Ilia Malinin announces next career steps after fall-ridden Olympics program cost U.S. figure skating star gold medal

Ilia Malinin isn't going to wait long to get back on the ice.

The 21-year old United States figure skating superstar is coming off the most brutal performance of his career, a fall-ridden free skate to cost himself not just the gold medal at these 2026 Winter Olympics, but also any medal at all.

Malinin, though, wants to skate again, and soon.

According to USA Today's Christine Brennan, Malinin will be back on the ice Saturday to skate in the exhibition gala at the Olympics, a chance for the world's best competitors to put on a show for fans once more.

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Malinin has also made up his mind, per Brennan, to compete at next month's world championships in Prague. He has won the last two world titles. 

He was the heavy favorite to win gold as an individual at these Olympics, but everything went awry for him in his free skate program.

Instead, he placed eighth. That was despite having the best short program score, which gets combined with the free skate for a final total.

Malinin does take home one gold medal from his first Olympics. Team USA won the figure skating team event in which Malinin skated both his short program and free skate. In that free skate, he scored 200 points, best among any competitor, and nearly 40 points better than he ended up getting in the individual competition when he skated the same routine but not nearly as well.

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These Olympics will likely leave a sour taste in Malinin's mouth, and the "Quad God" will likely be counting down the days until he gets a chance to redeem himself in four years time.

In the meantime, Malinin will just try to continue to grow as a skater in every opportunity he gets.

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