Ilia Malinin on the pursuit of perfection

The quad axel is the most difficult skill ever performed in figure skating – and the only person in the world who has ever landed one in competition is Ilia Malinin. If you haven’t heard his name before, you will soon.

The 21-year-old, who recently won his fourth straight national title, is the heavy gold medal favorite for this year’s Olympics, because he has mastered the “quad” – a jump with four revolutions in the air.

Asked how he was able to achieve that, Malinin laughed, “The human body can do amazing things. And I guess I’m one of them!”

There are six types of jumps in figure skating. The axel is the hardest, because it’s the only one where the skater starts off facing forward, meaning it has an extra half-rotation.

Malinin’s nickname? “Quad God.” The name came about when he tried changing his Instagram handle: “I was like, ‘Oh, I landed a quad? Quad God, there it is, okay, let’s put it in,'” he said. “And from there everyone’s like, ‘Why’d you name yourself Quad God? You only have one quad.” And I’m like, ‘Well, now that I think about it, maybe I should try to land all of them to get the Quad God status.'”

And so, he did. At the Grand Prix Finals this past December, he landed seven quadruple jumps, the first person ever to do so.

His record-breaking skill has made him a superstar in the sport, as has his swagger, his nickname, his fashion sense, and his choice of music, skating to rap. He even started doing back-flips.

Skating is a family affair for Malinin, who grew up in Virginia. He is coached by his parents, both former Olympians themselves. His dad, Roman Skorniakov, and his mom, Tatiana Malinina, were born in Russia, but skated for Uzbekistan.

Asked if his parents pushed him to follow in their skating tracks, Malinin replied, “They did not want me to skate at all. They wanted me to do something else, ’cause they know. They went through all those years of hard work, dedication, commitment to get to where they were, two-time Olympians. And now they coach skating. So, they were like, ‘Oh, we don’t want another skater in our family.’ But here I am. Me and my sister skate now. So it’s like, okay!”

We met up with Malinin on the ice in Boston, where a New York Times crew was trying to capture him in super-slow motion. His mother was in the stands. But she won’t actually be at the Olympics in person; she doesn’t go to his competitions, because she worries too much about him.

Asked if his parents ever ask him to hold back on the ice, stirring him to to go all out to show them, Malinin replied, “Yeah, basically. It’s just like, even with the quad axel, they didn’t really believe me. It was like, ‘I wanna do this, and I want to, like, in a way prove you wrong.'”

And he did.

For Malinin, the pursuit of perfection is the goal. It takes a lot of work to make it look easy… and even when he sticks the landing, he’s not completely satisfied.

Reviewing the video with the Times crew, he said, “That was okay. Ehhhh, I’m really picky. So far I think this is the best one. I have one or two in me more.”

He sure did. Practice, it turns out, does make perfect.

To understand just how difficult the quad axel is, consider this: “You need to be able to use your power, use your muscle to gain enough speed to be able to then lift yourself into the air and to get enough torque to be able to create four-and-a-half rotations, and you’re all doing this on one leg,” Malinin said.

On one leg, landing with half a ton of force on a blade that’s about an eighth of an inch thick.

The quad axel has helped keep Malinin on top in skating. He is undefeated since November 2023, and he’s on his way to his first Olympic Games.

In 2022, his first season competing at the senior level, he won the silver medal at Nationals, which would normally qualify him for the Olympics. But officials chose to go with a more seasoned skater instead at the Beijing Games.

“To be honest, I think if it wasn’t for that decision, I don’t think I’d be here in this moment – landing a quad axel or trying to really revolutionize the sport, or just pushing the limits of my own capabilities or the sport in general,” Malinin said.

So, was 2022 really a pivotal moment for him? “I think that’s the best way to describe it,” Malinin said. “I think that’s also kind of my personality – I really like to kind of own up and say, like, someone doesn’t believe in me? I really like, ‘No, watch. I’ll do it. I’ll prove you wrong.'”

And is a five-rotation jump next on his list? “We’ll see,” he said. “Maybe soon. Maybe after Olympics.”

For now, the Quad God goes into this month’s Games as the favorite.

Asked how he channels his nerves, Malinin replied, “They’re still there. And I think for a lot of skaters maybe that they’ll still feel nervous a little bit on the inside. But it’s always more, like, you get on the ice and once that music starts you’re always in this, like, autopilot zone or tunnel vision that you just, like, ‘Okay, now I just need to let my muscle memory take over and just, you know, think of it as it was, like, a practice.'” 

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview – Ilia Malinin (Video)

     
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Story produced by Wonbo Woo. Editor: Jason Schmidt.