DURING THE 2022 Olympic Games, Ilia Malinin watched in amazement as Yuzuru Hanyu attempted a quadruple axel during his free skate.
Hanyu, then the two-time reigning gold medalist, under-rotated the jump and fell on the ice. But the moment, and the sheer audacity to attempt the most difficult jump ever tried, awakened something in Malinin.
«I was just so excited, honestly,» Malinin told ESPN last month. «I was like, ‘Yeah, this looks really possible. I think that I can get this done.'»
posted a video of Malinin landing a clean quad axel at a jumping camp. He landed it in competition in September.
It took the teenager just seven months to bring his vision to reality and to make something many thought impossible look effortless. Now, four years after being inspired by Hanyu’s fearless display, it’s Malinin’s turn. Since the last Games, Malinin has emerged as the sport’s most dominant superstar with two world titles to his name and an undefeated streak dating back to 2023.
NEW RECORD. SAME STANDARD. 🥇
Ilia Malinin WINS the ISU Grand Prix Final for the THIRD consecutive year with a GP RECORD free skate score of 238.24. pic.twitter.com/UONON7GQDx
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) December 6, 2025
Malinin helped lead the U.S. to a gold medal in the team event over the weekend — and did so without attempting his quad axel and despite some uncharacteristic errors. But even not at his best, it still was enough and provided a memorable introduction to the Olympic Games. He is now set to begin competition in the individual men’s event Tuesday.
«I [hope fans] appreciate what they’re seeing with Ilia,» Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist, said to ESPN last week. «It’s like no matter how easy this looks, and no matter how effortless it might seem, if you put another guy, any other competitor, on the ice and asked them to do the same performance, they wouldn’t even try it because they can’t. … It’s something that hasn’t been done before and maybe won’t be done again.»
BOITANO WOULD KNOW. He helped start the quad revolution, after all.
In 1982, he became the first American to land the triple axel — considered then the hardest jump in the sport. But four years later, he knew he needed more in order to differentiate himself on the international scene, and he began training a quadruple toe loop. Many around him couldn’t believe it when he first mentioned it in training. He vividly remembers the hype around it going into the 1987 national championships.
«There was a whole thing in USA Today about the quad going into the program, how it was four turns in the air. It was a big deal,» Boitano, who is co-hosting the «Milan Magic» podcast for USA Today during the Games, said. «It was a frame-by-frame explanation of what it was to do a quadruple jump. So it was definitely unusual at the time.»
Despite multiple attempts, and success in warmups at events and in practice, Boitano never landed the jump in competition. He came close at those nationals but touched the ice with his hand upon landing. He eventually dropped it from his program. Instead, he had two triple axels in his Olympic free skate and eight triple jumps in total.
#PrevagenUSChamps pic.twitter.com/5ypkfKrAON
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) January 26, 2025
«He jumps it high and he gets into the rotation so quick,» Boitano said. «So he has the height, and then he can do the other three-and-a-half-rotations after as he’s kind of reaching the peak, and then when he is coming down from the peak, and he still breaks out with so much extra space before the landing. For most guys, their blade would just be coming around as they’re hitting the ice. His blade is all the way around when he’s six inches off the ice.»
Wagner, who calls his quad axel a «glitch in the matrix,» believes Malinin is ideally proportioned for skating in the way Michael Phelps was for swimming.
«I think it wouldn’t be possible if he wasn’t perfectly built for this sport,» said Wagner, who is covering the Games for NBC and co-hosts «The Runthrough» podcast. «Ideally you want a slight bow leg, … [and] you’re going to see athletes that are leaner and not too tall, but not too short. You want a lower center of gravity, that’s going to be helpful. I would say he’s definitely as close to exactly what you need to be in order to find success in this sport.»
Boitano thinks someone of his own stature — 5-foot-11 with a wider frame — would not be able to accomplish the jump. Malinin is 5-foot-9 and has a slighter build.
THE SON OF former Olympic figure skaters Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, Malinin has always been a self-described adrenaline junkie. He likes to skateboard and do parkour during his rare free time. He incorporates various elements in his programs, including his signature «Raspberry Twist» and a show-stopping backflip, in addition to all of the quad jumps. The result? Two programs that are his own unique mix of artistry — his free skate is set to music featuring his own speaking voice — and technical mastery. He often outscores the rest of the field by wide margins.
At the world championships in March, his final combined score of 318.56 was more than 31 points better than everyone else. At last month’s national championships, in which he performed a significantly watered-down free skate, Malinin had a 57.26-point edge over second-place finisher Andrew Torgashev. At November’s Skate Canada event, his 333.81 total score — the second highest ever in international competition — gave him a 76.6 margin of victory, the largest mark in skating history in any discipline.
It would be an understatement to say Malinin is the overwhelming favorite for gold as the individual competition gets underway in Milan. Much like Simone Biles’ dominance in gymnastics, in which teammate Aly Raisman repeatedly has joked, «Second place was first place [for everyone else] because it [was] too hard to beat her,» Malinin is virtually peerless in the current moment. Barring catastrophe, it is almost impossible to envision an Olympic Games without Malinin standing on top of the podium.
The Quad God’s full day 2 routine was TOUGH and led Team USA to gold! #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/jzk6iSYEko
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 9, 2026
Malinin knows that too, but he has been trying not to think too much about any of it. He told ESPN he was trying to treat it «like any other competition» and not get weighed down by the pressure or the moment. He said he would consider it a successful Olympics not by a medal around his neck, but if he was satisfied with his performances and has «as much fun as possible.»
While everything about what Malinin does on the ice is extraordinary, he won’t need to do anything out of his ordinary in order to be victorious this week. But there lies the difference for him between winning and being satisfied. He doesn’t want to play it safe or temper his program simply to achieve gold. He wants to leave a lasting impression and no doubt of his status as the best ever.
Having previously discussed practicing a once-unheard-of quintuple jump — something Boitano called «not even in my dialogue yet» — Malinin couldn’t help but tease reporters after a Milan practice session when asked if he was ready to perform it in competition.
«Maybe, maybe not. We’ll see,» he said with a smile. «I’m thinking about it. Thinking not doing it, or doing it. I keep you guys on your toes. …
«Physically, I’m ready. If the time is right, you might see it.»
