Ilia Malinin pushes the boundaries in figure skating with his aerial shows. Preparations are underway for the most important competition in the US prodigy's career. He doesn't seem to be beatable.
23.01.2026, 04:31
23.01.2026, 07:12
SDA
Ilia Malinin floats across the ice as if gravity had decided to look away for a moment. A quadruple jump here, a quadruple jump there and a backflip on top of that. The 21-year-old US superstar makes the difficult look so easy and sets new standards in international figure skating.
However, Malinin is still missing the most important award - an Olympic victory. On February 13, the gold medal in the men's competition will be awarded at the Winter Games in Milan. Anything other than a triumph for the wonder skater would be a sporting sensation.
Always victorious for more than two years
The countdown to the most important competition in Malinin's career to date has begun. His fourth national title at the American Championships in St. Louis, Missouri, just two weeks ago was only a stopover on the way to his Olympic triumph. He will use the time between now and the Winter Games "to perfect everything, really work on all my weaknesses and make everything as perfect as possible," said the two-time world champion, who has been unbeaten for more than two years.
Malinin's nickname in the figure skating world is "quadruple god" because he has mastered more quadruple jumps than anyone else in the world. At the Grand Prix final in Japan at the beginning of December, he was the first athlete to perform seven quadruple jumps in the free skate. This includes the quadruple Axel, which is considered the most difficult jump of all. Apart from Malinin, no one else has ever performed this element, which he did three times in the freestyle at the national championships, in a competition.
"Simply amazing"
"It's simply amazing what he does," former British figure skater Mark Hanretty was quoted as saying by the American sports portal "The Athletic". Malinin does not rule out the possibility of doing a five-fold jump in the future.
He was practically born with the talent. Born in the Soviet Union, his parents Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skornyakov took part in the World Championships and Olympic Games for Uzbekistan in the 1990s and 2000s.
However, they were unable to win precious metals at the really big international competitions - unlike their son Ilia, who won gold in Montreal, Canada, in 2024 and at the home World Championships in Boston in 2025.
He already has a world record
But Ilia Malinin not only impresses with titles, but also with records. He scored 238.24 points with his Grand Prix free skate and set a world record. Former Canadian skater Ted Barton raved and described the program as "one of the greatest performances in the history of men's figure skating".
Malinin is also closing in on the overall world record for short program and free skating. He missed his compatriot Nathan Chen's mark (335.30 points) from 2019 by just 1.49 points with his previous personal best. It seems to be a matter of time before this record also falls.
Malinin still has a score to settle
"Whatever he's doing - it's obviously working," Chen, who won the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, was quoted as saying by the AP news agency.
Malinin still has a score to settle with the Olympic Games. After all, the "quadruple god" had to make do with a spectator role at Chen's triumph in the Chinese capital. Despite his second place at the American championships behind Chen, Malinin was only nominated as a substitute runner, partly due to his lack of experience. This time in Milan, there is no way around him.
