MILAN — It’s perhaps hard to envision now, as dominant as he’s been. With the commercials, the cool nickname — “Quad God” — and the hype surrounding him, it seems Ilia Malinin being on this stage was inevitable.
However, in his mind, his Olympic debut at Milano Ice Skating Arena was spurred. Four years ago. By disappointment.
Malinin never forgot being left off the 2022 Olympic team. He set out to push himself to a new level and, in the process, expanded the bounds of the sport. His short program in the figure skating team competition Saturday served as the inauguration of a vision he crafted way back then: to become a superstar. Saturday, he dazzled the crowd with his aura and his patented backflip, giving the sport’s largest audience a taste of his electricity and a preview of the show he’s expected to put on for the men’s singles competition later in these Games.
But first, before he makes a run at a gold medal and cements himself as a figure skating icon, before he becomes the breakout superstar of these Olympics, Malinin had to feel this. The novelty of the Winter Games. That’s why, for Malinin, making it here isn’t a secondary component — even after finishing outside of first place for the first time since November 2023.
“It was such an unreal moment coming to the Olympics,” he said after his debut. “You know, everyone has been talking about the Olympics for years, ever since I’ve started skating from a young age. And it was something that I’ve dreamed (about). And really just being out there on that Olympic ice was just, you know, the best moment of itself.”
At 17, he rose to the occasion at the nationals and took silver after the free skate of his life. Only Nathan Chen, the eventual gold medalist at the Beijing Games, was better that day. However, U.S. Figure Skating opted to send more experienced skaters in Vincent Zhou and Jason Brown, 21 and 27 at the time. They finished third and fourth, respectively, at the U.S. Championships, but they’d put together good performances more consistently than Malinin, the sudden prodigy. And experience matters on the Olympic stage.
That experience still matters for Malinin. That disappointment propelled a new level.
“I would say that Nationals in 2022 was definitely one of the more memorable and, honestly, unexpected moments that happened in my life,” Malinin said after winning his fourth consecutive U.S. title. “But not being named to that team kind of gave me the fire inside.”
That fire made an appearance Saturday, but mostly after a subpar performance per his stratospheric standards.
His score of 98.0 in Saturday’s short program maintained his team’s first place through the first two days of the team competition. American ice dance legends Madison Chock and Evan Bates — announced at the last minute as the U.S. competitors in the final — followed Malinin by winning the free dance portion. The pair, which also won the rhythm dance competition on Friday, proved to be the class of the ice dance field. Italy finished second. Japan, America’s stiffest competition thus far, took fifth.
As a result, the U.S. heads into the third and final night of the team event with a five-point lead over Japan and a seven-point lead over Italy.
Malinin said he wasn’t sure if he’d also do the free skate in the team event finale. He had to discuss with his team what the best strategic move was for him. However, when the schedule was announced late Saturday night, he was on the list. It would be a safe bet to see a more locked-in version of the world’s No. 1 men’s skater, because Sunday is for gold.
Ilia Malinin finished more than 10 points behind Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama in the men’s singles short program on Saturday, but his score of 98.0 maintained Team USA’s first place. (Wang Zhao / AFP via Getty Images)
After Alysa Liu took second in the women’s short program on Friday, Amber Glenn will grab the baton for Sunday’s free skate competition. American duo Danny O’Shea and Ellie Kam, who took fifth in the pairs short program, will also do the pairs free skate.
And Malinin will take the ice again.
“I try to enjoy every single moment and be grateful for everything,” Malinin said, “because there’s a lot of unexpected things that can happen in life and I’m taking everything, you know, everything to heart, (and nothing for granted).”
The unexpected that happened Saturday was Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama outshining the world’s best. The last time Malinin finished behind another skater in any competition was at the 2023 Grand Prix de France. He finished more than 10 points behind Kagiyama on Saturday.
But Malinin said he was less worried about the score and more focused on getting a feel for Olympic ice.
“I wasn’t expecting to go out here and win the competition,” Malinin said. “That was not my goal here for the team event. My team event was to focus on myself and how I feel just overall. I’m pretty happy with what I did because that’s only 50 percent of my full potential here.”
The free skate is a longer program, which gives Malinin more room to flex his quadruple prowess. He owns the record for most quads in a program and the world record for free skate score. It’s much harder for others to keep up. It’s also an undertaking because of all of his quads and the energy he exudes.
Malinin said he didn’t plan to do the quadruple axel in the short program, though it was listed among his elements, an alteration he made weeks ago. He opened this short program with a quad flip. While the other multi-quad skaters put their big jumps in the first two elements, when they’re fresher, Malinin saved his second quad for his final jump of the program and paired it with a triple toe loop. Jumps are harder later in the program when fatigue sets in; thus, bonus points are awarded.
However, Malinin, the judges ruled, under-rotated his quad Lutz. He didn’t get the big score he might’ve gotten. It wasn’t the complete difference between him and Kagiyama, but it was a sign Malinin was not in peak form.
Of the five skaters who had two quad jumps in their program, Kagiyama’s were the most flawless. He was sublime. He nailed a quad toe loop into a triple toe loop, followed by a quad Salchow. He also had the arena rocking with a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” accompanying his magnetic energy. His excellence was awarded with a 108.67. That put Japan in first and Italy second. And it put the pressure on Malinin.
This was but a microcosm of the pressure Malinin faces in these Olympics. A mere dose of the pressure still to come for him in Milan. He’s one of the faces of these Games. Having been untouchable for two years running, everyone is expecting him to blow away the competition.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Malinin said of being a heavy favorite, “and it’s honestly something that I’ve expected to do coming to these Olympics. But overall, just looking at it, I just need to pace myself correctly. Put myself in the right mindset not to think about that pressure and really just come out here and do what I need to do.”
Judging by the look in his eyes, his tone and his words, Malinin’s participation in the free skate won’t be just about helping the U.S. capture gold in the team event. It seems it will also be about getting the taste of second place out of his mouth, about getting into a better groove heading into the singles competition.
Either way, four years later, Malinin — in his Olympic debut — had the fire inside stoked again.