On the finish of his free skate Saturday, Ilia Malinin sprawled out on the ice, eyes closed, soaking all of it in. The person generally known as the “Quad God” had simply unleashed a sequence of quadruple jumps — together with the quad axel, a leap that nobody else has ever landed — and even a backflip in his typical spectacular model.
The routine had included a fall and several other different miscues, nevertheless it didn’t matter. Malinin, the rising American who turned 20 on Monday, simply beat Japanese rival Yuma Kagiyama to win the boys’s singles competitors within the Grand Prix Closing, end an undefeated 2024 and additional cement his standing as a famous person within the making.
Maybe the one factor not going Malinin’s method is that the Olympics are in 14 months as a substitute of two.
For the reason that 2022 Beijing Video games, Malinin has grow to be the brand new power in males’s determine skating, his win Saturday finishing an ideal calendar 12 months that included the World Championship gold medal and has made him the game’s clear No. 1, simply over a 12 months earlier than the 2026 Olympics start in Milan.
Malinin began with a blinding brief program Friday, opening up a near-12-point lead over Kagiyama, the silver medalist at worlds behind Malinin. In Saturday’s free skate, Malinin unleashed a barrage of quads — the axel, lutz, salchow, toe loop, loop and flip — and a crowd-pleasing backflip close to the tip to say one other main title. He completed with a mixed rating of 292.12, besting Kagiyama’s 281.78. Japan’s Shun Sato took third with a 270.82.
“I had this concept and this aim that I wished to realize right here, and I used to be in a position to blow it out of the park,” Malinin mentioned within the area after the win.
A well-known sound for Ilia Malinin. 🇺🇸
He stands on the highest of the rostrum after efficiently defending his #GPFigure title. 🥇 pic.twitter.com/QkhbfrWP8f
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) December 7, 2024
The Grand Prix Closing is the end result of determine skating’s annual Grand Prix sequence, inviting solely the highest six skaters or pairs in every self-discipline. It’s among the many most prestigious worldwide titles within the sport, after the Olympics and the World Championships.
The win capped a stellar weekend in Grenoble, France, for the U.S. with three titles. Earlier Saturday, Amber Glenn received the ladies’s competitors, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates — the two-time defending world champions — received the ice dance for the second straight 12 months. The Individuals additionally took a gold and two silvers within the junior competitors.
Malinin was born and raised in Virginia. His dad and mom, Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinina, are former Olympic determine skaters with Russian and Uzbekistani heritage. They relocated to the U.S. and dwell in Vienna, Va., the place Malinin discovered to skate on the facility the place his dad and mom coach. He attends George Mason College.
Malinin would possibly already be a family identify for informal Olympics followers if not for a call in 2022 that saved him off the U.S. staff in Beijing.
American Ilia Malinin, who turned 20 on Monday, has ascended to the highest of males’s determine skating and enters 2025 as the game’s clear No. 1. (Laurent Cipriani / AP)
On the U.S. Championships that 12 months, one month earlier than the Olympics, Malinin — who had simply turned 18 — completed a stunning second place behind Nathan Chen, making a powerful case to be named to the staff. However the choice committee — not required to decide on based mostly on the outcomes alone — as a substitute opted for expertise and picked former Olympians Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown — the third- and fourth-place finishers at nationals — to affix Chen in Beijing and made Malinin the primary alternate.
It labored out for the U.S. — it received staff gold after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified and her rating subtracted — nevertheless it meant Malinin must look forward to his Olympic debut.
Within the time since, he has skyrocketed to the highest of the game. After the Olympics, the Individuals despatched Malinin to the 2022 World Championships, the place he completed ninth. Then he competed within the World Junior Championships and received gold for his first main victory.
From there, he competed on the senior circuit full time. The 2022-23 season introduced gold on the U.S. Championships and bronze at worlds and the Grand Prix Closing, in addition to his first profitable quad axel. Now, in 2024, he’s been unbeatable — World Championships, Grand Prix Closing, U.S. Championships — gold in all.
Earlier than his arrow-shot up the rankings, Malinin gained recognition for an unprecedented transfer. Till Sept. 15, 2022, no determine skater had landed a completely rotated quadruple axel — 4 full spins within the air off the axel leap, which is taken into account the toughest within the sport and begins forward-facing, necessitating an additional half rotation to finish.
That modified when Malinin unleashed it at an occasion in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Historical past. Made.🤯
17-year-old Ilia Malinin 🇺🇸 turns into the primary determine skater to land a quadruple Axel in competitors.
Full story ➡️ https://t.co/cIHBkGIZFH#FigureSkatingpic.twitter.com/jysyCrF0lr
— The Olympic Video games (@Olympics) September 15, 2022
He’s repeated the feat a number of instances since and goes by the nickname “Quadg0d” on Instagram in honor of the accomplishment. He’s mentioned in interviews he’s contemplating attempting a quintuple model of the leap.
It’s his signature transfer however removed from the extent of his talent. Malinin’s athletic routines have produced large scores — together with a world-record free skate at this 12 months’s World Championships. He wasted no time breaking out a backflip in competitors in October after a ban on the transfer — in place since 1977 — was lifted earlier this 12 months.
Can we discuss Ilia Malinin casually doing a backflip in his program actual fast? 🫨 #SkateAmerica pic.twitter.com/vcafwJn2yZ
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) October 21, 2024
Malinin completed 2024 with seven wins in seven occasions. He hasn’t completed out of the highest three in any occasion since that 2022 World Championships he competed in after lacking out on Beijing. And the subsequent main occasion is on his dwelling turf — the 2025 worlds are in Boston from March 23 to 30.
There’s nonetheless one other 12 months of competitors till the Olympics start in Milan in February 2026, time for one more prime contender like Kagiyama or France’s Adam Siao Him Fa — the bronze medalist ultimately 12 months’s worlds who missed this Grand Prix Closing with an damage — to chase Malinin down. However the American enters 2025 because the clear No. 1 within the sport.
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(Photograph: Jurij Kodrun / Worldwide Skating Union by way of Getty Photographs)
