At a Glance
- Ilia Malinin, 21, has won the last four U.S. titles, three Grand Prix Finals and two world crowns.
- He enters Milan Cortina next month undefeated in major events since early 2023.
- Why it matters: The sport’s biggest question isn’t if he’ll win gold, but by how much.
Ilia Malinin heads to Italy on a streak no figure skater has matched. The 21-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia, has swept every major title for three straight years, and the only prize he lacks is an Olympic medal.
Historic winning margins
Malinin’s scores have turned close contests into blowouts:
- 57.26 points – margin of victory at January’s U.S. championships in St. Louis
- 29.88 points – winning gap at December’s Grand Prix final
- 31.09 points – cushion at last season’s world championships
He has finished no lower than third in his last 11 major events, a run that began after he was left off the 2022 Beijing team. At the 2022 U.S. championships he placed second, yet selectors bypassed him for the Olympics, citing a slim senior résumé.
“Honestly, going into those nationals – and that was where the Olympics were decided – I didn’t think I was going to be selected,” Malinin told Michael A. Turner. “But after I skated that program and having just so much hope from people that I would be going, it was kind of disappointing not being able to go.”
The snub became fuel. “In the end, I think if it wasn’t for me not going to those Olympics, then I don’t think I’d still be skating even after Milan,” he says.
The quad revolution
Malinin’s edge starts in the air. Months after Beijing, the then-17-year-old became the first skater to land a quadruple axel in international competition at the 2022 U.S. Classic.
2018 Olympian Adam Rippon called the jump “the craziest thing I have ever seen anyone do on the ice.”
Malinin now brands himself the “Quad God.” At the 2024 Grand Prix final he became the first to land a quad in all six take-off edges. In December 2025 he raised the bar again, landing seven quads in a single program.
“I named myself that because I landed one quad jump, and then I just changed my username [on social media] to Quad God,” he says. “I didn’t think about it much, and everyone was telling me: ‘Why did you change your name? You only landed one quad jump.’ And from that moment, I kind of thought, ‘What if I do become the Quad God?'”
Rivals in awe
Competitors concede they are chasing second place. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who will skate in Milan, watched Malinin at March’s world championships and said, “He does all those difficult jumps, and he makes them look effortless. Maybe he is putting effort, but to us, it looks effortless and really easy. And it’s not just his jumps. I feel like his skating and his artistry, his expression, is getting better year by year, so I’m starting to think he’s invincible.”
NBC Sports contributor Philip Hersh, who has covered 12 Winter Games, frames the gap in historic terms: “He’s doing things athletically that nobody in this sport has ever come close to. Basically, for the last year or so, he’s been only competing against himself in the record books.”
Pressure and perspective
With dominance comes expectation. Asked if he feels pressure to win big in Italy, Malinin told Michael A. Turner, “Of course, there’s going to be a lot of pressure, especially because it’s my first Olympics, and it’s going to be just something that I’ll have to look into. But I’m just really excited, and I’m not really thinking about it right now. I like to take things one step at a time.”
He plans no new tricks in Milan. “If everything goes well, I think that will already bring new history or new records on its own,” he said. “I don’t want to try anything really new, because that’s obviously going to be a huge risk, especially for the Olympics.”
Beyond gold, Malinin wants eyes back on the sport. “What’s most important for me is to show the world – if they’re skating fans or non-skating fans – how much I find a passion for my sport and how much I love skating and performing,” he says. “A lot of the time, our sport is little under-looked-on, but it’s slowly starting to grow again. I think I’m part of the reason, but a lot of other skaters are also part of the reason. In general, what I want to do is bring back those high glory days of figure skating.”
Key takeaways
- Malinin owns a 21-month winning streak in major events
- His quad arsenal has pushed victory margins beyond 25 points
- The Beijing 2022 omission lit the fuse for his historic run
- Milan Cortina starts next month with Malinin the heavy favorite
- He hopes dominance translates to mainstream buzz for figure skating
