Fans are concerned after it was revealed that videos with vulnerable messages were reposted by “Quad God” Ilia Malinin on TikTok.
The 21-year-old had a clear path to win the men’s singles skating gold medal on Friday night, but after falling twice, he settled for eighth place.
Malinin was blunt about his performance when speaking to NBC afterward, saying simply, “I blew it,” and it was a clear mental hurdle from start to finish.
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Afterward, Malinin reposted several TikToks, including one with the message, “Sometimes I wish something bad would just happen to me so I don’t have to do it myself.”
Another video had the message, “Your little boy is tired mom.”
Malinin also shared posts from “Healing Letters,” an account that writes messages in a book. One said, “When I get home and step into my room and my eyes start watering because no one knows how hard I’m truly trying.”
Another one said, “Nothing hurts more than trying your best and still not being good enough,” and the book was slammed shut.
U.S. Figure Skating did not immediately respond to a request for comment, as fans showed plenty of concern and support throughout the comments.
“YOU DID SO WELL ILIA, YOU ARE INCREDIBLE!!!!! I LOVE YOU,” one user wrote.
“Ilia 🙁 I Hope he is okay…” added another.
“You are still a champion, Ilia Malinin One result doesn’t define your talent or your strength. We’re proud of you no matter what place you take. Keep going – your time to shine is always ahead. You are the best,” one more said.
‘QUAD GOD’ ILIA MALININ FALLS TWICE, FINISHES EIGHTH AFTER SHOCKING PERFORMANCE
Malinin admitted his mind was pretty cluttered as he took the ice.
“I just had so many thoughts and memories flood right before I got into my starting pose, and almost, I think, it maybe overwhelmed me a little bit. I’ve been through a lot in my life, a lot of bad and good experiences,” Malinin said to reporters. “So, I just feel like it’s the pressure of especially being that Olympic gold medal hopeful. It was just something I can’t control now.”
“The pressure of the Olympics, it’s really something different, and I think not a lot of people understand that. They only understand that from the inside and going into this competition, especially today, I felt really confident, really good,” he added. “But it really just went by so fast I did not have time to process.”
When his routine started Friday, Malinin connected on a quad flip to start but then settled for a single axel. He then had a double loop instead of a quad loop. He fell on a quad Lutz attempt and then fell on another jump shortly after. He scored 156.33 points, a far cry from the world record of 238.24 he set in December and the 200-point mark he routinely hits in the free skate.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan won the gold with a total score of 291.58, a personal best. His score of 198.94 in Friday’s free skate was also the highest of his career. Yuma Kagiyama of Japan got the silver, and Shun Sato, Kagiyama’s teammate, came away with the bronze.
Malinin, who posts total scores in the 300s regularly, settled for just 264.49 points. His personal best is 333.81.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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