Ilia Malinin, the new star of American figure skating, completes a perfect year and aims for Olympic glory – Blogging Sole

Ilia Malinin, the new star of American figure skating, completes a perfect year and aims for Olympic glory – Blogging Sole

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At the end of her free skate Saturday, Ilia Malinin sprawled out on the ice, eyes closed, taking it all in. The man nicknamed the “Quad God” had just completed a series of quadruple jumps, including the quad axel, a jump no one else has ever landed – and even a backflip in his typical spectacular style.

The routine included a fall and several other mistakes, but that didn’t matter. Malinin, the rising American who turned 20 on Monday, easily beat Japanese rival Yuma Kagiyama to win the men’s singles competition in the Grand Prix Final, complete an undefeated 2024 and further cement his status as a superstar in the making .

Perhaps the only thing wrong with Malinin is that the Olympic Games are in 14 months instead of two.

Since the 2022 Beijing Games, Malinin has become the new force in men’s figure skating, his victory on Saturday completing a perfect calendar year that included winning gold at the World Championships and made him the undisputed No. 1 in the sport, just over a year until the 2026 Games. The Olympics begin in Milan.

Malinin opened Friday with a dazzling short program, opening a nearly 12-point lead over Kagiyama, the world championship silver medalist 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 near the end to earn a another major title. He finished with a combined score of 292.12, beating Kagiyama’s 281.78. Japan’s Shun Sato took third place with a score of 270.82.

“I had this idea and this goal that I wanted to achieve here, and I knocked it out of the park,” Malinin said in the arena after the victory.

The Grand Prix Final is the culmination of the annual Figure Skating Grand Prix series, inviting only the top six skaters or pairs from each discipline. It is one of the most prestigious world titles in this sport, after the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

The victory capped a stellar weekend in Grenoble, France, for the United States with three titles. Earlier Saturday, Amber Glenn won the women’s competitionand Madison Chock and Evan Bates – the two-time reigning world champions – won the ice dance for the second year in a row. The Americans also won one gold and two silver medals among the juniors.

Malinin was born and raised in Virginia. Her parents, Roman Skorniakov and Tatiana Malinina, are former Olympic figure skaters of Russian and Uzbek descent. They moved to the United States and live in Vienna, Virginia, where Malinin learned to skate at the facility where his parents train. He attended George Mason University.

Malinin might already be a household name to casual Olympics fans if not for a 2022 decision that kept him off the U.S. team in Beijing.

Ilia Malinin, the new star of American figure skating, completes a perfect year and aims for Olympic glory – Blogging Sole


American Ilia Malinin, who turned 20 on Monday, has risen to the top of men’s figure skating and enters 2025 as the sport’s undisputed number one. (Laurent Cipriani / AP)

At the U.S. Championships that year, a month before the Olympics, Malinin – who had just turned 18 – finished a surprising second behind Nathan Chen, making a strong case for being named to the ‘team. But the selection committee – which is not required to choose based on results alone – instead opted for experience and chose former Olympians Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown – the third and fourth place finishers at nationals – to join Chen to Beijing and make Malinin first. alternate.

It worked for the United States – they won team gold after the disqualification of Russian skater Kamila Valieva and his score subtracted – but that meant Malinin would have to wait for his Olympic debut.

Since then, he has risen to the top of the sport. After the Olympics, the Americans sent Malinin to the 2022 World Championships, where he finished ninth. He then competed at the World Junior Championships and won gold for his first major victory.

From there, he competed full-time on the senior circuit. The 2022-23 season brought him gold at the U.S. Championships and bronze at the World Championships and Grand Prix Final, as well as his first successful quad axel. Now, in 2024, he is unbeatable – World Championships, Grand Prix Final, United States Championships – gold overall.

Before his arrow climbed the rankings, Malinin was recognized for his unprecedented gesture. Until September 15, 2022, no figure skater had successfully completed a full-rotation quadruple axel – four complete pirouettes in the air during the axel jump, which is considered the most difficult in the sport and begins facing forward. forward, requiring an additional half rotation to complete. .

This changed when Malinin I released it at an event in Lake Placid, New York

He has repeated the feat several times since and bears the nickname “Quadg0d” on Instagram in honor of the accomplishment. He has said in interviews that he plans to try a quintuple version of the jump.

It’s his signature move, but nowhere near the height of his skills. Malinin’s athletic routines have produced huge scores, including a free skating world record at this year’s World Championships. He wasted no time performing a somersault in competition in October, after the ban on the move – in place since 1977 – was lifted earlier this year.

Malinin finished 2024 with seven wins in seven events. He has by no means finished in the top three since the 2022 World Championships which he entered after missing Beijing. And the next major event will take place at home: the 2025 world championships will take place in Boston from March 23 to 30.

There is still a year of competition before the start of the Milan Olympics in February 2026, time for another top contender like Kagiyama or France’s Adam Siao Him Fa – the bronze medalist at last year’s worlds who missed this Grand Prix Final due to injury – to chase Malinin. down. But the American enters 2025 as the undisputed number 1 in the sport.

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(Photo: Jurij Kodrun / International Skating Union via Getty Images)

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