Ilia Malinin returned to Olympic ice a week after the disastrous free-skate performance that prompted him to share how immense pressure to succeed took a toll on his mental health.
Wearing a hoodie and jeans, the 21-year-old's performance to NF's "Fear" at the traditional Olympic figure skating exhibition gala was a bittersweet ending to Malinin's run at the 2026 Winter Olympics and reinforced his struggle to ignore media attention leading up to the competition.
"This message and this program and song is something that really spoke to me. It really represented how I’ve been feeling the last year leading up to these Olympics," Malinin said, as reported by USA TODAY's Josh Peter. "There’s been so much pressure, so much doubt and everything around me, the noise with the media….It’s been so overwhelming."
Malinin, favored to win the gold medal in men's figure skating, struggled through the free skate and ended up in eighth place. After speaking out about how media attention contributed to him buckling under pressure, Malinin hinted at the theme of his exhibition performance on Instagram earlier this week.