The Winter Olympics kick off next Friday on Channel 11, and a man known as the “Quad God” is one to watch.
If all goes as the experts predict, he’ll bring an Olympic gold medal home to the U.S. in men’s figure skating.
Figure skating may not have been what Ilia Malinin’s two-time Olympian parents originally wanted him to do, but it seemed to be his destiny.
“Growing up in that environment, they were always at the rink, 24/7, coaching other skaters and I happened to stick around that - the rink. It was kind of destined to be,” Malinin said.
He started skating for fun when he was just six years old. At just 13, Malinin landed his first quadruple jump.
“It just went from there, quad after quad after quad,” Malinin said.
After that, he changed his Instagram username to “quad god,” a nickname he now embraces.
“I definitely embrace it and that’s the whole reason why I wanted to go to land all the seven types of quad jumps,” Malinin said.
Through years of training, Malinin did learn and master those other quad jumps. He is the first and only skater to ever land a fully rotated quadruple axel in international competition. and he uses all 7 types of quad jumps in his routines.
Channel 11 asked him what those jumps feel like.
“You are in the air, not even for one second. You can’t really spot every time you go around,” Malinin said.
He was named to Team USA after his dominant performance at recent trials, including the U.S. championships in St. Louis, where he finished in first place by a whopping 57 points.
“It’s unbelievable to be able to represent Team USA. It’s been a dream of mine just to go to the Olympics, no matter who I represent, but especially to represent Team USA,” Malinin said.
For many in the figure skating community, the question isn’t whether or not Malinin is going to win gold. The question is: by how much?
Malinin says he’s just taking it one day, one skate at a time, to get ready to head to Milan Cortina.
“I’m going to train my heart out and train so I can be as confident going into that competition,” Malinin said.
The winter games from Italy kick off with the opening ceremony on Channel 11 next Friday.
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