Ilia Malinin fell twice in his free skate in the men’s figure skating finals in February, then rose from the sting of an eighth-place finish with a gesture that won him a fair play award. The 21-year-old will bring that story to the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Sunday, May 10, as part of the Stifel Stars on Ice exhibition tour.
Malinin was in first place before the free skate, then dropped to eighth after the mistakes opened the door for Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan to win gold. After the final, Malinin embraced Shaidorov in the kiss-and-cry booth and told him, “You deserve it.” That exchange later earned him the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award.
For Malinin, the moment was about more than a podium. He said figure skating is a healthy environment where competitors can encourage one another and help each other reach their goals. He also said, “It’s because I love the sport of figure skating.”
He has been blunt about the pressures that come with being one of the sport’s most visible names. Malinin said he was being used to produce attention and cast as the Olympic gold hopeful, and that the media pushed him 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,” he said. “The Olympics should be about the athletes.” He added that medalists were not always the ones the cameras focused on after the Games.
That message gives his appearance in St. Paul a different weight than a standard exhibition stop. Stars on Ice is also featuring women’s singles gold medalist Alysa Liu and Amber Glenn, placing Malinin alongside other Team USA skaters in a tour built around the sport he says should stay centered on its athletes. His February collapse was a painful result. His response, and the honor that followed, turned it into a lesson in how a champion carries himself when the score slips away.
