Transcript

Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold

From NPR · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 29 min · 5,882 words · 76 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold", an episode of NPR published February 14, 2026 (29 min, about 5,882 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including Olympics, Ilia Malinin, Rachel Trezman, Lillian Carebach, Miky Shidorov.

What this episode is about

Ilia Malinin, the heavily favored American figure skater, faced a devastating fall during his performance at the competition, ultimately finishing in eighth place and shattering hopes for a medal. The event also explored the pressures and complexities of judging in figure skating, alongside insights into the dedication and challenges faced by competitive skaters.

Key takeaways

  • Even the quad god can have an off-night; pressure and expectation can weigh heavier than blades on ice.
  • Malinin's fall reveals a hidden truth: even the best juggle knives with nerves, an art fraught with vulnerability.
  • The night showcased that even underdog skaters can rise, proving medals aren't reserved for favorites—welcome to Olympic drama.
  • Pressure from social media can be an athlete's Achilles' heel, a manic cheerleader that flips to judgment in a heartbeat.
  • In sports, as in love, sometimes you win hearts while losing gold; just ask Malinin and his heartbroken fans.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Ilia Malinin, Olympics, Rachel Trezman, Miky Shidorov
  2. – 10:00: Olympics, Rachel Trezman, Lillian Carebach, Google LLC
  3. – 15:00: Olympics, Ilia Malinin
  4. – 20:00: Lillian Carebach, Alons's Travel Insurance
  5. – 25:00: Olympics, Rachel Trezman, Valentine's Day
  6. – 29:24: Olympics

Notable quotes from "Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold"

  • American figure skating favorite Ilia Malinin unravels in the freekate and falls out of metal contention, ending his night in eighth place in one of the biggest upsets of the games. NPR's.
    about Olympics · at
  • Him an international star failed him and he finished in eighth place after which he said, I blew it. We'll talk about what happened with NPR's Rachel Trezman who was watching…
    about Rachel Trezman · at
  • He landed such a clean skate. He did five quad jumps. You could tell he was really happy with his own performance because when it was over, he literally collapsed onto the ice and laid there on.
    about Miky Shidorov · at
  • Even true in men's figure skating, which is really known for unpredictable finishes. We actually call it menning when you have unpredictable finishes in figure skating. and I…
    about Lillian Carebach · at
  • Thanks so much. A support for Upfirst Winter Games comes from NPR sponsor Alons's Travel Insurance. Get ready to give ordinary the cold shoulder with protection for adventures that give you.
    about Alons's Travel Insurance · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Ilia Malinin — Person · Primary subject (referenced athlete) · 4 mentions · first at
    Central figure in the episode’s lead story: the heavily favored U.S. men’s figure skater who falters in the free skate and finishes 8th, prompting analysis of pressure, technique, and Olympic context.
    American figure skating favorite Ilia Malinin unravels in the freekate and falls out of metal contention, ending his night in eighth place in one of the biggest upsets of the games. NPR's.
  • Rachel Trezman — Person · Correspondent / on-scene reporter · 4 mentions · first at
    NPR reporter in the arena who narrates Malinin’s skate moment-by-moment and later returns to discuss Olympic 'power couples,' serving as a key voice across segments.
  • Lillian Carebach — Person · Expert analyst (former competitive skater) / guest · 3 mentions · first at
    Provides technical and psychological analysis of Malinin’s collapse, Olympic pressure, ice conditions, and scheduling/team-event fatigue; also contextualizes with past Olympic examples.
  • Miky Shidorov — Person · Referenced athlete (surprise gold medalist) · 2 mentions · first at
    Presented as the unexpected Olympic champion who delivers a clean free skate (five quads) and capitalizes as other favorites falter; used to illustrate 'dark horse' dynamics and pressure effects.
  • Tech Sergeant Chen — Person · Referenced athlete (comparative example) · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a prior U.S. favorite who struggled under Olympic pressure in 2018, used to normalize Malinin’s upset and illustrate how expectations can affect performance.
    Him. I should say like the atmosphere was really electric. There were a couple former Olympic greats watching. Simone Biles was there. Nathan Chen was there.
  • Simone Biles — Person · Referenced celebrity attendee (former Olympic great) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a notable Olympic star present in the arena, underscoring the high-profile atmosphere and added pressure surrounding Malinin’s skate.
    People were really excited to see him. I should say like the atmosphere was really electric. There were a couple former Olympic greats watching. Simone Biles was there. Nathan Chen was there.

Places & events

  • Olympics — Event · Core topic · 12 mentions · first at
    The main focus of the episode, discussing the Winter Olympics and its events, particularly figure skating.
  • Valentine's Day — Event · Thematic element · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as a thematic backdrop to discuss Olympic power couples and romantic relationships among athletes.
    I'm Martinez on this Valentine's Day, February 14th, and it was an absolute heartbreaker for the quad god. American figure skater Ilia Malanin, the heavy favorite for gold, never made it to the.

Sponsors

  • Google LLC — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as a sponsor of figure skater Ilia Malinin, highlighting the commercial aspects of the sport.
    He had bigname sponsors like Google heading into this Olympics and a ton of people like you a who don't watch figure skating knew who he was, right? Like Snoop Dogg knew who Elia Malinin is and.
  • Alons's Travel Insurance — Product · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    A sponsor of the podcast, mentioned in an ad read.

Full transcript with timestamps

The quad god is human after all. American figure skating favorite Ilia Malinin unravels in the freekate and falls out of metal contention, ending his night in eighth place in one of the biggest upsets of the games. NPR's Rachel Trezman was in the arena.

By a couple minutes into the 4-minute program, I think the whole crowd had started to process what they were seeing.

Plus, so much hope and so much hype. We ask a competitive figure skater, was the quad gods fall from heaven inevitable? At the end of the day, we are throwing ourselves in the air with knives on our feet and no protective equipment. We are crazy.

And we'll take a look at the other side of figure skating. The judges, who they are, what they're looking for, and how scores are decided.

This sounds like a lot of work, a lot of training. You then don't get paid to do the work.

Correct. And if you get it wrong, a whole bunch of people are going to be mad at you,

probably. And in honor of Valentine's Day, we thought we'd take a look at the real power couples of these Olympics. I'm Martinez and this is up first winter games. I'm Martinez on this Valentine's Day, February 14th, and it was an absolute heartbreaker for the quad god. American figure skater Ilia Malanin, the heavy favorite for gold, never made it to the podium. The quadruple jumps that made him an international star failed him and he finished in eighth place after which he said, "I blew it." We'll talk about what happened with NPR's Rachel Trezman who was watching from the Milano ice skating arena and we'll have analysis from former competitive skater Lillian Carebach. We'll start with Rachel. So Rachel, take us through his night from the moment he got on the ice for the first time.

So Malinin was the last skater of the night and the crowd was filling up sort of throughout. It was about 4 hours before he finally took the ice as part of his last group of competitors warming up. And when he stepped foot on the ice, the crowd cheered so loud that it literally set off the noise alert on my Apple Watch. That was the first and only time it happened the whole night. Um, so people were really really excited to see him. I should say like the atmosphere was really electric. There were a couple former Olympic greats watching. Simone Biles was there. Nathan Chen was there.

And so it kind of felt like Malinin was going to be the grand finale. And on top of that, the couple skaters who went before him all had pretty gnarly falls. They got back up, they kept going. But it was sort of like now it's time for him to go and bring it on home because, you know, he hadn't lost an international a major international competition since 2023. Like you said, he's known for doing these quad jumps of all kinds, especially the quad axle, and he would have been the first person to land one at the Olympics. So, people were really, there was a lot of excitement and expectation going into his skate.

All right, so the scene was set. uh tell us about what happened when the performance began.

This is colored by what he told us afterwards, but he he has since said that when he hit his starting pose, he was kind of immediately flooded with all of these traumatic memories and negative thoughts. And it wasn't necessarily apparent from the first second, but the second jump that he was going to do in the program was that quad axle, that history-making potentially moment. Um, and he bailed on it midair and made it into a single axle. And I think that's the moment when the crowd couldn't believe it. Uh it took a couple more seconds that felt really really long of um some stumbles. Ultimately, he fell twice and by a couple minutes into the 4-minute program, I think the whole crowd had started to process what they were seeing. It went from being really quiet in there at first to suddenly super loud. I think everyone in the room was just trying to boost their energy onto him. But it didn't take and he just

sort of wobbled his way, downgraded his moves. Um, he was not looking too happy and when it was over, he bowed to the crowd and just looked absolutely anguished.

Yeah, that's one of the cool things about figure skating is that the crowd tries to help the skaters, especially when they can sense that they're having a tough time. Um, what did he say? I mean, because everyone's been trying to break this down, figure it out, analyze it, dissect it. What did he say?

Well, he didn't do the press conference because he didn't win a medal. um which in and of itself is so shocking. So the only chance that we had to hear from him was essentially minutes after he got off the ice and I think it was way too soon for him to really have a read of what had gone wrong. But he did talk about as he has all week the pressure he's been under as the heavy gold medal the heavy gold medal favorite and he mentioned specifically social media having its highs and lows.

So who wound up uh winning the gold? Well, this is another crazy part of the night. Um, the skater who won gold was not favored to be on the podium at all. And that's Miky Shidorov of Kazakhstan, who was definitely a fan favorite. People may remember his short program was set to the Dune score. Um, he got a lot of love for that. He had a lot of support from the crowd last night, too. He landed such a clean skate. He did five quad jumps. You could tell he was really happy with his own performance because when it was over, he literally collapsed onto the ice and laid there on his back for a few seconds as everyone in the room just went wild. But I don't think anybody, including Shidorov, expected him to be in the winner seat the whole night because there were still a couple of people to go after him, including, of course, Malin. At the very end, he skated. He bumped his score into first. And when you're in first place,

you get to sit in the leader chair, which is right off of the ice, and you get to watch everyone else. and everyone gets to watch your face too when they get their scores. And so he sat there for the rest of the night as skater after skater fell. Um didn't knock him off the leaderboard and then of course Malinin went out there and didn't come close. And so we watched this 21-year-old in his Olympic debut realize that not only was he going to leave with a medal, but that it would be gold. He was shocked. He had his hands covering his face. It was incredible. I'll admit, Rachel, that's one of my favorite parts of the Olympics so far is watching the leaders react to the other people that are competing against them. That's been kind of a fun thing for me to kind of keep my eyes on. NPR's Rachel Trezman.

Rachel, thanks a lot. Thank you. For more on this, we turn now to former competitive figure skater and Oregon Public Broadcasting Weekend Edition host, Lillian Carebach. Uh Lillian, I'll admit I am on the every four-year plan when it comes to watching figure skating, but I watch a lot of it when the time comes. Are are you as shocked as I am over what happened?

Oh. Oh my gosh. Even the gold medalist Misha Shiderov looks shocked that he won. In my decades of skating competitions, I've really never seen such a surprising podium. And that's even true in men's figure skating, which is really known for unpredictable finishes. We actually call it menning when you have unpredictable finishes in figure skating. Um, and you know, I think really it came down to like Elia Malanin was very hyped up by the media. He had bigname sponsors like Google heading into this Olympics and a ton of people like you a who don't watch figure skating knew who he was, right? Like Snoop Dogg knew who Elia Malinin is and he got a ton of attention. But he's still he's just a 21-year-old at his first Olympics and that was a lot of pressure. And this isn't the first time we've seen someone kind of crumble under the Olympic lights. In 2018, Nathan Chen was pretty heavily favored by US media

for gold. And then he had a disastrous short program. He was in 17th place. He fought his way back to fifth, which was not what people predicted for him. You know, Mikuel Shiderov, he really put out when it was the moment for him. He was like not a gold medal favorite, but he's the world silver medalist. he's the four continents champion. There was just less pressure than him. And this isn't the first time that we've seen that happen. We've seen someone who has the skills and delivers on the night uh be the champion. Like Sarah Hughes in 2002, the pressure was off her. Everybody was looking at Michelle Quan and Ireina Slutskaya. And then suddenly Sarah Hughes was our Olympic champion.

Yeah. And so just to be clear, he he won this thing last night. He didn't back into the gold medal. He he's because some people will say, "Well, you know what? because Mullen didn't do so good. He gets to slide in.

Yeah, I would say that um you know, Misha had the skate of the night, but you could watch as he realized, "Oh my gosh, I got a medal. Oh my gosh, I I what? I won." Like, you watched every bit as he was in the winner's chair realizing like, "Oh, I'm still the I'm still the winner. Wait, I'm Olympic champion." Um you know, he had a really good skate. He's worked very hard. He hasn't had the best beginning of this season, but he had a really strong season last year. So, he was a dark horse, but he wasn't like totally out of left field, but as champion, no, it was definitely a surprise.

All right, so let's uh dissect this a little bit because before the Olympics, there was a lot of chatter about the quality of the ice. Uh, not just for figure skaters, but for anyone on skates. So, tell me how much of a factor that might have played. I mean, ice is slippery no matter what, which is just we what we say to say that ice skating can go strange in different ways. That being said, it really does affect the quality of your skating. Speed skaters have been saying that the ice is too soft for them. The big thing is that speed skaters and figure skaters are sharing the ice at this event, which is unusual. So, the ice has been switched back and forth for the two different events, and we require different ice thicknesses and temperatures. So that means that the ice is getting flooded and then shaved down again daily, which can affect the quality of the ice. Um, you know, Olympic officials said, "Hey,

the ice is monitored. It's consistently checked for temperature and quality, but we saw some pretty uncharacteristic uh wipeouts during short track uh speed skating." And that ice arena was also rushed to be finished. They were still putting it together like a week before the Olympics.

The thing is, everybody's skating on the same ice. If the ice is off, it's off for everyone equally.

All right. So, what about the decision to skate in the team event? I know that Mullen kind of went back and forth a little bit, maybe made a last second decision. It seems to me that making a last second decision at the Olympics might not be a great plan.

Yeah. I mean, you know, four competition programs in a week is a phenomenal amount of mental pressure. And that's when it's not at the Olympics and it's taxing on your body. This is not normal in any other competition. Um, we saw mistakes in yesterday's freezegate from all five of the men who also competed in the team final. But I the flip side is that maybe they had too much time off. The men actually got two days off between the short program and the long program. That's very unusual. You would not see that at most competitions.

Usually at most it's one day off. I think that longer break and that change in routine might have had just as much of an effect on the programs. You're just like off your beat. you're off the rhythm that you've worked all season to kind of build up. I will say the team event was introduced in 2014 and we've seen other competitors skate lights out in the team event and then totally underperform in their individual events, whether it's mental, physical exhaustion, who knows?

I'll give him this much. Molinan has handled this defeat with a lot of poise. Um, so far, at least as far as anyone that I've seen or read, he's basically putting it on himself. He's like, I blew it. uh maybe I was too confident. He was asked if it was more physical than mental. He said no, it was definitely mental. Take us into that mental headsp space that Mullen might have been in.

You know, I think this is probably the biggest factor there. He's really a sportsman. The first thing he did was congratulate Misha and say you deserved it. But at the end of the day, we are throwing ourselves in the air with knives on our feet and no protective equipment. We are crazy. like as a sport that you have to be a little unhinged to do this as a sport and so the mental game is so important. You know, my coach actually had a double major in physics and psychology and I think that was like the perfect combo for figure skating.

Um, Ilia is really known for like his super big jumps and like a matching amount of self-confidence, but he is still, like I said, a 21-year-old at his first Olympics. And he said it felt different than any other competition. There's just so much pressure. We're such a niche sport most of the time and to have all of these cameras and international attention on us that isn't just from within the little figure skating community. But I think the it really went ary for him because the quad axle, which is a jump that only he can do, it was so media hyped. Every single one of those four programs, we were like, is this the time we're going to see it? And uh he really wanted to make Olympic history and do it on this ice.

And when he popped it into a single, which was the largest single axle I've seen in my life, uh he it looked like he never quite mentally recovered. He got back into it when he did the quad luts, but then he was secondguessing himself. You could see him doing mental math if he could still fit in the quad axle. The biggest thing was that he didn't rotate the jumps. He takes big leaps, no pun intended, and does really high technical content, and he can afford a couple mistakes, but you have to rotate the jumps on the in the air if you don't land them. And so, he just lost a ton of points by popping and doubling jumps.

Um, I will also say he's been working to kind of rebrand the quad god, uh, you know, cocky attitude. His whole free program was to his own spoken word poetry, which a lot of people were like, "Oh my gosh, Gileia, how how cocky is it?" But actually, he said that it was meant to show his complexity and vulnerability as an artist. And he's actually been working on a skating project to highlight the negative impact of social media on athletes and how it fosters self-doubt. He announced it on Tik Tok last month and it's expected to debut later this month. I think that project might feel even more relevant as he tries to bounce back from this competition and defend his title at Worlds next month.

Yeah, if he can somehow avoid the millions of figure skating coaches that are going to comment online about this, I think he might be

like me. Well, you actually did it though. I'm talking about the millions of people that have never done anything like this before, but feel that they are experts in this. So, on that spoken word poetry thing that he was trying to pull off. Um, I mean, if if he's landing, jumping and landing in spots where maybe it doesn't line up to where his plan was. I mean, does that throw him off completely for the rest of the program?

It depends on the skater. With Elia, he changes his layouts a lot of the time. So, it has more to do with is is he mentally thrown off? As skaters, we're used to falling. We're used to finding a way to get back on for our program. You know, one of the reporters that was next to me at US Nationals, he's a basketball reporter and he was like, "Hey, I can't believe that they just keep falling and they get back up and they finish the program with a smile on their face. This sport is crazy." And I was like, "Wait, don't basketball players do that?" And he's like, "Oh, no. They're 20 points down. They just give up for the rest of the game sometimes." And uh it's just a totally different thing in figure skating. We're really trained to do that. Um, but you know, a skater like Yuma Kagayyami, he had everything done to a like custom piece of music and his was very very precise in where his steps

and his step sequence needed to be on the music and for him that could really throw things off and we definitely didn't see his best freekate performance, but hey, it was good enough for an Olympic silver medal. So, um, you know, it really depends on the skater and the program, but a lot of us plan on that.

That's Oregon Public Broadcasting's Lillian Carebach. Lillian, thanks. Thanks so much. A support for Upfirst Winter Games comes from NPR sponsor Alons's Travel Insurance. Get ready to give ordinary the cold shoulder with protection for adventures that give you the best kind of chills. Learn more at alonsstrains insurance.com. In figure skating, the spotlight is usually on the skaters, the jumps, the spins, and the routines that bring arenas to their feet. But every skate has a score, and that score comes from the judges, the people who train for years to evaluate performances at the sport's highest level. Here's an inside look at the people whose job it is to turn artistry into numbers. From the Curiosity Desk at our NPR member station GBH.

When I was a skater, I always thought it was a little bit sort of me versus the judges. But now I realize that judges are just people who are nerds about ice skating. There's a lot of enjoyment that comes from judging, but it's a big responsibility.

We very much view judging as a privilege and an honor and we view it as service. Can you sort of step me through what's happening in the world of the judges as the audience at home and in the arena is watching the thing happen on the ice?

The technical panel is coming up with one decision as a collective as opposed to the judges who are all operating independently. So there's someone who's calling the elements in real time and

they're like that was a triple axle. Correct. They exactly what they'll say. There's a triple axle and then there's a data replay operator and that's one of the roles that I play who is sitting at a touchcreen kind of like working at McDonald's and they're entering boop triple axle.

I'll have one triple axle please. Delicious. Exactly. And then if one of the officials on the tactical panel thinks that the jump is not fully rotated or not so delicious, they might call for review. How does one sort of say, you know what, I I think I'd like to do some figure skating judging like what do you think then? What do you do?

People have different paths. Most judges, I will say, skated as children. I started skating when I was 5 years old. Went to college, really found myself missing the sport and just wanted to find an opportunity to come back without having to, you know, spend 25 hours a week out on the ice. There's a lot of testing we have to take. Basically, demonstrate that we understand the rules. And then before you can serve at a competition, you become what's called a test judge. So, in figure skating, there are various proficiency tests that skaters have to take to move up the ranks. And so, the first thing you do is judge those as what we call a trial judge, where you're judging alongside the panel, but your marks don't count. And then you talk to experienced judges about how you arrived at your marks. There's a process of more experienced judges determining that you are using the criteria properly and that

you are arriving at logical decisions. So something of an apprenticeship. Correct.

An unpaid apprenticeship which is a typical apprenticeship. Right. And from there you progress through each level with more written and practical exams as well as inseat experience until you can become a national judge.

Do you ever think about judges? Do they have any impact on your life? I think they're really nice people. I know that like they volunteer to like judge us. And usually during our programs, we try to make eye contact and like facial expressions.

You want to make sure that you're putting on the best performance for them at all times. You want to make sure that you're maxing out your points to get yourself the best possible results. Somebody finishes a program, they're sitting there and you're waiting for the scores to come in and you know it's like this high drama TV moment. Like as the skater, what's going through your mind in those moments?

Okay, I feel good about this element. I feel good about this and I'm hoping that they will see the same that I feel.

I feel like when I'm out there on the ice, the scores like I'm not thinking about that. I'm just more focused on each element of my program and just taking my time and enjoying the process in the moment.

I always try to make a good estimate and then if it's higher than I expected that's great. If it's lower, it's lower. That's how the sport is.

Yeah. And both things have happened to you. Yes. They're amazing athletes. You have to be a monster now. It's more technical. It's very difficult and really really detail orientated. When our days when we skated watching programs, it's like you have a goosebumps. It's all about feeling. It's all about relationship with audience and judges. It was beautiful to watch. And now today, everybody is wanting to be number one, which is understandable. and they're looking to do tricks. I don't want to say it reminds me of Barnum and Bailey, but there are a few times when I would say that would be apppropo.

And you have to be careful not to be too sympathetic. If they make a mistake, you've got to honestly say it was a mistake. On the other hand, I love it when a program is finished and I have watched a beautiful performance. You know, they did everything they should do and I have the pleasure of giving them a nice high mark.

I feel like if I get a good score from you, then I earn that good score. This is this is what I'm getting the sense of.

I hope that's how they all feel. judge number three. I always make sure that I can justify my marks and if anyone has a question for me about what my mark is, I will absolutely tell them why. But if I was wrong, I was wrong and that's an opportunity for me to learn from.

Part of what was intended with the system by splitting up the responsibilities and having different people's decisions contribute to the overall score was to eliminate that ability for any single judge to dictate the result. Okay, this sounds like a lot of work, a lot of training. You've got to do a bunch to get yourself qualified.

Correct. You then don't get paid to do the work. Correct. And if you get it wrong, a whole bunch of people are going to be mad at you,

probably. Why do you do it? It's really about the people. We see our friends from across the country and across the world when we go to competitions.

It really is a camaraderie and a family. Ultimately, we're volunteers looking to improve our sport. And it brings me no greater pleasure than to engage with a skater, talk them through what's going on, and see them progress throughout the season. Even today, when I walk into a rink, my heart's with the skater when I'm watching. I can almost feel what she's feeling or he is feeling as he's doing it. I'm just crazy. Skating is my passion. I feel like I have a lot of joy while skating. A lot of challenges, but overcoming those challenges makes you feel like you accomplished something and you feel good about yourself. And that feeling gets addicting.

I'm always excited to be on the ice. What does it feel like when you're on the ice?

Like I'm flying and I'm free and I'm powerful. Wow. It's a pretty good feeling, I bet.

Yeah. I've had the pleasure of living long enough to have some of the little ones I judge grow up as adults and I will meet them off in Timbuktu where they also are serving as a judge and they will come up to me and say I'm glad to meet you. Do you know you gave me third place?

A special thanks to Edgar B. Herwick III at our NPR member station GBH in Boston. In honor of Valentine's Day here at Up First Winter Games, we thought we'd highlight some of the Olympic power couples in Italy. Those who compete together, cheer each other on in their individual sports. Or how about this, who face off against each other. Here to break down the romance and the rivalries is NPR's Rachel Trezman. All right, Rachel. So tell us about some of these power couples and the Americans that we need to know about. It was hard to pick just a few honestly, but I'll I'll try.

Um, first off, I think everyone should be talking about Hillary Knight and Britney Bow. Um, they are amazing athletes in their own right. Of course, Hillary Knight is the Team USA women's hockey captain. She is a five-time Olympian, the leading Team USA all-time scorer. And then Britney Bow is a legend in speed skating. She's a four-time Olympian. She has two medals so far. Um, and the two of them actually met in Beijing at the last Olympics. They have said that um Hillary asked B if she wanted to take a walk one night after dinner. They're both very happy that that happened because it became their nightly routine and they've been together ever since. Um switching gears a little bit, I just want to talk about one of my favorite power couples um parolympians. We have Oxana Masters and Aaron Pike. They're both multisport athletes. So you may remember them from the summer Olympics. They do both winter

and summer. Oxana is actually the most decorated US winter parolympian of all time. She has 14 medals spread across spread across a bunch of different sports including parac cross country and bialathlon. Uh Pike does those sports as well and they met at a paranoordic national championship in 2013 when they were both sort of shifting into winter mode. Apparently they bonded over their mutual love of coffee which makes total sense to me because they seem like two of the busiest people ever. Um and then they ran into each other again the next year at the Sochi games in 2014 and they have said they shared a very sweet moment on a gondola. Fast forward to 2022, Pike proposed to Masters also on a gondola. I actually had the chance to talk to them uh back in October and I asked them not only this, but I did ask them how wedding planning is going and they immediately put it on the other. Um they each wanted to know what the other

had said when I asked them, but they did tell me that there's actually a chance that they might just get married here in Italy after the Parolympics since it's one of those rare moments when all of their families will be in the same place anyway.

Yeah. You know, it's funny though because when you're trying to make a connection with someone, you're always trying to find something in common. And for these athletes, right, they're elite athletes at this level, so that's something in common right away, right? When when when you already have that, I mean, love surely follows. I mean, so are there any others that play the same sport?

For sure. There are actually a bunch of couples that I know of that met well before they were at the Olympic level, but they grew up in the sport and met each other, you know, on the journey. So, one example of that is Kesha Love and Hunter Powell. They're both Bob's letters for Team USA. uh they met back when they were in college doing track and field. Love switched to bob sled. She went to the 2022 games and then she convinced Powell to do the same and now he's here too for his first Olympics and they did get engaged last summer. Can confirm. Um and another couple to know about are Reard and Haley Langland.

They're both snowboarders. They have known each other since they were 12. They've been dating for almost a decade. They are um they competed in 2018 and 2022. Gerard is here again. Unfortunately, Langland is out with an ACL injury.

And of course, some of these couples are not just a couple in life, but there are a couple in sport.

That's absolutely true. You have heard me talk about Chalk and Bates, so I'll just mention them one more time. US ice dancers Madison Chalk and Evan Bates won silver and for sure, uh, based on what I'm seeing, America's hearts. Um, but we should shift over to another power couple that play on the same exact team, and those are Canadian hockey players, Marie Philip Ple and Laura Stacy. They actually both play for Canada's national team. Ple is the captain and they also play together back in Montreal in the pro leagues. They apparently met in 2017 at a Team Canada event and they told the CBC that they were part of this group of people midnight skinny dipping. Um, and they both happened to look up at the sky and see the same shooting star that nobody else saw. And they locked eyes and they said, "Can you believe it?" And so naturally they got married in 2024.

Nice. I mean, if you see a shooting star, right? I mean, that's meant to be. You have to get married within a few years. Yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah. Now, what about this? Because now this is the part that's going to fascinate me the most. Couples that compete against each other. Because how do you stay a couple when you're trying to beat the other person?

Have you seen heated rivalry? Many people are asking. I do. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Well, it is fitting that the example that everyone is talking about is also in hockey. Um, it's women's hockey though, unlike the TV show. Um, and I'm going to read their names because I'm sure I'm not pronouncing them right, but I will do my best. Anna Shelbin and Ronia Sevelinan. They met when they were both playing for Sweden's national team years ago, and then they both ended up playing for different teams in Canada. But now they are both here playing for different teams again. One is playing for Finland and one is playing for Sweden. Those two countries are not um scheduled to play each other in the preliminary rounds, but there is a chance that they could meet for a medal match later.

Nice. Now, one note, one note that we should all know about. Uh, I did happen to see a picture of Cleveland Browns defensive end Miles Garrett in Italy supporting his girlfriend, snowboarder, American snowboarder Khloe Kim. So, he managed to make it out there and there you go. So, he's supporting each other even though they don't play the same sport.

Exactly. There are um a number of, I would say, power spectators milling around, so keep your eyes peeled for them too.

That's NPR's Rachel Tman. Rachel, thanks. Thank you. That's up first. Winter games for Saturday, February 14th. Don't forget to click subscribe and you can donate to help our Olympics coverage continue. Hit the blue button to give today. I'm Martinez and we'll see you right back here Monday and most days during the Olympic Games. Have a gold medal day.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold"?

Martinez (Host), Rachel Trezman (Guest), Lillian Carebach (Guest).

What is "Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold" about?

Ilia Malinin, the heavily favored American figure skater, faced a devastating fall during his performance at the competition, ultimately finishing in eighth place and shattering hopes for a medal. The event also explored the pressures and complexities of judging in figure skating, alongside insights into the dedication and challenges faced by competitive skaters.

What is mentioned in this NPR episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Olympics, Ilia Malinin, Rachel Trezman, Lillian Carebach, Miky Shidorov, Valentine's Day. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Inside the arena when Ilia Malinin fell. How Mikhail Shaidorov won gold"?

The episode runs 29 min; the transcript is about 5,882 words in 76 timestamped sections.

More from NPR

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 15, 2026.