MILAN — For Ilia Malinin, a terrible night was followed by a wonderful postscript.
The 21-year-old Quad God’s epic meltdown on the ice at the 2026 Winter Olympics has already been well documented. He fell twice, made mistakes on other jumps and finished a devastating eighth in the men’s figure skating competition. It was the worst performance by a gold-medal favorite in Olympic figure skating history. It was as bad as it gets for an athlete at the most crucial moment of a young career.
But what happened afterward? It was beautiful.
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Throughout sports over the years, in the aftermath of crushing defeat, athletes have reacted in different ways. Some keep it together. Others behave horribly. The names of those who have thrown helmets at lockers or destroyed tennis rackets or thrown golf clubs or berated reporters or just refused to talk at all number in the hundreds, perhaps thousands.
