Ilia Malinin, the American figure skater known as the “Quad God,” experienced a shocking collapse during the free skate at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina on February 13.
He fell twice—once on a quadruple Lutz and again after popping a quad Salchow—dropping from first after the short program to eighth place overall with 264.49 points.
Event DetailsMalinin started strong with a quad flip but faltered under pressure, ending his two-year winning streak.
He later attributed it to overconfidence, saying, “I was too confident it was going to go well.” Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov won gold with 291.58 points, followed by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and Shun Sato.