Why Ilia Malinin Choked

"American figure skater Ilia Malinin, known as the "Quad God" for his quadruple jumps, is the best in the world. He came into the Olympics not having lost a competition in two years. And then, on Friday, in his free skate in Milan, he fell apart. Early in his program, he bailed out of his signature quadruple axel and did a single axel instead. He then nailed a different quad jump, but then bailed on another one, turning a quad loop into a double loop. Then on another planned quad jump, he fell, and then he fell again. Something was obviously very wrong."

"Years ago, I spent some time interviewing psychologist Sian Beilock, who studied "choking": when someone fails, under pressure, to do something they've done a million times. Beilock, now the president of Dartmouth, was interested in the topic in part because she sometimes performed much better on practice tests than the real thing in school, and because she was a talented soccer goalie who played the worst game of her life when the national team coach showed up to watch. So what's going on?"

Ilia Malinin, a dominant figure skater nicknamed the "Quad God," experienced a dramatic collapse in his Olympic free skate, repeatedly failing planned quadruple jumps and visibly losing control. He described traumatic memories and an influx of negative thoughts that overwhelmed him and prevented him from handling the moment. Psychologist Sian Beilock studies "choking," a phenomenon in which pressure causes people to fail at tasks they have performed many times. Skilled, automated actions can be deautomated by stress and anxiety, disrupting performance even for highly practiced athletes. Examples of learned tasks becoming automatic include riding a bike or driving a car.

Read at Slate Magazine