This is Ilia Malinin, the reigning World Champion in figure skating. He is heading to his first Olympics next month in Milan.
His journey started back in 2022, when he made his Nationals debut at 17 years old. He delivered two clean programs and finished second, but the U.S. selection committee chose not to include him on the Olympic team. That controversial decision became his fuel and motivation to push the limits of the sport.
A few months after that, he became the first skater to land the quad axel, a 4.5‑revolution jump that had long been viewed as physically impossible. He is still the only person who has done it in competition, and he even posts videos doing 4A-4A (back-to-back quad axels) for fun in practice.
In 2023, Malinin became the only skater to land all six types of quadruple jumps. Since then, he has been unbeaten. He won Skate Canada 2025 by 76 points, the biggest margin in history (figure skating is a sport where podium spots are often decided by fractions of a point). He also won U.S. Nationals by 57 points this week.
Born in Virginia, he grew up surrounded by skating. Both of his parents are former Olympians and have coached him from a young age.
Off the ice he keeps a pretty normal life. He’s taking part‑time college classes, enjoys playing video games, and loves spending time with his two cats, Mysti and Miu Miu, whom he credits as his “therapists” after long training days.
Ilia has said he hopes to skate through multiple Olympic cycles, aiming to keep pushing boundaries of the sport.
Posted by runningvampire_