Latest news with #Malinin
The Star
19-05-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Seize the moment
TWO months ago, after easily winning his third consecutive US Figure Skating national title, Ilia Malinin showed up at his rink to train for the world championships, yet he could not bring himself to skate for even a second. Malinin, the overwhelming favourite to win the gold medal in next year's Winter Olympics in Italy, had laced up his skates, looked around and felt an emptiness that stopped him. That week, 28 people involved in skating had died when an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River, killing all 67 passengers. Among them were young skaters, including three from the Washington Figure Skating Club, which is Malinin's club, and others who at times would use the rink in Reston, Virginia, where he trains. A coach, a skater and his father, and a whole family – two young sisters and their parents – from that club died, and Malinin, who is 20, was so brokenhearted in the weeks afterward that he could not even bear to say their names, he said. 'Skating usually helps me handle hard things going on in my life, but it was just too emotional to be there,' Malinin said in an interview with The New York Times the first week of March. 'I tried to have a productive day of skating. But I just couldn't take my mind to another place. I just couldn't.' When he returned to the rink several days later, he said, he redoubled his efforts to be the best men's singles skater in the world, one bound for stardom at the Winter Games nearly 10 months from now. He said he focused on fine-tuning his programmes and immersed himself in them, determined to dedicate his performances in Boston at the World Figure Skating Championships to the people who died. The result was a pair of spectacular programmes that brought Malinin his second consecutive world championship, which he won by about 31 points, a colossal edge in a sport in which margins of victory are often measured in single digits, or even tenths. Ilia Malinin competes in his short programme at the world championships in Boston on March 27. — NYT The capacity crowd at TD Garden for the free skate was on its feet long before his performance was done, and for good reasons: Malinin, from Vienna, Virginia, is a dynamic skater who is single-handedly lifting the sport into another stratosphere with his technical skills and his ability to connect with a new, younger audience. He landed a breathtaking six quadruple jumps, including a quad axel, which requires a mind-boggling 4½ rotations in the air. No one else in the world has done it in international competition. No one else has landed six quads in one programme, either. For years, the top skaters in the world could only dream of landing the quad axel, a jump made harder by its forward-facing entry. But Malinin, now a student at George Mason University, first landed it when he was 17. He said performing those quads at worlds meant a lot to him because he did it in front of a crowd in his home country, although he couldn't hide his disappointment that he hadn't executed the seven that he had planned. As a teenager, Malinin – a hoodie-and-jeans kind of guy – started calling himself 'Quad God' for his ability to execute quad jumps. But now his unique performances are just as memorable. With his flowing movements and unique body shapes, his routines could double as modern dances. For the long programme, he marched into the rink, taking each step with determination, as if heading for a street fight. His song was 'I'm Not a Vampire (Revamped)' by the rock band Falling in Reverse, and his outfit matched the theme of the music. It was a blinged out version of what looked like Dracula's tuxedo, and under the lights the array of sequins and rhinestones on it made him look sprinkled with glitter. He moved masterfully, in synchronicity with the song's every note, and he even shouted along with a few of the more aggressive vocals. Malinin logged 110.41 points in the short programme, one of the highest short programme scores ever at an international competition, beating Japan's Yuma Kagiyama by 3.32 points. After that programme, Kagiyama, the Olympic silver medallist at the 2022 Beijing Games, said he was in awe of Malinin's transformation from a skater largely known for the strength, speed and timing required to land impeccable quads to one with artistry nearly as untouchable. 'I'm starting to think he's invincible,' Kagiyama said. Malinin said his practices before worlds were easy. The jumps. The spins. The movements to the music. It all felt so right, he said. Yet at the rink, there were times when he thought about the skaters who died, he admitted, forcing him to pause. His parents – Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skornyakov, who skated for Uzbekistan at past Olympics – coach him and helped him regroup, he said. Those skaters he knew were not there anymore, gliding by or standing back, wide-eyed, to watch him and learn from him, or to train next to him, and that 'really upsets me,' Malinin said. — NYT
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ilia Malinin appears on TODAY, looks ahead to Olympic season
Ilia Malinin reflected on his undefeated 2024-25 figure skating season and looked ahead to the 2025-26 Olympic campaign while appearing on TODAY on Monday. The 2026 Milan Cortina Games open in 270 days. Advertisement "I feel really good," Malinin said. "I'm really excited to start off this Olympic season." Malinin, a 20-year-old from Virginia, won his last nine individual competitions dating to December 2023. In March, he repeated as world champion by becoming the first skater to land all six different types of quadruple jumps in one program without any under-rotations. The self-nicknamed "quad god" is the only skater to ever land the most difficult quad — the four-and-a-half-revolution quad Axel. Malinin is coached by his parents, who each skated at the Olympics for Uzbekistan and moved to the U.S. before Malinin was born. Advertisement "They're such an inspiration to me," Malinin said, while joking that his mom is the stricter parent. Malinin is expected to begin his 2025-26 Olympic season in earnest on the top-level Grand Prix Series in October and November. Maia Shibutani, Alex Shibutani announce ice dance comeback after 7 years away Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, 2018 Olympic medalists, are returning for the 2025-26 Olympic season.
NBC Sports
12-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Ilia Malinin appears on TODAY, looks ahead to Olympic season
Ilia Malinin reflected on his undefeated 2024-25 figure skating season and looked ahead to the 2025-26 Olympic campaign while appearing on TODAY on Monday. The 2026 Milan Cortina Games open in 270 days. 'I feel really good,' Malinin said. 'I'm really excited to start off this Olympic season.' Malinin, a 20-year-old from Virginia, won his last nine individual competitions dating to December 2023. In March, he repeated as world champion by becoming the first skater to land all six different types of quadruple jumps in one program without any under-rotations. The self-nicknamed 'quad god' is the only skater to ever land the most difficult quad — the four-and-a-half-revolution quad Axel. Malinin is coached by his parents, who each skated at the Olympics for Uzbekistan and moved to the U.S. before Malinin was born. 'They're such an inspiration to me,' Malinin said, while joking that his mom is the stricter parent. Malinin is expected to begin his 2025-26 Olympic season in earnest on the top-level Grand Prix Series in October and November. Nick Zaccardi,
Japan Times
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Malinin, Liu help U.S. take early lead at skating's World Team Trophy
U.S. world figure skating champions Ilia Malinin and Alysa Liu dazzled again to help their country take a commanding lead on the opening day of the season-ending World Team Trophy on Thursday. Malinin, who won his second world title last month in Boston, topped the men's short program in Tokyo with a score of 106.08, almost 10 points clear of second-placed Adam Siao Him Fa of France. Liu led the women's short program, and ice dance world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates also won their event to give the United States an eight-point lead over second-place Japan. Malinin, known as the "Quad God" for his arsenal of quadruple jumps, said he was "a little bit tired" in his first competition since the world championships. But the 20-year-old also said he was "pretty happy" with his routine after showcasing his skills to an adoring Japanese crowd. "I felt like my performance was a lot better than at worlds," said Malinin, who is the hot favorite to win gold at next year's Milano Cortina Olympics. "I was able to not have that world championship on my mind and just skate for fun. I was able to get into myself." Siao Him Fa scored 96.16 points to place ahead of American Jason Brown, who had 93.82. Liu went into the women's competition riding a wave of momentum following her maiden world title. The 19-year-old returned to competition last year after two years away from skating and described her victory in Boston as "very unexpected." She kept her form going in Tokyo, winning the short program with a score of 75.70, ahead of Japan's Kaori Sakamoto, who scored 75.54 points, and Georgia's Anastasiia Gubanova with a score of 69.80. Liu said she "really felt the competition comedown" after the world championships but fought through the fatigue. "I was so tired, I slept a lot, and I felt that if I was hard at training, I would be too tired here," said Liu, who was just 16 when she stepped away from the sport in 2022. "I just kept it really easy, hoping that I could just hold on a little bit longer for this." Chock and Bates won the ice dance rhythm dance with 91.25 points, ahead of Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who had 87.15 and Italy's Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri with 84.58.
Japan Times
16-04-2025
- Sport
- Japan Times
Skating 'Quad God' Malinin ready for Olympic favorite tag
Double world figure skating champion Ilia Malinin knows he will have a target on his back at next year's Winter Olympics, but said Wednesday he can handle the pressure. The American, known as the "Quad God" for his dazzling arsenal of quadruple jumps, won his second straight men's world title last month in Boston at the age of 20. Malinin said he was "still trying to process" the achievement but he knows he will be the man to beat at the Milano-Cortina Games in less than a year's time. "Definitely I was made aware of that even last year, being the favorite going into the Olympic year," he said in Tokyo, where he is preparing to compete for the U.S. in the season-ending World Team Trophy this week. "It might put a lot of pressure on me close to the Olympics, but I want to make sure I get a good strategic plan and really just put myself into that right mental zone to block out all this pressure." Malinin missed out on a place on the United States team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics but he has since established himself as the dominant force in men's figure skating. He won his first world championship gold in Montreal last year and followed it up with a bravura free skate performance in Boston that included six quadruple jumps. The 2022 Olympic champion Nathan Chen is taking an indefinite break from skating and Japanese great Yuzuru Hanyu retired from competition in 2022. Malinin said he would benefit from his world championship wins. "Two-time world champion is still a little bit new to me," said Malinin. "It's a fresh feeling. I feel like now I'm able to use that to help me prepare for the Olympic season." Malinin is one of several world champions on a star-studded United States team in Tokyo this week. Alysa Liu, who won the women's title in Boston, and ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates are also competing for the Americans. Japan, Georgia, France, Canada and Italy are the other nations competing.
