{"id":4875,"date":"2026-05-11T23:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4875"},"modified":"2026-05-11T23:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T23:32:26","slug":"ilia-malinin-only-looking-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4875","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Malinin only looking ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the weeks and months after the Milan Cortina Olympic Games, Ilia Malinin, like the rest of his sport, couldn\u2019t let go of his epic meltdown, the medal deciding free skate that saw Malinin, one of the biggest favorites of the 2026 Games, slip from first to eighth overall in the most stunning collapse in figure skating history.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI used to look back at it a few months and days after it happened, what could I have done different?\u201d Malinin said. \u201cBut really, you can\u2019t be stuck in the past trying to think about it. All you have to do is learn from it and keep going, and so that\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinin, the three-time World champion, arrives at Saturday\u2019s Stars On Ice performance at the Honda Center still processing those lessons, questioning whether he was pressured to skate too many rounds in Milan Cortina, weighing whether to take a break from competitive skating and determined not to be defined by the Milan debacle but rather by the entirety of a career that, according to Olympic champion Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, has established Malinin as \u201cthe best skater in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinin said in a recent interview that he will decide after the completion of the Stars On Ice tour next month whether to attempt to win a fourth consecutive World title or take the 2026-27 season off from competitions. Either way, Malinin, 21, said he remains committed to competing in multiple Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see how things play out,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m still not sure what I\u2019m going to do next year. I think it\u2019s more of now get to the shows and see how I feel and after that we\u2019ll see if I continue to skate or take a year off. I still haven\u2019t had anything set in stone yet. It just depends on how everything is going to look.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expects to have a clearer picture of his next steps after taking a physical and emotional break from training this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I think it\u2019s a pretty obvious reasoning for having the last few years be so stressful, having so much attention and so much pressure and expectations from everyone and really sometimes not having the best people around me,\u201d Malinin said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really just up to having myself to chill off, cool out and relax and find a new strategy to prepare myself for these next years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinin declined to be more specific when pressed to elaborate on who he was referring to, but offered some pretty clear hints.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe media in general,\u201d he said. \u201cBut a bigger one is lot of federations, organizations, sometimes they don\u2019t really understand what\u2019s best for the athletes. And that\u2019s something I\u2019ve really noticed and usually they try to take all advantage of that as opposed to listening to what the athletes need and then benefiting the athletes instead of really just forcing them \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t finish his answer. Malinin was asked if he was referring to U.S. Figure Skating, the sport\u2019s national governing body, and\/or the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee?<\/p>\n

\u201cJust in general,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Much of the post-Milan analysis revolved around U.S. Figure Skating\u2019s decision to have Malinin skate in both rounds of the Olympic team competition, meaning the men\u2019s individual competition\u2019s deciding free skate was his fourth competition in seven days. The U.S. won the team competition gold medal on the Games\u2019 opening weekend.<\/p>\n

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Japan\u2019s Yuma Kagiyama, the Olympic silver medalist, has maintained Malinin was overextended in Milan Cortina.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs everyone knows,\u201d Kagiyama said, \u201che was part of the team\u2019s program, as well as (the) singles, and he has done four very difficult programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinin, in the interview, was asked if he should have skipped one of the rounds of the team competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was something I really thought about and kind of assumed that would have been the right decision because then I would have (set) myself up better,\u201d he said. \u201cBut of course I think everything happens for a reason, so that is something that I have to keep in mind, this is part of God\u2019s plan for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of attention that was on me, the amount of pressure, the expectations. The people surrounding me were not the best people at the time. So there\u2019s a few things that definitely went wrong in that situation that I\u2019ll be able to address in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really not over. One bad performance doesn\u2019t make you who you are. It doesn\u2019t change what you\u2019ve already accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cI might not be an individual Olympic champion but I still have an Olympic gold medal and that\u2019s something I\u2019m really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Malinin rebounded to win Worlds in March, becoming only the sixth American man in the event\u2019s 140-year history to win three consecutive World titles. He credited the unwavering support of his fans for keeping him positive heading into Worlds.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch an awesome feeling just getting the fans to show me their love and support, especially after everything that happened in Milan,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone tried to bring me down. It was so crazy, but the fans were there to support me and keep me up and believe in me, and that helped me get through that hard time right after, and I seemed to come up with a new strategy and mindset going into Worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

His plans and mindset will continue to evolve, Malinin said, as he lays out a road map to the 2030 Olympic Games in France and perhaps even the 2034 Games in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely that\u2019s part of it,\u201d he said \u201cand that\u2019s part of what I want to do, take some time off and give myself the realization that I don\u2019t need to make it as big as it really is and really listen to myself more, being more in line what my goals are, what my expectations are and not really focus on any specific people or person around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Winter Olympics: Ilia Malinin is ready to tell his story<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n