Ilia Malinin’s Controversial Comments About His Relationship Status Resurface: ‘This Mistake Can’t Really Be Undone’
Ilia Malinin‘s surprising stint at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina has finally come to an end. So what does the “Quad God” have in store for him next?
Ilia Malinin placed eighth in men’s figure skating on Friday, Feb. 13, in a disappointing performance. “Honestly, I still haven’t been able to process what just happened, it’s a lot of mixed emotions,” he told NBC reporters. “Going into this competition I felt really good, this whole day I felt very solid, and I just thought that all I needed to do is go out there and trust the process that I’ve always been doing with every competition. But of course, it’s not like any other competition. It’s the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure in the nerves that actually happen from the inside, so it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like I had no control.”
While he has incredibly supportive parents, does he have a love interest who’s supporting him along the way?
Does Ilia Malinin have a girlfriend?
Ilia Malinin is currently single. In an interview with People right before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, he implied that he’s not looking for a relationship, “I want to put my priorities into my career first and just see where that takes me.”
In 2023, Ilia Malinin was under fire for answering a question about his sexuality. In an Instagram Live, a fan asked, “Are you straight?” Malanin replied, “Bro, you know, let’s be honest, I can’t be straight anymore because I need those (artistic) component scores up, you know. I gotta say that I’m not straight, that way my components are gonna go up.”
He later apologized for the comments on Twitter (now known as X): “I want to truly apologize to everyone for my ‘teenage’ behavior and I am aware that this mistake can’t really be undone. … I hope that everyone understands I mean no hate to anyone. Thank you all for understanding this mistake and making it known to me that I made a mistake.”
As for whether he’s planning to compete in future Olympics, he said on Milan Magic, “I’m playing everything by ear and how I feel just in general, and the passion I have for skating. So who knows, might be a fourth or fifth (Olympics). I mean, we’ll see how long I can keep going.”
