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≡ THE ROSEN REPORT ≡
MILAN, Italy – Ilia Malinin was upside down in his first appearance on Olympic ice Saturday.
The American became the first figure skater to legally perform a backflip at the Winter Games since 1976, but the “Quad God” left out his even more famous signature move.
Malinin decided it was in his best interests to skip the quadruple Axel, a jump no one else in the world can do. Uncharacteristically, he also landed in second place in the men’s short program portion of the Olympic team event.
“I’m pretty happy with what I did because that’s only 50 percent of my full potential,” said Malinin.
If that’s 50 percent, imagine what he can do when he goes full bore in the individual event.
Although Malinin, 21, has a place in his short program for the quad Axel – in combination with a triple toe-loop – he opted for a quad Flip by itself and a quad Lutz-triple Toe Loop combo. He was marked down for under-rotating his quad Lutz and his flying sit-spin did not receive maximum value.
“I wasn’t even expecting to go out there and win the competition,” Malinin said. “That was not my goal with the team event. My team event was to focus on myself and how I feel just overall.”
He’ll get another chance to assess that Sunday night. Malinin will be the U.S. representative in the men’s Free Skate, the last event to determine the team medals. Team USA had the option to put in another male skater and Malinin said he needed to “talk about it with a lot of people” and decide if it is “going to be worth it for me.”
Apparently, it is.
The U.S. has medaled in every team event since it was added to the Olympic program in 2014.
The Americans won the gold in Beijing following the controversial disqualification off Russia’s Kamila Valieva, but had to wait more than two years to get their medal ceremony.
Team USA enters the final three rounds with 44 points, followed by Japan with 39 and host team Italy with 37.
Malinin received a huge ovation when he stepped onto the ice as the final male skater, after Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, a two-time Olympic silver medalist, had just scored 108.67.
Malinin’s 98.00 was well off the 115.10 he garnered with this program at the U.S. Championships last month. “Of course, it wasn’t the perfect, ideal 100-percent skate like I wanted to have,” he said, “but for the standard I set myself today, I think I did that.”
Will he break out the quad Axel or save it for the individual event, which starts Tuesday? Malinin is the gold-medal favorite.
“It’s a lot of pressure and it’s honestly something that I’ve expected to do coming to these Olympics,” said the two-time reigning world champion. “But overall I just need to pace myself correctly, put myself in the right mindset not to think about that pressure and really just come out here and do what I need to do.”
Four years ago, Malinin was just 17 when he placed second at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. However, U.S. Figure Skating has the discretion to choose the Olympic team and left Malinin home while Vincent Zhou, who had placed third, and veteran Jason Brown, who was fourth, went to Beijing
Malinin said that snub motivated him. The son of two Olympic skaters from Uzbekistan has not lost in more than two years and did seven different quad jumps in the 2025 Grand Prix final.
Malinin is also determined to make figure skating a crowd-pleasing sport again, hence the back flip. After American Terry Kubicka did a backflip in the 1976 Olympics, the move was seen as too dangerous and banned. Surya Bonaly of France did unauthorized backflips in the 1990s and the trick was legalized again in 2024.
“Once I do that backflip, everyone’s like screaming for joy and they’re just out of control,” Malinin said. “I think it’s something that’s really bringing back the popularity of the sport.”
Because the backflip is so well-known, Malinin said it can bring in the non-figure skating crowd as well.
The Milano Ice Skating Arena was nearly full Saturday, with “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz in a front-row seat.
The crowd clapped along to some of the more energetic routines, and so did the skaters in their team boxes.
Before he finally achieved his lifelong dream of skating in the Olympics, Malinin watched his chief rival Kagiyama perform his program.
“I was so inspired,” the American said. “He looked like he was enjoying every single moment. I’m so happy for him. It’s so unreal that all of us come out here on this Olympic stage and really feel so much energy, so much excitement just from this Olympic feeling.”
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