Chen had a similar collapse in the men’s singles at the Pyeongchang Games, but bounced back to win gold four years later

Nathan Chen; Ilia Malinin.Credit : Mike Marsland/Getty; Jiang Qiming/China News Service/VCG via Getty

Figure skating is just as much a mental sport as it is a physical sport — and few people know that better than Nathan Chan and Ilia Malinin.

Like Malinin, Chen went into the Winter Olympics in 2018 as a major star and a favorite to win gold in men’s figure skating. And also like Malinin, he struggled and fell, and his Olympic dreams came crashing down with a disappointing fifth-place finish in the singles competition.

Malinin, 21, was expected to finish much higher than his eighth-place finish in the men’s singles program on Friday, Feb. 13 in Milan. But two falls and a few botched technical elements squandered his chances of making it to the podium — and as someone who’s been in his shoes, Chen, 26, said that night he understands the pressures that come with the Olympic stage.

“One of the hardest parts about performing for a huge sold-out crowd is that you really can viscerally feel the reaction from the crowd. I remember when I went in my first jump and I fell, the whole crowd goes, ‘Ooooh,’ ” Chen told Yahoo Sports on Friday. “And that just hurts your gut and you get up and mentally you have to refresh, you have to figure out what went wrong and how can I regroup for the next element.”

A disappointed Ilia Malinin finishes his performance at the 2026 Winter Olympics on Feb. 13.WANG Zhao / AFP via Getty

Chen said that in 2018, he skated with a lot of “pressure” and “doubt” in his head, and noticed that it seemed Malinin felt similar, as a lot of his signature moves were off. Still, he expressed certainty that the self-proclaimed “Quad God” will be back in action soon.

The positive thinking worked for Chen, who returned for Olympic glory in Beijing in 2022, bouncing back with a gold medal in the same event that gave him trouble and even setting a world record.

“I can’t express how challenging that situation was and Ilia is absolutely in a position where he is young, he is still hungry, he still has so much potential and certainly [is] someone that we’ll continue talking about for the next many Olympic cycles,” he said. “But tonight is a night where he’ll have to reflect and reevaluate where he was mentally, physically and try to identify how he can come into the next Olympics and have a different outcome.”

Ilia Malinin at the Olympics on Feb. 8.Tim Clayton/Getty

Chen added to ISU Figure Skating that he believes Malinin will use the disappointment “as a great learning experience and move on from there.”

Malinin had the world on his shoulders heading into the competition, and told reporters afterward, including PEOPLE, that he was overwhelmed by the massive stage that is the Olympics. He said that most of his problems on the ice stemmed from an influx of “negative thoughts.”

“Right before I got into my starting post, I just … all the negative thoughts just rushed into my head, and all the negative, just traumatic experiences, you know. I’ve been through a lot and it’s not easy, so being the Olympic gold hopeful is really just a lot to deal with, especially for my age,” he said.