Quad God Ilia Malinin sets sights on second gold medal at Milan Cortina Olympics

MILAN (AP) — Leave it to the Quad God to leave one of the greatest tennis players ever standing in amazement at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Ilia Malinin took the ice Sunday night knowing the gold medal in team figure skating rested on his shoulders, the U.S. tied with Japan with only the men’s free skate still to come. The 21-year-old proceeded to lay down another jaw-dropping performance, filled with his trademark quadruple jumps, and punctuated it all with a backflip that he landed on just one blade.

It was that moment that brought Novak Djokovic to his feet, mouth agape.

“I’ve heard from everyone that after I landed my backflip he was standing there, hands on his head, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s incredible,’” Malinin said. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment seeing a famous tennis player watching my performance.”

Malinin has been getting plenty of star treatment during the Winter Games.

The two-time reigning world champion, and overwhelming favorite for gold when the men’s short program begins Tuesday night, also had award-winning actor Stanley Tucci in the house Sunday. Days earlier, Snoop Dogg dropped in on one of Malinin’s practices, and just like Djokovic, the famous rapper was left in awe by the high-flyer’s backflip.

Hockey star Alex Ovechkin even gifted Malinin a set of his signature yellow skate laces to wear at the Olympics.

None of those brushes with stardom seem to faze Malinin, though, because he’s long been a star himself.

Malinin’s rapid rise

He burst onto the scene shortly after he was controversially left off the team for the Beijing Games, when U.S. Figure Skating opted for the more experienced Jason Brown. He has not lost a national title since, claimed gold at the prestigious Grand Prix Final the past three years, and he has won the past two world titles without anybody coming even close to beating him.

In fact, Malinin has not been beaten in his last 14 full competitions, a span stretching more than two years.

“I wouldn’t tell people I’m untouchable. I want the opposite. I want people to relate to me,” Malinin told The Associated Press. “Yes, I’m doing all these crazy things on the ice that defy physics in some ways. I still want them to see all of us skaters are human beings.”

“We still have normal parts of our lives. We’re very similar to everyone in the crowd. We have emotions. We go through good things and bad things in life,” Malinin continued. “I just want to express to people that we’re human. We’re not perfect.”

The reality is that Malinin was far from perfect during the team competition.

He made several mistakes during his short program Saturday night and was outscored by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama by more than 10 points, a whopping margin. And even though he won the free skate to clinch gold for the U.S., the son of Olympians Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov made an error on an opening jumping pass that forced him to alter his program later on.

Malinin also did not attempt the quad axel, the 4 1/2-revolution jump that only he has ever landed in competition.

Perhaps he is saving it for the individual event — likely the free skate, which concludes competition Friday night. But even if Malinin keeps the quad axel in the bag, the rest of his program is still more difficult than anyone else at the Olympics.

His pursuit of perfection

“Seeing what Ilia has done in the last three years has been mind-boggling,” said Kristi Yamaguchi, the 1992 Olympic champion. “We never thought we would be alive to see a quad axel performed and landed in competition, and here comes Ilia, just whipping it off like it’s nothing. Pretty amazing. Just so many factors go into creating this perfect world to do what he’s done.”

Kagiyama promises to be Malinin’s biggest challenger in the men’s event in Milan. Shun Sato, who nearly matched him in the team free skate, also could factor into the competition. But more than likely, the Japanese teammates will be battling for the silver medal.

Malinin has even suggested that his biggest competition is himself.

“Being a perfectionist is kind of like, that rival is me,” Malinin explained. “You have that rival side of wanting to be perfect, of wanting everything to go exactly how I want it. I think that’s the biggest fight I have is just with perfection itself.”

Malinin came close to perfection during the Grand Prix Final in December.

After a shaky short program, he became the first skater to land seven clean quads in a single program, performing each of the six in skating — including the quad axel — along with an extra lutz. Three of those quads were in combination and came in the second half of the program, giving him bonuses points. The resulting score of 238.24 broke his own world record.

“It’s not a shoo-in. Ilia still has to skate well to win. His competitors are good,” said Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion. “But yeah, as far as the advantage of being the favorite, it’s him and — well, you know, he’s far ahead.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics