At a Glance
- Ilia Malinin, 21, has won four straight U.S. titles, three Grand Prix Finals and two world crowns.
- He enters the Milan Cortina Games favored to win by record margins.
- Malinin credits missing the 2022 Beijing team for fueling his current dominance.
Why it matters: A victory would cap one of the most dominant runs in U.S. figure skating and could re-energize the sport’s popularity.
Ilia Malinin arrives at next month’s Winter Olympics not just as the favorite, but as a skater so dominant that the sport is measuring his likely margin of victory rather than questioning if he will win. The 21-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia, has collected every major title available since 2022, and the only prize still missing is Olympic gold.
A Three-Year Reign
Malinin’s résumé stacks up like a history lesson:
- 2022-25 U.S. championships – four wins
- Grand Prix Finals – three straight titles
- World championships – back-to-back golds
His victory margins have become almost as famous as the medals themselves:
| Event | Margin of Victory |
|---|---|
| 2025 U.S. Championships | 57.26 points |
| 2024 Grand Prix Final | 29.88 points |
| 2024 World Championships | 31.09 points |
Those gaps are rare in a sport decided by decimal places, yet Malinin treats them as routine.
The Snub That Sparked a Surge
The turning point came in 2022 when Malinin, then 17, finished second at nationals but was left off the Beijing Olympic roster. Coaches cited his limited senior-level results; Malinin says the decision stung.
“Honestly, going into those nationals-and that was where the Olympics were decided-I didn’t think I was going to be selected,” he recalled. “But after I skated that program…it was kind of disappointing not being able to go.”
He now calls the omission “motivation,” adding, “If it wasn’t for me not going to those Olympics, then I don’t think I’d still be skating even after Milan.”
Becoming the Quad God
Months after Beijing, Malinin became the first skater to land a quadruple axel in international competition. The 4½-rotation jump, completed at the 2022 U.S. Classic, drew instant acclaim.
2018 Olympian Adam Rippon called it “the craziest thing I have ever seen anyone do on the ice.”
Malinin leaned into the moment, changing his social-media handle to “Quad God.”
“I didn’t think about it much,” he said. “Everyone was telling me, ‘Why did you change your name? You only landed one quad jump.’… From there, that’s when that whole thing started of me trying to land every single quad jump.”
He kept pushing the limits:
- First to land all six quad jumps in competition (2024 Grand Prix Final)
- First to land seven quads in a single program (2025 Grand Prix Final)
Peer Admiration
Even rivals struggle to find flaws. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who will compete in Milan, watched Malinin at the 2025 worlds and came away convinced of his invincibility.
“He does all those difficult jumps, and he makes them look effortless,” Kagiyama said. “His skating and his artistry…is getting better year by year.”
NBC Sports contributor Philip Hersh, who has covered 12 Winter Games, frames Malinin’s run in historic terms: “He’s doing things athletically that nobody in this sport has ever come close to…for the last year or so, he’s been only competing against himself in the record books.”
Pressure and Perspective
With expectations at fever pitch, Malinin insists he is focused on process, not hype.
“Of course, there’s going to be a lot of pressure,” he told Ethan R. Coleman. “I like to take things one step at a time… Once I get to the Olympics, that’s when I’ll feel the environment.”
He plans no new elements for Milan, believing his existing programs are historic enough.
“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.”
A Mission Beyond Medals
Malinin hopes his performances draw casual fans back to figure skating.
“Our sport is little under-looked-on, but it’s slowly starting to grow again,” he said. “What I want to do is bring back those high glory days of figure skating.”
For now, the glory days look like one man skating against the record books-and winning.
