Ilia Malinin: The Quad God out to dominate Winter Olympics

Blessed with natural athleticism, Malinin has also been incubated in the perfect training environment.

Born in Virginia to immigrants from eastern Europe, both of his parents – Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov – represented Uzbekistan in Olympic figure skating.

Malinin has the masculine version of his mother’s maiden name as his parents were worried Skorniakov would be too difficult for Americans to pronounce – and his maternal grandfather, Valery Malinin, is a figure skating coach in Russia.

This environment has produced perhaps the physical ideal of the male figure skater. When broken down into scientific numbers, Malinin’s ability becomes truly astonishing.

Take a triple axel. Analysis at the most recent World Championships showed that the average skater, when successfully performing the element, leapt a distance of 2.77m and reached a height of nearly 60cm.

In contrast, Malinin’s quadruple axel sends him only 2.38m in distance – but to a height of 90cm, similar to the standing jump of an NBA player.

To perform the axel jump, a skater – travelling at about 15 miles per hour – swings their shoulders to snap into the spin, drawing their arms and legs inwards to conserve angular momentum.

In order to successfully perform four and a half spins, Malinin must rotate at about 350 revolutions per minute – a similar rate to the average kitchen blender.

And then he has to land it, with huge amounts of force going through one leg while maintaining perfect form with the other, and the rest of his body.

Most sports lessen the shock of landing with soft shoes or surfaces; Malinin is landing on ice on a metal blade – all while stopping the rotational force. And while not getting dizzy.

That is why he is called the ‘Quad God’. That is why these could be Malinin’s Games.