At the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics, a superstar American athlete did the unthinkable: Ilia Malinin fell multiple times during the men’s free skate.
The “Quad God” didn’t win gold or silver. Or even bronze, for that matter.
This was a young man who had been undefeated in professional figure skating competition since November… of 2023.
Malinin capturing gold was about as certain as the sun rising in the morning.
Immediately after his mistake-filled program, he tried to explain — to the world, to himself —what happened:
“The pressure of the Olympics is really something different, and I think that not a lot of people will understand that. They'll only understand that from the inside.
“I just had so many thoughts and memories flood right before I got into my starting pose. I think it maybe overwhelmed me a little bit.
“I haven't had time to understand what fully went wrong.”
As the 21-year-old alluded to, his situation was unique: the unequivocal, unassailable best in the world, carrying the weight of a nation’s hopes and the world’s expectations on his shoulders.
One person that might be able to relate? Mikaela Shiffrin, who captured slalom gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Coming into the Games, the then 30-year-old owned countless Alpine skiing accolades:
- Three Olympic medals
- 108 World Cup victories (a record, and it’s not close)
- 71 slalom victories (also a record, also not close)
- Five overall Crystal Globe titles (nearing a sixth)
- A winner of eight of her previous nine slalom Cup races
- Nine reindeers, awarded for her nine wins at the World Cup in Levi, Finland
- A partridge in a pear tree
Although she now possesses as many reindeer as Santa Claus, Shiffrin typically is associated with a different four-legged animal.
Her GOAT-level status is well earned, but, like Malinin in 2026, Shiffrin struggled mightily at the 2022 Beijing Games when faced with massive (and perhaps, unfair) expectations.
The Edwards, Colorado native participated in all six Alpine skiing events, becoming only the second woman ever to do so, but did not claim a single medal.
Most notably, she DNF’d (did not finish) 11 seconds into her giant slalom run, DNF’d five seconds into her slalom run and DNF’d in the combined as a top medal contender in each.
“I feel really bad,” Shiffrin revealed after the 2022 slalom race, while holding back tears. “It makes me second guess the last 15 years. Everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and my racing mentality. Just processing a lot, for sure.”
As a viewer, the three DNFs and zero podiums were stunning.
For critics, the Olympic performance turned into fodder for the next four years.
Shiffrin labeled her own performance “a joke,” and not the funny kind.
When Malinin crashed and burned in Milan, the vibes felt eerily familiar. Shiffrin, his Team USA counterpart, offered her support via a social media comment.
“The Olympics ask us to take a real risk on the world stage. One that requires courage and vulnerability to erroneous judgment and narratives built on a limited understanding of what the sport truly demands. And it all matters in the story of becoming the best version of ourselves.
We love deeply because we know loss. We feel the pain of defeat because we’ve tasted triumph. Heartbreak and victory live right next door. Disappointment and gratitude often co-exist. Ilia, we’ve got your back. 🙌 Proud of you.❤️
The words of compassion came sandwiched between two days of Olympic competition for Shiffrin. The first was an underwhelming team combined performance, the second was a good, not great, outing in the giant slalom.
The 31-year-old very easily could have said nothing. Maybe quietly rejoice in the fact that the attention was diverted elsewhere. But that’s just not her.
“These moments are so big and so loaded and so filled with reaction,” Shiffrin told NBCOlympics.com 24 hours after winning slalom gold in Cortina. “I want these athletes to know just how amazing they're doing, no matter what, whether you fulfill the dream or you don't this time around. It's part of it.”
By “these athletes,” she wasn’t just referring to Malinin.
When Alpine skiing compatriot Breezy Johnson claimed gold in the downhill, Shiffrin celebrated her several times over on social media, which included a video of her cheering on Johnson’s run in real time.
A few days later, she recognized her teammates Paula Moltzan and Jacqueline Wiles, who captured bronze in the team combined, with a heartfelt speech:
“I believe that you both earned this with your heart and your soul, and it’s not just something that you put into this day, but something you've put into the last four years. And the last eight years. And the last 30 years.
“I wish so much, Breezy, that you could have a second medal for the run that you put out on that downhill today.
“But I couldn't even imagine a better way for this to go for Paula to start this Olympics and Jackie to just come back and get that sh*t.”
That particular congratulations came on the heels of her and her partner Johnson missing the podium in the same event, largely due to Shiffrin’s slalom performance, which bumped them down to 4th place.
Yet, Shiffrin chose not to dim Moltzan or Wiles’ light. Instead, she helped it shine brighter.
Four years prior, in Beijing, when she arguably was at the lowest of low points in her career, she gave her teammates flowers in a similar manner.
That’s what Shiffrin does. That’s who she is. A supporter, a champion — in her own right, but also of others — someone who lifts up her peers regardless of their result or hers. She’s an empath.
“As humans, we spend so much time preparing and learning and studying and writing and understanding, and it's all for a moment that comes to pass,” she said. “And once it's past, it’s history. You're like, 'what? Why?'”
Shiffrin is a deep, psychological thinker. When speaking to her, it’s clear she’s deliberate in her answers, seemingly choosing every word with care. Yet at the same time, there’s a remarkable candor and rawness to her responses.
Perhaps it’s because of her elite processing capabilities.
On the slopes, she sees angles and knows how to attack them more cleanly than most. She recognizes when and how much to engage her skis during a turn so her speed isn’t compromised. She knows when to dial it up and dial it back.
Those qualities helped her throw down two nearly-flawless slalom runs in Cortina en route to her third Olympic gold medal — a record for any American Alpine skier.
Off the slopes, she described the various ways she won at the 2026 Winter Olympics, which had very little to do with crossing the finish line first.
Skiing while faced with feelings of fear, self-doubt, resentment and gratitude for her peers. Competing on a global stage under unimaginable pressure with naysayers ready to pounce and a collaborative team helping her persevere.
Is that what winning has always meant for the winningest athlete in the history of her sport?
“I think my definition of winning has not really changed, but the way I access that mentality has had to shift as I experience different things, as the external expectations change, and then also internal expectations change.
It’s that weird thing as an athlete. You're constantly earning something, and you never actually get to have earned it. You always have to go back out and earn it again.
"I think maybe something we all grapple with is feeling like we're just not enough because we're trained to want to do better every single day, every single turn.
“So then it's really kind of about deciding what's enough for you.”