Lowering the stakes is an essential technique necessary for all leaders in their field.

By overstating his desired outcomes, figure skater Ilia Malinin raised the pressure and lost the Olympic gold.

By understating her desired outcomes, figure skater Alysa Liu lowered her stakes and won Olympic gold.

All eyes will be on American premiere ice skater Ilia Malinin at the Figure Skating World Championships 2026 in Prague this week, as he tries to win a gold medal after placing eighth at the Olympics in the individual competition.

He could take a lesson from someone who isn’t even showing up: Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu.

In the Olympics, Malinin entered the final individual performance in the lead as the heavy gold medal favorite, but he put such enormous pressure on himself that he stumbled and fell twice during his performance.

In contrast, Liu came home with gold after lowering her mental stakes and saying she was skating for love of the sport, not to win a medal. Now, she isn’t even competing at the world championships, saying she’s busy and doesn’t have anything to prove.

The best thing that Malinin can do is mirror Liu's strategy, curb his expectations and bravado-filled rhetoric, and take the heat off himself.

I have a name for this: lowering the stakes.

As a leadership coach to CEOs and the C-suite, I advise clients that lowering the stakes is an essential technique necessary for all leaders in their field, including athletes, to deliberately calibrate the internal and external pressures when the stakes are at........

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