Laura Yuen: Ilia Malinin lost big. He showed us something bigger.

MINNEAPOLIS - Olympic figure skating brims with narratives about how to live your life. In American skater Ilia Malinin, we learned that it costs nothing to be a decent, gracious competitor, even while trying to nurse yourself back from a crushing defeat.

When Kazakhstani skater Mikhail Shaidorov clinched the gold medal in the men's figure skating finals in February, Malinin could have hung his head. Even a tepid handshake would have been seen as sportsmanlike. Just moments before, the heavily favored Malinin had fallen twice during his free skate, tumbling from first to eighth place. It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the Quad God.

But Malinin sought out Shaidorov in the kiss-and-cry booth with a congratulatory embrace, tousling the hair on the back of his rival's head. Malinin grabbed Shaidorov by the shoulders. Looking at him squarely in the eyes, he said, "You deserve it."

As a youth sports parent, this is the story about Malinin that I'll always hold up to my kids, even if he wins gold next time (and I hope he does). That short but meaningful exchange earned Malinin the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award, which honors exceptional sportsmanship during the games.

Now the 21-year-old is coming to the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Sunday as part of the Stifel Stars on Ice exhibition tour featuring women's singles gold medalist Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and other members of Team USA.

I spoke to Malinin by phone about mental health, the pressures of elite competition and what he wishes the media would stop doing. Our chat has been edited for clarity and length.

- Q: How do you feel genuine happiness for someone else's success, even when everyone thought that success would be yours?

- A: It's because I love the sport of figure skating. We all support each other. We appreciate each other's values. In the end, it's a healthy environment to encourage our competitors and help them achieve their goals, so we can progress the sport, as opposed to having it be a rival-on-rival situation.

- Q: You've spoken frankly about how you weren't mentally ready for the Olympics. What's something people don't understand about the pressures of competing at that level?

- A: Some of my friends and family were saying to just approach the Olympics the same way you do any other competition. That was what I was trying to do, but in reality it is something completely different, something that I should have been more ready for. But in the end, everyone was kind of using me to produce attention - trying to make me the Olympic gold hopeful. That was not right.

- Q: So you think people were building up this hype around you and that was unfair?

- A: I had to do things that I didn't want to necessarily do. It was a lot of media. They were pushing me to do things that benefit TV. They were using the attention I have, as opposed to letting the athletes shine in the moment, and putting so much unnecessary pressure on them.

- Q: The tennis player Coco Gauff has talked about how athletes need more privacy, especially to decompress after a tough match. Do you feel like the pendulum has swung too far in broadcasting your private moments?

- A: I think so. Their reasoning is that they want to see more personality, but the Olympics should be about the athletes. Even after what happened at the Olympics, they were constantly filming me even though they could have videoed the medalists. All they were doing was waiting for my reaction. There's ways to avoid that and still get the right amount of attention for everyone.

- Q: The media trades on proximity to celebrity. At the same time, you have offered us a lesson in humility and grace, and the cameras captured that.

- A: Yes, but again, that's a normal reaction. Even though my goal was to win the Olympics, that's one part of sport: You can't decide what happens. It really comes down to what happens in the moment. An Olympic gold medal doesn't take away or give you much in value as to what you are as a person.

- Q: How did you get into a healthy headspace to win the world championships, just weeks after the Olympics?

- A: It's simply how it is. That's one of the hard truths about figure skating and most sports: Win or lose, you have to get up and keep going. This was the last competition of the season, so all I had to do was go out there and try. Not put too much pressure on myself - just stick to what I want to do and love.

- Q: How is it different now, performing in an exhibition?

- A: It's a completely different environment. Stars on Ice is really special. You get to skate with all of these Olympic-level athletes without the pressure of competition. It's purely our love for the sport and showing it to the world.

- Q: Does a Quad God perform quads, even in an exhibition?

- A: Some people do.

- Q: I'm asking you.

- A: It depends on the workload. If there's a few shows, I'm sure we can do them. But if it's a tough tour like this, sometimes we have to sacrifice what we want, so our body can stay in shape and not get injured. I may do some at the practice beforehand, for the Stargazers who come out before the show. I'll definitely do some there.

- Q: You're starting a YouTube channel. What's that about, and why now?

- A: I've had the dream of having a YouTube channel for about six years, but I never really had the chance to get into it because I've been so focused on competing and training. But now I have free time and feel a little more open about my career, so I have more time to do things I actually love.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 3:44 AM.