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 collection of quadruple jumps — together with the quad axel, a bounce 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, however 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 Ultimate, end an undefeated 2024 and additional cement his standing as a celebrity 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.
Because the 2022 Beijing Video games, Malinin has turn into the brand new drive in males’s determine skating, his win Saturday finishing an ideal calendar yr that included the World Championship gold medal and has made him the game’s clear No. 1, simply over a yr earlier than the 2026 Olympics start in Milan.
Malinin began with a blinding quick 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 objective that I needed to realize right here, and I used to be in a position to blow it out of the park,” Malinin stated within the enviornment after the win.
A well-recognized 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 Ultimate is the fruits of determine skating’s annual Grand Prix collection, 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 gained the ladies’s competitors, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates — the two-time defending world champions — gained the ice dance for the second straight yr. The People 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 realized to skate on the facility the place his dad and mom coach. He attends George Mason College.
Malinin may already be a family title for informal Olympics followers if not for a call in 2022 that stored 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 yr, 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 hitch Chen in Beijing and made Malinin the primary alternate.
It labored out for the U.S. — it gained staff gold after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified and her rating subtracted — however it meant Malinin must look ahead to his Olympic debut.
Within the time since, he has skyrocketed to the highest of the game. After the Olympics, the People despatched Malinin to the 2022 World Championships, the place he completed ninth. Then he competed within the World Junior Championships and gained 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 Ultimate, in addition to his first profitable quad axel. Now, in 2024, he’s been unbeatable — World Championships, Grand Prix Ultimate, 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 bounce, 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 occasions since and goes by the nickname “Quadg0d” on Instagram in honor of the accomplishment. He’s stated in interviews he’s contemplating attempting a quintuple model of the bounce.
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 yr’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 yr.
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 yr of competitors till the Olympics start in Milan in February 2026, time for an additional prime contender like Kagiyama or France’s Adam Siao Him Fa — the bronze medalist finally yr’s worlds who missed this Grand Prix Ultimate with an harm — to chase Malinin down. However the American enters 2025 because the clear No. 1 within the sport.
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(Picture: Jurij Kodrun / Worldwide Skating Union through Getty Pictures)