Days after his dreams of an individual Olympic gold medal were shattered, American figure skating star Ilia Malinin has broken his social media silence amid concerns over his mental health.
Malinin, known as the ‘Quad God’ in the figure skating world, was the heavy favorite to win the gold thanks to his intricate jumps and style.
However, in Friday’s free skate, Malinin fell on the ice twice and only managed to land two of his famous ‘quad’ jumps.
A frustrated and emotional Malinin was seen skating off the ice upset with himself before his eighth-place score was revealed.
In the days since, the 21-year-old hit ‘re-post’ on some videos on TikTok which had fans concerned for his well being.
On Monday morning, Malinin shared a post to his Instagram account which was accompanied by a video which appears to tease a future post on February 21.
‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin has broken his social media silence after losing out on a gold medal
Malinin was a favorite to win the top prize in men’s figure skating, but fell twice in his routine
The post teases a future look into his mental health and what he’s dealt with in recent days
The video shows Malinin celebrating many of his victories, but is occasionally cut in with a darkened image of him hunched over in a seat holding his head in his hands.
The post was captioned, ‘On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside.
‘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.
‘It all builds up as these moments flash before your eyes, resulting in an inevitable crash. This is that version of the story.’
It’s not exactly clear what Malinin plans to release this coming Saturday.
After his loss, thousands of fans grew concerned by Malinin reposting several vulnerable TikTok posts, including one which Fox reported as saying: ‘Sometimes I wish something bad would just happen to me so I don’t have to do it myself.’
Another repost apparently said: ‘It hurts because I’m trying my hardest but nothing I do is ever good enough for anything or anyone.’
Malinin has since taken those reposts down.
Malinin re-posted a few videos on TikTok that drew concern from fans after his falls
Malinin admitting to having ‘thoughts and memories flood’ his head before taking to the ice
The 21-year-old from Virginia was expected to land multiple quads in his performance. But Malinin only landed a pair of them. He had to pull out of a quadruple axel and a quadruple loop – hitting only a single axel and a double loop – before falling twice.
An emotional Malinin was seen skating off the ice and angrily muttering to himself before the results were revealed. Speaking to reporters after the upset loss, Malinin gave an insight into what was going through his head.
‘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 told NBC Washington in a reporter scrum after the competition.
‘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 21-year-old went on to emphasize the amount of stress the Olympics can bring.
‘The pressure of the Olympics, it’s really something different, and I think not a lot of people understand that,’ Malinin added.
‘They only understand that from the inside and going into this competition, especially today, I felt really confident, really good. But it really just went by so fast I did not have time to process.’
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‘Quad God’ Ilia Malinin gives emotional mental health update amid concern after Winter Olympics nightmare