MILAN — As Ilia Malinin sat in the Kiss-and-Cry section, waiting for his free skate score to be read out after his terrible performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics, he was caught on a hot mic talking about how things would have been different had he gone to the 2022 Beijing Games.
"Beijing, I would not have skated like that," he was heard saying. Then, NBC commentator Johnny Weir told viewers what he said: That he would not have skated so terribly had he already had Olympic experience under his belt.
Malinin could be heard saying: "It's not easy." The 21-year-old was later asked about the comment.
"I think if I went to '22, then I would have had more experience and know how to handle this Olympic environment," he said. "But also, I don't know what the next stages of my life would look like if I went there."
"I felt really good this whole day, going really solid, and I just thought that I all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I've always been doing with every competition," he said. "But of course, it's not like any other competitions, it’s the Olympics.”
