Ilia Malinin spotlights mounting pressure of social media for Olympic athletes
American figure skater Ilia Malinin broke his silence on Monday following his disappointing finish in the men's single figure skating event at the 2026 Winter Olympics and described the "invisible battles" he's faced on the world's biggest stage.
Malinin, widely referred to as the "quad god" for his record as the first skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, was instrumental in helping Team USA secure the team gold medal earlier in the month at the Milan Cortina Games with his standout performance.
Despite being the heavy favorite for gold in the men's individual program, Malinin fell short of his goal, placing eighth after a series of hard falls in his free skate that stunned both fans and commentators.
Figure skater Ilia Malinin breaks silence at the Olympics
The 21‑year‑old opened up about the pressure and pain he carried into that free skate in a new video posted on Instagram Monday.
"On the world's biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside," he wrote in the caption. "Even your happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise."
"Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure," he continued. "It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash."
Malinin's video compilation of his celebratory wins and excitement are interrupted sporadically with glitch noises and quick cuts to a black and white shot of him with his head in his hands, hinting at the toll elite competition can take.
The caption alongside the video concludes with a tease: "This is that version of the story. Coming February 21, 2026."
The video itself also ends with a black screen and the date Feb. 21, 2026, in white letters.
How pressure mounts for Olympic athletes in the face of social media
USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan, who's covered Malinin's career for four years, joined "Good Morning America" on Tuesday from Milan to discuss Malinin's message and the kind of pressure Olympic skaters face.
"He is an introspective young man, he is polite and kind. He thinks about answers," Brennan said as she recalled Malinin's "calm and respectful" demeanor, even in what's known as the mixed zone, where competitors do gauntlets of media interviews.
"He thinks about a lot of things -- he includes his voice in his programs, so it did not surprise me at all that he did this," she continued. "I think it was helpful for him to show everyone, if people are worried around the country and the world, 'Is he OK?'"
Malinin's agent and team told Brennan that "he is doing well," she said.
While most professional athletes have an entire season to build support with fans and followers -- like the NFL, PGA or NBA -- Brennan said the window for Olympic athletes to perform and get positive attention from sponsors and the public "is compressed into a couple of weeks," which she said adds pressure.
"We saw it with Simone Biles back at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Michael Phelps has talked about it. Naomi Osaka has talked about it," Brennan said. "You need to be on social media for your sponsors. You want to be there, take people along for the ride, but because of that, all of a sudden, the attention is on you in a way that it was never on someone like Peggy Fleming or Dorothy Hamill -- because, of course, there was no social media back then. And that's what they're dealing with."
She added, "That's why we need to be especially careful and watchful."
With the unavoidable enhanced spotlight on these athletes, Brennan said there are helpful resources available such as sports psychologists who have become a key component to help address any issues that arise.
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How Charles Leclerc is finding fun in F1’s 2026 “chaos”
Charles Leclerc says he’s ‘finding the fun in a different way’ with Formula 1’s 2026-spec machinery.
The world championship has introduced new chassis and engine regulations for the upcoming season, which has drastically changed the required driving style – as racers turn to lift-and-coast as well as downshifting in order to harvest and save energy – and increased the mental workload behind the wheel.
F1’s new cars have received a mixed reception at best, with Max Verstappen branding them “anti-racing” and “a bit more like Formula E on steroids”. Leclerc can’t help but admit it: “It’s not the funniest car.
“I mean, it's not the most fun I've had driving a car, but it's the way it is. And I find the fun in a different way.
“I think the challenge of really developing this whole new system is, in itself, something that I've enjoyed, and something that I find very interesting. In that, I kind of find some fun into just experiencing different things, and things that might have not worked in the past.
“But now that it's all different, it's cool to be able to think a bit outside the box, and to try and find other ways in trying to maximise the performance of the car. But the actual pleasure of driving the car is different.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Pleasure-wise, the Ferrari driver has praised the lighter, nimbler cars, which better suit his preferred "oversteery" driving style; the reduced weight is the aspect he has been enjoying the most.
“The weight, you can definitely feel it,” Leclerc pointed out. “The car is a little bit more alive, and the balance, you can play with the car a lot more and you can have a very snappy rear. Last year, I remember, with the weight it was a little bit more difficult to manage that. I've always liked oversteery cars, but with these cars, I feel like you can go a bit more extreme with them.”
But this will be overshadowed by the substantial amount of required energy management, which prompted the aforementioned comments from Verstappen – and more from other drivers.
“There's a little bit less of attack, which is what I loved with previous F1 cars,” Leclerc acknowledged.
“As F1 drivers in general, you always have to adapt and to change your driving style. This year is more of a change than we've been used to in the past. The percentage of driving is a little bit less. Now it's more about thinking about everything else that you've got to think of when you are in the car to maximise all the systems around you. So you've just got to think actively a lot more compared to in the past.
“We are all fighting to try and put the load more on the system rather than the driver. It's different across the paddock for sure, and we've all had different approaches in… what I need as a driver and what I would prefer not to have my head on because it's just too difficult to optimise as a human being, not having all the senses that the car might have. So it's a balance, but it's interesting because it's a process we are definitely quite involved in.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
As far as overtaking is concerned, Leclerc has joined the overall consensus that it might be trickier, as the power unit’s Overtake Mode replaces DRS – but as Pierre Gasly pointed out, what used to be “seven tenths for free” will now come at a cost energy-wise.
Asked by Motorsport if he had a chance to find out more on overtaking during testing, Leclerc replied: “We've checked it and I kind of share what my colleagues have said. I find it, at the moment, extremely difficult to get any overtakes, but it might improve with time in how we manage this kind of situations – but it always comes with a price whenever you've got to overtake, and the price is a lot more costly than it was in the past. That's why I think it's very difficult to make an overtake and then pull away like it was the case last year. That's tricky.”
All in all, Leclerc is openly expecting havoc to be wrought – especially at the start of the race, as the removal of the MGU-H on the new power units makes it trickier for drivers to find the right operational window at lights out.
“Yes, I expect some chaos,” he admitted. “As we were just saying, overtaking is going to be a big challenge. I think there are still many question marks. Yes, we try to simulate as many situations as possible, but nothing will simulate just the unpredictability that you find yourself in when there's a race start. You are not anymore in control of your line, of the way you drive, of your speed traces, because you are a bit in your enemy's hands, but it's the same for everybody.
“Again, there are lots of question marks, and I think the start is one of those as well. We are working a lot on that, just like everybody is, but it's one of those very critical moments of a race, and there might be some surprising things in the first start of the season.”
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