Friday was set to be a day Ilia Malinin and figure skating fans would remember for a long time. That may remain true, but not for the reason Team USA wanted. The odds-on favorite for the gold medal in the men’s figure skating competition, and a near-certainty to earn a medal at very least, Malinin entered the free skate portion of the competition with a cushion of a little more than five points over second place. That allowed him some errors in his final performance, and still be able to win the gold. But what transpired shocked everyone, perhaps none more so than Malinin himself. The 21-year-old fell multiple times during his routine, and failed to land his signature quadruple axel that had earned him the nickname “Quad God.” Instead, he did just a single axel. A quadruple loop became a double, and then he fell on a quadruple lutz. var pymParent = new pym.Parent('olyLink7709', 'https://visuals.otsops.com/projects/milan-links-generator/visual-link.html?link=https://www.nbcolympics.com/videos/ilia-malinin-finishes-8th-after-mistake-riddled-skatetitle=Ilia%20Malinin%20finishes%20in%208th%20after%20mistake-riddled%20skaterand=7709image=https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/post/short_form_video/2026/02/13/oly26_fsmen_hlf_7585_iliamalinin_260213.jpg?impolicy=rect_medium_1024_576', {title: '', parenturlparam: '', parenturlvalue: ''}); The several botched jumps during the performance cost him upwards of 70 points on his score. Malinin ended up with a score of just 156.33, when he easily could have scored 200 points or more. He finished eighth, with Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan taking the gold. Visibly upset while waiting for his scores, Malinin could be heard on the broadcast saying he wouldn’t have skated that bad if he had been on the team for the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. “I was not expecting that,” Malinin said during an interview afterward. “I felt so ready getting on that ice. Maybe I was too confident it was going to go well.” Malinin attributed his struggles to being entirely mental. “Finally experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it’s crazy. It’s really different,” he said. When asked what went through his mind immediately after his performance, he stated: “I blew it.” var pymParent = new pym.Parent('olyLink9887', 'https://visuals.otsops.com/projects/milan-links-generator/visual-link.html?link=https://www.nbcolympics.com/videos/ilia-malinin-maybe-i-was-too-confidenttitle=Ilia%20Malinin:%20%27Maybe%20I%20was%20too%20confident%27rand=9887image=https://images.nbcolympics.com/sites/default/files/post/short_form_video/2026/02/13/oly26_fsmen_hlf_7586_malininintv_260213.jpg?impolicy=rect_medium_1024_576', {title: '', parenturlparam: '', parenturlvalue: ''}); Malinin won’t go home empty-handed. He helped lead Team USA to its second consecutive gold medal in the team event. Medals are awarded based on a combined score of the short and free programs. Here’s the remainder of the Olympic figure skating schedule Once the men wrap up their programs Thursday, attention turns to the individual women’s events. We’ll have to wait a few days to watch those. Tuesday, Feb 17: Women’s single skating-short program — 12:45 p.m. ET Thursday, Feb. 19: Women’s single skating-free skate — 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Feb. 21: Exhibition Gala: The exhibition gala (a non-medal event) begins at 2 p.m. ET/ 11 a.m. PT The U.S. has won more Olympic gold medals (17) in figure skating events than any other country, and the most medals overall, with 54 in total. Russia ranks second in total gold medals, with 14. ...read more read less