Former United States star figure skater Nathan Chen reflected back to his Olympics shortcomings in 2018 after watching American superstar Ilia Malinin collapse in the men’s program earlier this week.
“I can definitely reflect back on my experience in 2018 when I went into the short program with a lot of pressure, a lot of concerns, a lot of doubt,” Chen started. “He went into his quad axle and singled that and so you could see that every single element he started holding back a little bit more … and by the end of it just was not his night.”
Malinin was set to make his first public appearance on Saturday, Feb. 14 in front of a hoard of reporters for a “huge” media day, but ultimately postponed the meeting with the media following his eighth place finish earlier this week. Just a day later, Malinin made his first public appearance since his Olympics collapse while supporting his teammates in the pairs short program on Sunday.
During his attendance at the event, an announcer made headlines for his comments about the young skater.
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“Ilia Malinin has been receiving professional help and support, according to figure skater and commentator Daniel Weiss, who cited Ilia’s agent Ari Zakarian during the German broadcast of the pairs’ short program at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games today,” an Ilia Malinin fan account posted.
Fans watching from home weren’t too pleased with the announcer’s decision to talk about Malinin during a completely different event that had nothing to do with the American star skater.
“German commentator Daniel Weiss, shame on you for talking on and on about men’s and especially ilia malinin during the pairs short. I’m watching pairs and want to hear about them, not ilia right now,” one fan said.
“Watching pairs skating and the German commentator is still talking about malinin, when will it stop He’s been yapping about him for 5 minutes,” offered another.
“Why our German commentator thinks he absolutely must mention that “we” /need/ to talk about Ilia Malinin right before the pair short program is only so far baffling as that we all know he’s a big fan and this seems more important than talking about Shaidorov or, you know, pairs,” questioned a third.
Malinin received praise for initially speaking with the media despite the heartbreaking finish.
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