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Ilia Malinin has taken his first significant step toward redemption following his disappointing performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
At the figure skating world championships held in Prague on Thursday, Malinin, famously dubbed the “Quad God,” surged to the forefront after the short program, amassing an impressive 111.29 points.
The reigning two-time world champion lived up to his reputation, launching his routine with a quad flip and executing a combination of quad lutz and triple toe loop.
Close on his heels, French skater Adam Siao Him Fa secured second place with a score of 101.85, trailing Malinin by over nine points.
During last month’s Milano-Cortina Winter Games, Malinin was the strong favorite in men’s figure skating. He had topped the short program leaderboard with a score of 108.16.
It all came crashing down in the free skate, where a series of falls and mistakes resulted in a disappointing eighth-place finish. Malinin finished the free skate with a score of 156.33.
“Honestly, it’s not a pleasant feeling. The most honest way to say it is it’s just a lot of on you, just so many eyes, so much attention,” Malinin said on “Today” afterward. “It really can get to you if you’re not ready to fully embrace it, so I think that might be one of the mistakes I made going into that free skate was I was not ready to handle that to a full extent.
“… All I have to do is just learn from my mistakes there and push to see how I can improve in the future. I can take a different approach leading up to the next Games, hopefully.”
In the aftermath of his Olympic heartbreak, Malinin posted a video on social media featuring happy skating memories stitched with clips of him holding his head in his hands at the Winter Games.
Malinin referenced “invisible battles” in the post’s caption. He also reposted videos with concerning messages, such as: “Your little boy is tired, mom.”
Based on Thursday’s performance, it’s clear Malinin is beginning to exorcise those demons.