Ilia Malinin

Ilia Malinin (born December 2, 2004) is an American figure skater. He is a 2026 Olympic Games team event gold medalist, three-time World champion (2024, 2025, 2026), three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2023, 2024, 2025), seven-time Grand Prix gold medalist, four-time Challenger Series gold medalist, and four-time U.S. national champion (2023–26). At the junior level, Malinin is the 2022 World Junior champion and a two-time Junior Grand Prix gold medalist. He holds the current world junior record for the men's free skate and combined score, as well as the senior record for the men's free skate.

Malinin is the only skater to successfully land a fully rotated quadruple Axel in international competition, accomplishing this feat at the 2022 CS U.S. International Classic and performing it multiple times since. In September 2022, he was named to Time magazine's Time 100 Next List. He is nicknamed "Quad God", a reference to his signature quadruple jumps.

Personal life and education Ilia Malinin was born on December 2, 2004, in Fairfax County, Virginia. He began skating in 2011 and comes from a family of skaters. He is the son of Tatiana Malinina, an Olympic skater who competed for Uzbekistan and was the 1999 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final champion, 1999 Four Continents champion, and ten-time Uzbek national champion; and Roman Skorniakov, also an Olympic skater who competed for Russia before switching to Uzbekistan and was a seven-time Uzbek national champion. His younger sister Elli Beatrice “Liza” Malinina also competes in figure skating. He was given his mother's surname (in the masculine inflection) because his parents were concerned that his father's surname would be too difficult to pronounce. He is fluent in English and Russian.

Career Early career Malinin began skating at the age of six in 2011 under the tutelage of his parents in Reston, Virginia. When he was a child, he often preferred playing soccer to training in a cold arena, but his grandfather advised his parents to be patient, saying "he'll [gain] his triple jumps, [and then] you won't be able to drag him away.”

Junior career 2019–20 season: Junior international debut

Malinin made his junior international debut at the Philadelphia Summer International, where he won the gold medal. On the 2019 ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) circuit, he placed fourth at the JGP in the United States and seventh at the JGP in Italy. As a result of his placement, he was invited to participate in the Las Vegas Invitational, where he helped Team Tara defeat Team Johnny. He gained the nickname "Quad God" after adopting the Instagram handle "quadg0d" in late 2020, as inspiration for the quadruple jumps that he was striving to learn. Malinin was unable to compete at the 2021 U.S. Championships after missing the qualifying competition due to an ankle injury.

2021–22 season: World Junior champion and two Junior Grand Prix gold With the resumption of the Junior Grand Prix circuit, Malinin returned to international competition at the first edition of the 2021 JGP in France in Courchevel, winning the gold medal despite errors on both of his attempted quadruple jumps in his free skate. He called it "a struggle since I haven't competed in a year, but I think now that I'm back, things are starting going back to normal." At his second event, the 2021 JGP in Austria in Linz, Malinin entered as one of the favorites for the gold medal and won with new personal bests in all segments. However, the event was later cancelled due to travel restrictions to Japan prompted by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.

Malinin finished the season at the 2022 World Junior Championships, which was delayed from early March to mid-April and relocated from Bulgaria to Estonia. He entered the event as the favorite for the gold medal based on his strong season. In the short program, he set a new junior world record of 88.99. He won the free skate as well, setting junior world records for that segment and for total score, winning the gold medal by a margin of almost 42 points.

Senior career 2021–22 season: Senior international debut

Early in his senior career, he became known for his technical prowess, particularly for landing multiple quadruple jumps, including quad-quad combinations. Returning to the senior level at the 2021 Cup of Austria in November, he placed thirteenth in the short program, but rallied back with a second-place free skate to win the bronze medal.

Malinin's placement meant that, per qualification criteria, the third berth on the Olympic team was to be decided between him and fourth-place Jason Brown. Ultimately, the committee chose Brown, a result that attracted some controversy. Malinin was instead assigned to make his World Championship debut later in the year. Brown praised him, saying: "U.S. figure skating is so lucky to have such a bright future with Ilia."

In advance of the 2022 World Championships, Malinin was sent to the International Challenge Cup to secure the required technical minimum scores. He was successful, winning the gold medal in the process.

2022–23 season: World bronze and first Grand Prix Final medal Malinin opened his season at the 2022 U.S. International Classic. He placed sixth in his short program. His free skate, which was set to the Euphoria soundtrack and choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne, American figure skater Adam Rippon called Malinin's accomplishment "the craziest thing I've ever seen anyone do on the ice.” His free skate also included a difficult triple Lutz-triple Axel jump combination. He fell while attempting a quadruple Lutz, but successfully completed all of his other jumps. He finished first in the free skate, earning a total of 257.28 points and finishing overall in first place. Returning to the senior Grand Prix at the 2022 Skate America, Malinin fell on his quadruple toe loop, but earned 86.08 points in his short program, which put him in fourth place. including a "beautiful" and "nearly perfectly" executed quadruple Axel. He also completed a quadruple toe loop, a quadruple Lutz, and a quadruple Salchow in the first half of the program. After an error on the Lutz combination in the second half, the Associated Press reported that "with an almost sheepish smile", At his second event, the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, Malinin placed second in the short program, revealing afterward that he was "a little bit injured". He won the free skate decisively, moving into first place and winning his second gold medal. There, Malinin placed fifth in the short program with a score of 80.10. He rebounded in the free skate, finishing in second place.

Malinin entered the 2023 U.S. Championships as the gold medal favorite, and after a season of difficulties in the short program, delivered a clean performance to finish first in the segment. He acknowledged afterward that "this season, all the short programs have been really tough, and I think that we took every single one of them and thought about where we need to work and what to improve" to get to that performance. Malinin had planned to attempt six quadruple jumps in his free skate, but fell on one and doubled two others. He placed second in that segment, but won the gold medal on the strength of his short program score. At the 2023 World Championships, Malinin placed second in the short program, with a score of 100.38 points. He went on to attempt the most technically difficult free skate ever seen at the World Championships with six quadruple jumps, landing three cleanly – including the quadruple Axel, the first ever performed at an ISU championship event

2023–24 season: World champion and Grand Prix Final gold

Malinin won the gold medal at the 2023 Autumn Classic International, his first international appearance of the season. He scored 105.43 and secured first place in the short program. In his free skate, he attempted seven quadruple jumps. He fell on one of his two quadruple Lutzes. He landed all of his other quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel. His free skate earned 186.69 points, bringing his total score to 292.12 to secure the gold medal. In his free skate, he attempted all six types of quadruple jumps, but fell on his attempted quadruple loop. He expressed frustration in not landing this jump, saying, "one of my main goals coming here was to finally land that quad loop this season. I think it’s given me kind of a feedback of what I want to do in terms of leading up to the next competition or future seasons."

On March 2, 2025, Malinin took part in Legacy on Ice, an ice show organized by U.S. Figure Skating that paid tribute to lives lost aboard American Airlines Flight 5342. During the gala, Malinin dedicated his performance, To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra, to the victims and first responders of the American Airlines Flight 5342 crash.

Selected to compete for Team United States at the 2025 World Team Trophy, Malinin won all competition segments of the men's singles event, aiding Team United States in securing the gold medal overall. thumb Malinin during his short program at the 2026 U.S. Championships The following month, he took his sixth individual Grand Prix gold at 2025 Grand Prix de France. He said, "Right now, I feel very confident and happy with how things went. I did feel very nervous going out there. The goal was simply to make it to the end in one piece." "It almost felt like I was on autopilot and everything was just happening one element after the other", he said.

On February 7, Malinin placed second in the short program in the 2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event behind Japan's Yuma Kagiyama. The following day, he placed first in the free program despite stepping out of a quad Lutz attempt and failing to perform a quad Lutz jump combination, securing gold for the United States in the team event. "I really went out there and just decided, okay, let the nerves down", he said after the free skate. ”You just really need to get in that zone, you really just let things happen. And I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of my team, for all the work they’ve put in. We wouldn’t have gotten this gold medal without any of them.” In the men's singles event, which Malinin was heavily favored to win, he placed first in the short program after successfully performing a quadruple flip, triple Axel, and quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. However, he struggled in the free skate: he performed a single Axel, double loop, and double Salchow in place of a planned quadruple Axel, quadruple loop, and quadruple Salchow respectively; he also fell on a repeated quadruple Lutz and again on the double Salchow. He finished in fifteenth place in the segment and eighth place overall.

Malinin said after the event that he struggled with the pressure of being the Olympic gold medal favorite and that his mistakes were "definitely mental", stating "Honestly, I still haven't been able to process what just happened, it's a lot of mixed emotions [...] it's not like any other competition. It's the Olympics, and I think people only realize the pressure in the nerves that actually happen from the inside, so it was really just something that overwhelmed me and I just felt like I had no control."

In March, Malinin completed his season by winning the 2026 World Championships, marking his third consecutive world championship title. He finished first in both the short program and free skate and set a new personal best score of 111.29 in the short program. After the short program Malinin said,"It felt really great just being out there. That's one thing that I really wanted—to enjoy. I had no expectations coming into the event. I simply wanted to go. I'm really relieved that this season is finally done after really long ups and downs the whole season. I'm very glad to be here at the World Championships and it was a different change of mindset to come here." In addition to being known for his ability to land a wide array of quadruple jumps, Malinin is also able to perform on-ice backflips, which he added to his competitive programs during the 2024–25 season following the decision by the International Skating Union to lift the ban on them.

Malinin is also credited for introducing a unique choreographic move where he uses a "butterfly" entrance to propel his body into the air before performing a single sideways twist. He calls this maneuver the "Raspberry Twist," since his last name is derived from malina, meaning "raspberry" in Russian.

Honors and awards Entered Guinness World Records after landing the first quadruple Axel in competition and again after getting the highest score in figure skating in the men's long program. Time, 2022 Time 100 Next list ISU Skating Awards 2023, Special Achievement Award Honored with a resolution by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors "for his national and international ice skating accomplishments" ISU Skating Awards 2024, Most Valuable Skater Skating Magazine, 2024 Readers' Choice Award USA Today, List of athletes set to breakout in 2025 ISU Skating Awards 2025, Skater of the Year, Most Entertaining Program 2026 Winter Olympics, Fair Play Award ISU Trailblazer on Ice Award 2026, in recognition of his "record-breaking feat to land seven quadruple jumps in a single program" ISU Figure Skating Awards 2026, Best Costume Time, 2026 Time 100 Sports list

World record scores +Combined total records Segment Score Event Date Men's singles(Junior) Free skate 187.122022 World Junior Championships April 16, 2022 Combined total 276.11 Men's singles(Senior) Free skate 238.24 2025–26 Grand Prix Final December 6, 2025

Programs

Competitive highlights

Detailed results

Senior level

Junior level