The Milano Ice Skating Arena was packed with skating fans who braved the crowded 40 minute metro ride from central Milan to watch the short program of the 2026 Winter Olympics’ men’s figure skating competition. And there was likely one person they all wanted to see—the “quad god” himself, Ilia Malinin.
Malinin has already competed twice in Milan, in the short and free programs in the team event, and helped the U.S. prevail over Japan by one point to win his first Olympic medal: gold.
This time, he had just himself to worry about.
Before taking his starting position, Malinin filled his cheeks with air and exhaled deeply several times. As he had in the team event, he opted to switch out the quadruple axel planned for his first jump for a quadruple flip, easily completing the four turns in the air before landing solidly. He followed that with a triple axel and a camel spin. Then came the biggest-scoring jump combination of the entire night, and his second quad—a quadruple lutz and triple toe loop that earned him 22.03 points. None of the other 28 athletes received over 20 points for any of their jumps. Knowing he had completed his last challenging skill, Malinin pumped his fist in the air, and by the boards, Rafael Arutunyan, who coached 2022 Olympic men’s champion Nathan Chen and has worked with Malinin, slapped Malinin’s father and coach, Roman Skorniokov, on the back several times in celebration.
From there, it was a victory lap of sorts for Malinin, including a backflip—now one of his signature moves—that brought a roar of appreciation from the crowd. As he took his final pose, the audience rose to its feet with deafening applause.
“I really felt like I could enjoy the program and the story behind it and I was definitely having fun,” he said. “I felt a little more calm, and just pushed the autopilot button to see what happens.”
Read more: U.S. Wins the First Figure Skating Event of the Milano Cortina Olympics
Malinin’s autopilot, though,…
