American figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin said Wednesday he is optimistic he can move past his disastrous performance in last week’s free skate.
‘The person who came [to the Winter Olympics]he has turned to dust,” the 21-year-old “Quad God” told The Washington Post.
“I came out a different person [with] a different perspective, a different mentality.”
Just days after his free skating mistakes, Malinin took to social media and shared a dark message suggesting he was “fighting invisible battles from within.”
“I honestly felt like I’ve aged a lot through these Olympics,” he told the Post.
Malinin, who admitted that what happened last week “cannot be changed,” noted that “life is ultimately unfair.”
“It’s not going to give you everything you want, sometimes you have to earn it, so that’s something I always keep in mind now and really just want to use as fuel for the future.”
The figure skater has tried to publicly put his Olympic mistakes in the rearview mirror, telling NBC’s “Today” show earlier this week that the pressure of fan and media expectations may have gotten to him.
Despite the disappointing performance, he continued to cheer on his American teammates. On Tuesday, he kicked it with Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg as they watched the short women’s program.
Ashley Landis via Associated Press
Fans and stars alike have sent love and support to the figure skater, including Olympic great Simone Biles, who drew on her experience with “the twisties” at the Tokyo 2020 Games to share her advice “right away” for the 21-year-old.
Biles told Olympics.com that it must have been difficult for Malinin to express his feelings in public.
“But seeing someone and talking to someone who’s been through the same thing and validating that… he’s like, ‘Oh my god, yes, this is exactly how I feel. This is how you can get over it or process it,'” she said.
“And so I think that hopefully this really helped him.”
Malinin is planned to take part in Saturday’s exhibition gala, a non-medal event where he will take the ice for the last time during the Games.
The Olympic star told People magazine that although skating at the gala will be different from chasing a medal at the Games, he is looking forward to having space to show his ‘free emotions’.
