{"id":200350,"date":"2026-02-14T07:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T07:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/from-the-sports-desk-the-quad-god-is-mortal-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T07:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T07:09:06","slug":"from-the-sports-desk-the-quad-god-is-mortal-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/from-the-sports-desk-the-quad-god-is-mortal-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"From the sports desk: The 'Quad God' is mortal – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hello from Milan and Cortina, where the unthinkable happened today inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena. <\/em>Ilia Malinin<\/strong><\/em>, the American figure skating star known as the \u201cQuad God,\u201d was widely expected to win gold in the men\u2019s figure skating final, but instead stumbled through his routine and fell off the podium entirely.<\/em>
Our correspondents have it all covered below and at <\/em>NBC News<\/em><\/a>. Catch it all streaming on <\/em>Peacock<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>
As Ilia Malinin<\/strong> left the ice, he breathed heavily, his mouth open, a shocked look on his face. What was the first thing that went through his mind, as soon as the music stopped?
\u201cI blew it,\u201d Malinin said on the NBC telecast. \u201cHonestly the first thing that came to my mind was: There\u2019s no way that just happened.\u201d
Malinin had been considered perhaps the face of these Milan Cortina Games. The 21-year-old from Virginia had earned the nickname the \u201cQuad God\u201d for his quadruple jumps, and had landed backflips in competition. Earlier this week, he performed a stellar free skate routine to help the U.S. figure skating team win gold.
On Tuesday, in the short program portion of the men\u2019s singles event, Malinin posted a score of 108.16, putting him in first place by more than five points. Malinin was the favorite, expected to win gold, if he just performed as expected in today\u2019s men\u2019s singles free skate.
Instead, he skated arguably the worst performance<\/a> of his career, given the stakes. He didn\u2019t land his famed quadruple axel and botched several other jumps. Instead of a quadruple axel, Malinin just did a single. His quadruple loop turned into just a double. He fell on his quadruple lutz, and then he only did a double salchow.
Afterward, he seemed just as surprised as everyone else.
\u201cHonestly, yeah. I was not expecting that,\u201d Malinin said on NBC\u2019s telecast. \u201cI felt like, going into this competition, I was so ready. I was gonna \u2014 I just felt ready getting on that ice. I think maybe that might\u2019ve been the reason, maybe I was too confident that it was going to go well.\u201d
Malinin said he thought his issues were \u201cdefinitely\u201d mental. \u201cJust now, finally experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it\u2019s crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like any other competition. It\u2019s really different. \u2026 I mean I was preparing the whole season. I felt so confident with my program, so [confident] with everything, and just go out, [and] that happen, I have no words honestly.\u201d
Malinin wasn\u2019t the only top competitor who experienced nerves. His top rival, Japan\u2019s Yuma Kagiyama<\/strong>, also faltered during his routine \u2014 but he recovered enough to finish with silver. Kazakhstan\u2019s Mikhail Shaidorov<\/strong> put together a solid routine to win gold.
Earlier today in the men\u2019s figure skating final, fellow American Maxim Naumov<\/strong> had to skate through a different kind of mental hurdle. Naumov lost both his parents in a Washington, D.C,. plane crash last year, and had spoken about skating in their honor.
Naumov also stumbled in his routine and ended up finishing 20th in the overall competition. He again held up a photo of himself with his parents as he waited for his score. Afterward, in an interview with NBC News<\/a>, he said his first Olympic experience had its \u201cups and downs, but really, so minimal in the grand scheme of things.\u201d He said he\u2019d gained a new perspective.
\u201cI\u2019m very proud of myself for the fact that I was able to go out here and make the dreams that my family and I have into a reality,\u201d he told NBC News. \u201cThere were of course some technical mistakes in the free [skate], but I\u2019m just so happy that I was able to give it my all, truly, with no regrets. Man, I hope that they\u2019re proud of me, and I hope people can be inspired also by what I was able to do here.\u201d
Today, in the men\u2019s figure skating final, five competitors had something in common: they were all coached by Beno\u00eet Richaud<\/strong>.
Richaud actually is the choreographer<\/a> for at least 16 figure skaters in Milan, hailing from 13 different countries. He said that when one of his athletes is competing, he quickly changes into a jacket representing the country that athlete is from.
\u201cI know some coaches want to wear normal clothes. But I think the Olympic Games is a special moment where you also need to cherish the difference of people,\u201d said the choreographer, who is French. \u201cI think it\u2019s something beautiful. Every different country has different cultures. When I go on the screen, I want to promote that.\u201d
The U.S. men\u2019s hockey team takes the ice again tomorrow, hoping for a similar result from their opening game, a 5-1 victory. And American speedskater Jordan Stolz<\/strong> looks for another gold medal, this time in the 500-meters.
All times are in Eastern and asterisks signifies that it is a medal event:
Saturday, Feb. 14<\/strong>
That\u2019s it for now! We\u2019ll be back tomorrow.<\/em>
The Sports Desk
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeHello from Milan and Cortina, where the unthinkable happened today inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena. Ilia Malinin, the American figure skating star known as the \u201cQuad God,\u201d was widely expected to win gold in the men\u2019s figure skating final, but instead stumbled through his routine and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":200351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-200350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}