LIA MALININ CONFIRMS HIS FUTURE — AND IT’S NOT WHAT FANS EXPECTED 🚨

After finally admitting he had “no control” during the Olympic free skate, Ilia Malinin has now spoken out on the one question everyone’s been asking: is he retiring

He didn’t blame judges.
He didn’t blame injuries.
He admitted he was overwhelmed, consumed by pressure, and lost inside a moment the world assumed he owned.

The gold slipped away — and so did the version of himself fans thought was unbreakable.

What he revealed next about his career, his mindset, and whether this was the end or the beginning has completely split the skating world 👇

Ilia Malinin Officially Confirms if He’s Retiring After Admitting He Had ‘No Control’ Over His Olympic Gold Medal Loss—He Was ‘Overwhelmed’

Ilia Malinin Officially Confirms if He’s Retiring After Admitting He Had ‘No Control’ Over His Olympic Gold Medal Loss—He Was ‘Overwhelmed’Ilia Malinin’s Olympic loss was a learning lesson for the figure skater. At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, the “Quad God” placed eighth in the men’s figure skating individual event in a devastating blow.

The 21-year-old figure skater fell twice during his free skate and finished the dance with a disappointing look on his face. His mistakes allowed for Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shoidarov to emerge as the gold medalist. “I blew it,” Malinin said moments after leaving the ice. “That’s honestly the first thing that came to my mind.” Malinin was a favorite to win first since he holds the world record for the highest score in figure skating, achieving 238.24 points at the 2025 Grand Prix Final, and he admitted that the pressure to achieve that got to him. “But, of course, it’s not like any other competition,” he told The New York Times’ The Athletic. “It’s the Olympics. And I think people only realize the pressure and the nerves that actually happen from the inside. So it was really just something that overwhelmed me. And I just felt like I had no control.”

“Obviously I should take the stuff that I learned from here and really just improve it,” he said, “or use it to my knowledge to see what I can do in the future for this to not happen.”

Is Ilia Malinin retiring after the 2026 Winter Olympics?

Ilia Malinin is not retiring after the 2026 Winter Olympics and has plans to compete in future Olympics and World Championships. He told Milan Magic, “I’m playing everything by ear and how I feel just in general, and the passion I have for skating. So who knows, might be a fourth or fifth (Olympics). I mean, we’ll see how long I can keep going.” He’s also set to compete in the World Champion Figure Skating competitions in March.

In light of his loss, Malinin was subject to online hatred, and he took time to respond to the backlash. “On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” he captioned a Feb. 16 Instagram post featuring footage of himself on the ice. “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,” he added, “resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story.”

Despite the disappointment, Malinin shone bright at the Olympic Exhibition Gala. He performed two quads and a backflip to “Fear” by NF with all the joy flushed back into his face. “This message and this program and song is something that really spoke to me. It really represented how I’ve been feeling the last year leading up to these Olympics,” Malinin said. “There’s been so much pressure, so much doubt and everything around me, the noise with the media….It’s been so overwhelming.”