Ilia Malinin is not like most figure skaters. Even when he makes mistakes, he is still so far ahead of the rest that he wins Olympic gold.
After sending the Milan-Cortina crowd into a frenzy with his back flip in the figure skating team event, all eyes will be on US skater Ilia Malinin as he strives for individual Winter Olympic gold.
He made mistakes in the team event but was still the only participant to record more than 200 points, securing USA team gold by a single point ahead of Japan on Sunday.
That sums up the 21-year-old, the biggest star of his sport, who is set for global fame at Milan-Cortina 2026.
"It's his Olympics to lose," Olympic figure skating gold medallist Robin Cousins told BBC Sport. "After watching him over the last five years - he has grown. The talent was always there; he is otherworldly in that respect.
"Is it messy? Yes, but I watched him live and I got it. Now he has grown into that slightly quirky style - it isn't polished, and I don't want it to be.
"Anyone lucky enough to be in Milan, it will be one of those 'I was there' moments."
Malinin has not been beaten in competition for almost two and a half years. Competing in his first Olympics, he arrives with the nickname 'Quad God' having become the only skater to successfully land the quadruple axel.
The move requires a skater to launch themselves into a jump, spin four and a half times in the air, and cleanly land backwards.
Malinin did not pull out this move in the team event, although it was registered in his planned program. He landed triple axels instead - costing him points but still executed so perfectly that it provided a net benefit.
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'I want to pace myself'
He made up for it by landing the first legal backflip at an Olympic Games since US champion Terry Kubicka in 1976 - after which it was banned for safety reasons.
Thanks in part to skaters like France's Surya Bonaly - who performed the move illegally but successfully at Nagano 1998 - the backflip is now legal again; and Malinin became the first to land it at the Games on only one foot.
So Malinin is already making history and winning golds, and he isn't even at his best yet.
He was due to only perform in the short program in the team event, but with USA's Olympic title from Beijing 2022 under threat by Japan, he agreed to perform in the free skate too.
"It was just such an honour, all my team-mates we have this passion for figure skating," he told the BBC after winning team gold. "And for many of us, this was just the start.
"I didn't want to go full capacity. I want to pace myself correctly going up to the individuals."
It is in the free skate where Malinin dominates. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama outshone Malinin in the team short program, just as he did in December's Grand Prix Final.
At the Grand Prix Final, Malinin was third after the short but still finished 30 points clear of the field after the free skate.
He has such an advantage because of a deadly combination of fearlessness and ability. His program for the free skate has a much higher technical score than any of his rivals - judges will give extra credit for ambition and he will also be rewarded with a higher component score.
Why is Malinin like a kitchen blender?
Blessed with natural athleticism, Malinin has also been incubated in the perfect training environment.
Born in Virginia to immigrants from Uzbekistan, both of his parents - Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov - represented their home nation 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 reduce resistance.
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.
Category: General Sports
