Ilia Malinin wished he could go back four years.
The 21-year-old star Team USA ice skater had a rough showing Friday, with the “Quad God” shockingly finishing eighth and not medaling in the men’s free skate in an Olympic stunner.
In a hot-mic moment, Malinin reportedly lamented not having any prior Olympic experience.
“Beijing, I would not have skated like that,” he said, according to USA Today.
The Beijing reference is in reference to the site of the 2022 Winter Olympic games, when he did not make the team despite a second-place finish in the U.S. Championships.
These games marked his first and came with boatloads of expectations that ultimately were not met.
He acknowledged that lack of experience when asked about his hot-mic moment.
“I felt really good this whole day, going really solid, and I just thought that I all I needed to do was go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition,” Malinin said, per USA Today. “But of course, it’s not like any other competitions, it’s the Olympics.”
2026 WINTER OLYMPICS
His emotional response Friday offered a different view on how that 2022 snub has affected him than what he’s offered in the past.
He previously told “CBS Sunday Morning” that not being included helped fuel his rise.
“To be honest, I think if it wasn’t for that decision, I don’t think I’d be here in this moment,” he said. “I feel like I would be, after ’26, I’d be done skating. I don’t think I’d be landing a quad axel or trying to really revolutionize the sport of just pushing the limits of my own capabilities or the sport in general.”
Even with that lack of prior experience, Malinin had a chance to earn a medal Friday before he fell twice during his performance and sealed his podium-less fate.
He admitted to his uneven showing being more of a mental issue than a physical one.
“I blew it,” he told NBC after going more than two years without being beat.
He will now have another four years to use this to fuel him.
Malinin told NBC: “I should take the stuff I learned from here and use it to my knowledge to see what I can do in the future for this not to happen.”
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