The media has created a bad environment for ladies skating. The US girls didn’t crack under pressure, the medals were always going to the russian girls. If there wasn’t the expectation that USA would win people wouldn’t be treating the US girls like failures. Did the Australian public berate Kailani for not getting gold? No because she hadn’t been ridiculously built up.
Also, if the media wants to complain about US performance, what about pairs? Unless they improve that program, the US will never get higher than bronze in the team event. And despite how they did in the individual event, both Bradie and Mirai did very well in the team event and helped the US get its medal.