Evgeni Plushenko: “Watching Malinin, I couldn’t help but think of Salt Lake City. I was driven by a single goal: to win. And I burned out. It wasn’t the team event that drained him – it was the overwhelming hype, the constant media attention, endless photo shoots, and interviews.”

Two-time Olympic champion Evgeni Plushenko compares Ilia Malinin’s disappointing performance at the 2026 Milan Olympics, where he finished 8th, to his own experience at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, attributing the American skater’s struggles to immense pressure and inexperience. Here’s a translation of his comments.

“Watching Malinin, I couldn’t help but think of Salt Lake City in 2002. Back then, I felt I wasn’t ready just 100 percent – but 1,000 percent! I had gone undefeated all season and arrived at the Olympics as the favorite, driven by a single goal: to win gold. And I burned out. Overwhelmed by the tremendous desire to succeed.

Ilia also came to Milan to win. Many people had already awarded him his gold medal in their minds long before the Games even began. Malinin was under a tremendous spotlight, both on and off the ice.

It’s incredibly hard to step onto the ice with a cool head in such a situation. Everything distracts you, you lose focus. And let’s not forget – this was Ilia’s first Olympics.

After Salt Lake City, I learned my lesson. Four years later, in Turin, I shielded myself from everyone. Right after each competition, I would head straight back to the Olympic Village, stay in my room, and conserve my energy. During those days, I felt most at ease when I was by myself. I minimized my interaction with others as much as possible.

Perhaps that’s exactly what Malinin was missing this time. Based on his warm-up for the free skate, it was clear that he was in great shape. His lutz and other jumps were flawless. But the quad axel threw him completely off track.

Before this competition, Ilia had never made an error so significant as to perform a double (a ‘pop’). Even with that axel, he usually committed to the jump and gave it a full rotation. But this time… it was just a system failure. I feel bad for him. But this is how fate decided things.

Some people think it was because of exhaustion from the team event. That theory might hold up if Malinin were approaching his thirties. But he’s only 21, and his career is just beginning. It wasn’t the team event that drained him – it was the overwhelming hype, the constant media attention, endless photo shoots, and interviews.

That said, Ilia is still young, with many years of skating ahead. He has at least two more Olympics in him. This experience will make him wiser and more determined. What happened in Milan was a valuable lesson for him, just as Salt Lake City was for me. That failure helped me win gold in Turin, and I believe it will be the same for Malinin,” Plushenko wrote in his column for Sport-Express.