Streamlly Original
Milan's Ice Raises Questions After Olympic Falls
Reported by Alecia Venkataraman, Michael Jorge, Jesse Jines
- Published: Feb 19, 2026, 11:43 AM EST
- Updated: Feb 15, 2026, 12:43 PM EST
- Filed from: Milan, Italy
- Duration: 29 sec
- Views: 1.3K
MILAN — Four of six men's figure skating finalists fell during the free skate at the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, a 67% fall rate — the highest at any Olympics in over a decade.
A review of play-by-play data from every major men's final group since 2016 shows the Milan result was more than double the historical average of 32% across 10 non-Milan competitions. The only event with a higher rate was the 2018 World Championships — held in the same building in Milan — eight years ago.
Among those affected was Ilia Malinin, the two-time world champion who had not lost a competition since 2023. Malinin landed jumps cleanly on the right side of the rink but fell repeatedly on the left. He told the New York Times it "definitely felt like not only nerves."
He was not alone. Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama slipped while skating forward — not during a jump — in what appeared to be a loss of edge. Adam Siao Him Fa slipped skating backward in a similar zone.
The pattern extended beyond figure skating. Short track speed skating, which shares the same surface, saw multiple non-contact falls in overlapping zones. American skater Corinne Stoddard described the ice giving way beneath her.
The ISU has not issued a public statement on ice conditions at the venue.
Whether the pattern reflects an environmental factor or a statistical anomaly remains an open question. What the data shows is that this building has now produced the two most error-prone elite men's finals in the last 10 years.
Credits
- Alecia VenkataramanReporter/Writer/Director/staff/aleciavenk
- Curtiss PhilipsenOn-Camera Talent/staff/curtiss-philipsen
- Lloyd MorrisVO Artist/staff/lloyd-morris
- Michael JorgeSenior Video Editor/staff/michael-jorge
- Jesse JinesEditor/staff/jesse-jines
Transcript
It wasn't just nerves.
The men's free skate in Milan had one of the highest fall rates in modern history.
I pulled 10 years of Olympic and world finals data for the last group.
Milan was double the average.
And the only event with a higher fall rate was also in Milan, in the same building, 8 years ago.
I mapped every fall and random slip, and I noticed they were happening in similar zones.
Most bizarre, on the left side first Adam Siao Him Fa slips just skating backwards.
Then Yuma Kagiyama, Olympic silver medalist, also slips just skating forward.
And then Ilia Malinin, undefeated since 2023.
He lands multiple jumps clean on the right.
But when he enters this left-side zone, he had falls we almost never see from him, and they were in the same area where the other 2 previous skaters had slipped.
And it wasn't just figure skating.
Short track speed skating saw multiple unexplained non-contact falls.
Top athletes kept going down because they slipped.
Some even described it as the ice gave way.
Both sports share the same ice, but they require different temperatures.
Okay.
But if it was the ice, then why did some skaters skate clean- It's like potholes in the road.
One car can drive through untouched.
The next has a blowout.
There are more questions than answers, but the pattern matches what athletes and fans have felt, that something unusual was happening.
And whatever it is, it appears to have happened 8 years ago, too, in the exact same arena.