Ilia Malinin entered Friday’s men’s figure skating final as a massive favorite to claim gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Still, despite initially holding a comfortable lead over second place, he faltered in his performance with multiple mistakes on the ice.

That led to an eighth-place finish for Malinin, which certainly wasn’t what he or his fans envisioned for him heading to the Olympic Games in Milano Cortina, Italy. Nonetheless, he picked himself up and, despite failing to reach the podium for a medal, still offered congratulations to Friday’s gold medal winner, Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan.

At the heavily-watched event, Yuma Kagiyama won silver, and Shun Sato won bronze. Sadly, Malinin’s attempt at a second gold medal in the Milano Cortina Games didn’t come to fruition after he fell on the ice and failed to land moves that would likely have resulted in a medal.

Many notable spectators, including former Olympic medalists, witnessed the United States skater’s rough day on the ice, and several reacted to his disappointing result. Along with former medalists Nathan Chen and Tara Lipinski, the legendary Scott Hamilton offered a powerful message for the Team USA figure skater known as “Quad God.”

On his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Hamilton posted a heartfelt message about how a single performance shouldn’t be the only one tied to an athlete’s story.

“One performance should never define anyone. A good one or a disappointing one. Ilia Malinin is a class act and someone I greatly admire! As badly as I feel for him tonight, I know he will respond with strength, courage, and dignity. We all love you Ilia!” Hamilton wrote.

While footage of Malinin’s performance is available on YouTube, a celebrated Instagram clip also shows his good sportsmanship in offering congratulations to the event’s winner.

While the loss is heartbreaking for Malinin, he is receiving plenty of support from fans, fellow Olympians, and decorated skating medalists. Scott Hamilton won gold at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and achieved four gold medal championships with that.

Hamilton became well known for performing a backflip, which few other competitors could do. While he showed it off to fans during exhibitions, the move violated U.S. Figure Skating and Olympic competition rules.

At 21, this undoubtedly isn’t the last that anyone has seen of the phenom known as “Quad God,” as he’ll likely return in four years for the 2030 Winter Olympics at the French Alps in Paris.

Source: newsweek.com