Anatomy of a Choke: The 'Quad God' Fails His Olympic Test

U.S. men's figure skater Ilia Malinin was as close to a sure thing as it's possible to get. The betting line prior to his free skate performance indicated a 99% implied probability of victory, placing him as a virtually guaranteed winner following his strong short program.

Something happened to Malinin between his walk from his dressing room to the ice and when he took his pose to begin his program; he choked.

Some may think that's unkind to say after the best men's figure skater in U.S. history fell twice and failed to perform his signature quadruple axel. This was a jump that no human being had been successful at performing, and Malinin had been doing it routinely since 2022.

While other quadruple jumps involve four rotations, the axel is unique, because it is the only jump where the skater takes off while facing forward. Because the skater must land facing backward (like all other jumps), he or she has to complete an extra half-turn.

Malinin's social media handle is "the quad-god." He says it's not braggadocio, but rather "something to aspire to."

But as he placed his hand on the ice to begin his routine, "I just felt like all the ... traumatic moments of my life really just started flooding my head, and there were just so many negative thoughts that just flooded into there," Malinin said. "And I just did not handle it."

Malinin is not the first favorite to choke in the biggest competition a skater will ever be in. Kamila Valieva, the 15-year-old Russian sensation at the Beijing Games in 2022, had been under intense scrutiny following a doping controversy. Valieva — who was the heavy favorite — collapsed in the free skate. She fell multiple times and dropped from first place to fourth, leaving the ice in tears.

Another American, Michelle Kwan, inexplicably chose not to perform the series of triple jumps in her program for which she was famous, and she lost despite being a prohibitive favorite.

The Athletic's Marcus Johnson II tried to put Malinin's shocking result in context.

"For those who need a comparison to understand, this was figure skating’s version of Mike Tyson losing to Buster Douglas, the undefeated Patriots losing in the Super Bowl, the 73-win Warriors blowing a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals."

ESPN:

Malinin, the two-time reigning world champion who had an unbeaten streak dating to 2023, landed his high-scoring opening quad flip jump but then struggled with the axel jump. There was a successful quad lutz, but he doubled what was a planned quad loop. Malinin soon fell on a quad lutz, preventing him from doing the second jump (a triple toe loop) of the combination.
His final jumping pass was supposed to be a quad salchow-triple axel combination. He fell again.
When the program ended, Malinin stood on center ice and shook his head. He appeared to be in near disbelief as he put his arms in the air to salute the crowd. As he skated off, he puffed out his cheeks, as if to stop himself from crying.
When his free skate score of 156.33 was announced -- a staggering 15th place out of 24 in the segment -- and the total of 264.49 revealed his previously unthinkable eighth-place finish, he stood up quickly. He hugged Shaidorov, the world silver medalist who bested the field by over 11 points, and congratulated him on winning Olympic gold.

Make no mistake, Malinin is an incredible athlete, a brilliant skater, and a fierce competitor. But the 21-year-old seemed stunned by his failure.