Ilia Malinin Storms Back Onto Olympic Ice With A Defiant Gala Performance After Crushing Final Defeat

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NEED TO KNOW

• Ilia Malinin returned to Olympic ice on Feb. 21 for the annual figure skating exhibition gala
• Malinin soaked in a roaring applause after his performance
• The athlete previously said his program would focus on mental health

Just over one week after his hopes of an individual gold medal fell short, Ilia Malinin made a triumphant return to Olympic ice at the annual figure skating exhibition gala.

Malinin, 21, gave a powerful performance on Saturday, Feb. 21 set to “Fear” by NF, which he’d previously teased would be focused on mental health. The athlete said after his disappointing final skate on Feb. 13 that he’d been overcome with “negative thoughts” just before starting, which had made it hard for him to focus and ultimately landed him an eighth-place finish.

During Saturday’s program, he skated in a sweatshirt, and started by symbolically batting away the pings and comments in his music, which represented the negative impact of social media on his mental health. Once the music wrapped following his performance, which included his signature backflip, he appeared overcome with emotion as he soaked in the roaring applause.

Malinin had previously told fans what to expect from the gala in an Instagram post on Feb. 16.

“On the world’s biggest stage, those who appear the strongest may still be fighting invisible battles on the inside,” he wrote. “Even the happiest memories can end up tainted by the noise. Vile online hatred attacks the mind and fear lures it into the darkness, no matter how hard you try to stay sane through the endless insurmountable pressure.”

The gala is a post-competition tradition that features the podiums of all three completed figure skating events, plus other notable names from all over the world. This year’s gala includes Malinin, Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea, Mikhail Shaidorov and Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry.

There are no judges and no medals at stake, so skaters are encouraged to get creative and have fun with their programs. Malinin and his teammates also performed a group program together earlier in the night.

In an interview with PEOPLE several days after the final, Malinin said that he was leaving his Olympic experience with newfound wisdom, having gained more in defeat.

“I think honestly, you learn more from losing than you do winning, so I think I’m definitely gonna be able to learn a lot from this so I can come back better and stronger and really just know what I was up against,” he said. “It’s one thing to experience the Olympics for the first time, but it’s another to go again and know what’s gonna happen and really know how to prepare yourself better.”

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UEStoSwCKz8

He also opened up about supporting his teammate Amber Glenn, whose own individual skate got off to a shaky start with her short program (Though she later redeemed her performance with a stellar free skate).

“I’ve told her that, you know, this is something that we all go through,” he said. “It’s, you know, it’s not always a pleasant feeling, but it’s something that we need to embrace and we have to move on from no matter what, because no matter what happens, we always have to get up and go do it again.”