US publisher Ilia Malinin highlights the dangers of social media at a gala performance
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Ilia Malinin delivered a powerful message about the dangers of social media and the unforgiving glare of the limelight with an emotional gala performance on Saturday to close the figure skating program at the Milano Cortina Games.
A week after his shock eighth-place finish in the men’s event he was expected to win, the American turned the snow into a quiet defiance of criticism and scrutiny.
Swinging to Fear by American rapper NF – a raw song about mental health issues and feelings of helplessness – and wearing a gray hoodie and ripped jeans, the 21-year-old pretended to be scrolling through his phone.
He paled under the imaginary flashbulbs. He bent down and pulled his hat over his head.
Malinin and her American teammate Alysa Liu, the women’s champion, were among the top performers in the regular finals of the two-week all-star event.
American Alysa Liu captured gold in the women’s figure skating at Milano Cortina 2026, ending a more than decade-long drought for the United States in the event. Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai claimed silver and bronze to round out the podium. Asher Hill, host of That Figure Skating Show, recaps the biggest moments from the women’s free skate.
Malinin had arrived in Milan as one of the many favorites for gold – among all sports – undefeated in more than two seasons.
But the two-time world champion stumbled under the weight of her Olympic expectations, and her free routine came off as a surprise as she fell twice and nailed just three of her seven quadruple jumps.
He said in an Instagram post earlier this week that his stressful Olympic debut resulted in an “unavoidable accident.”
At Saturday’s show, he did one quadruple jump and then unleashed his trademark backflip on one foot and brought the crowd to their feet in what felt like both an appreciation of his talent and an acknowledgment of the weight he carried.
In the powerful closing sequence, he pretends to pull out the headphones, which immediately goes silent.
20-year-old Liu, on the other hand, delighted the crowd with his tireless skating Stateside by PinkPantress and Zara Larsson.
Liu’s Olympics could not have been more different than Malinin’s, with a newfound joy after two years away from the sport.
He said he was in a race of “great joy”.
Ice dance gold medalists Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France skate to a piano composition Mad Rushwhile double champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan skated to Justin Timberlake. You Can’t Stop The Feeling.
Amazing men’s singles champion Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan dressed as a Kung Fu Panda and was greeted afterwards by martial artist and actress Jackie Chan.
