistan, Malinin had not finished outside the top three of any figure skating competition since 2022, and had not lost a competition since 2023. But, when it came time to compete in the men’s figure skating individual event on Feb. 13, he did not win the gold, nor did he even finish in the top three. In fact, Malinin — also known in the figure skating world as the Quad God, for his remarkable ability to land quadruple jumps — shocked everyone and ended up in eighth place.
As someone watching from my TV at home in Canada, I had no skin in the game. But still, I was on the edge of my seat, gasping along with the audience when Malinin fell twice during that now-infamous free skate performance. His performance may not have been what fans — nor Malinin — were expecting, but it’s good to remember that he’s not just some quad-jumping, backflipping machine; he’s literally a college student.
I’ve always been surprised to see how young Olympic athletes are, but I feel that even more deeply now that so many of them are my own age. This is especially the case with Malinin. A 21-year-old exploratory studies major at George Mason University, Malinin is competing under a pressure that not many athletes, let alone early twentysomethings, ever have to experience. So, it shouldn’t be so shocking that he might falter a bit, despite how competent and confident he may seem, which is something Malinin acknowledged soon after his eighth-place finish.
“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,” Malinin wrote in a Feb. 16 Instagram post. “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.”
At the Olympics, so many young athletes are carrying the hope of an entire country on their shoulders, and that level of pressure would be difficult for anyone to bear — even more so for those who are expected to dominate. “For someone like Ilia who was the overwhelming favorite, it’s a different kind of pressure than really for any other competitor out there,” Dr. Wilsa Charles Malveaux, sports psychiatrist, told ESPN in a Feb. 17 interview. “That actually puts him at a competitive disadvantage with all eyes on him. Everyone expects him to be perfect, even though he doesn’t have to be to win, but just knowing that that is the expectation magnifies the pressure to a whole different level.”
Being 21 and in college can be pressure enough, without trying to win gold in the Olympics. But, being 21 and in college also means that Malinin has plenty of time left in his figure skating career to come back strong. Consider another Team USA figure skater, Amber Glenn, who is arguably in the prime of her career at 26; or Alysa Liu, who retired and came back to skating all by the age of 20. Given Malinin’s incredible talent, this is not likely to be his final Olympic Games. “All I can do is learn from my mistakes,” Malinin said Feb. 17 on Today. “I can take a different approach leading up to the next Games, hopefully.”
Sounds like a mindset all college students can get behind — because who among us didn’t mess up (in some way or another) at 21?