Team USA figure skater Ilya Malinin he turned the script during his 2026 Winter Olympics debut
Malinin, 21, represented the United States in the men’s individual portion of the figure skating team event on Saturday, February 7, where he nailed many of his quad jumps before performing a gravity-defying backflip on the ice.
“I don’t watch ice skating, but I’ve never seen someone hit a skate backwards,” wrote one X user. “Ilia Malinin is crazy.”
Another fan tweeted: “The CHEEEEEEER for Ilia malinin’s backflip, imagine how loud it will be when he lands a quad axel. Whole buildings (about to) collapse.”
Backflips have not been performed Olympic figure skating competitions in decades. american athlete Terry Kubicka she landed the first backflip at the 1976 Games, a year before the International Skating Union (ISU) banned the move as too dangerous. french skater Surya Bonaly he later executed a backflip at the 1998 Olympics, famously landing on a leaf. Finally, he received a points deduction for making a prohibited move.
“At first I was almost embarrassed (and thought), ‘Maybe I’ll be hated forever,'” Bonaly, 52, recalled in a 2020 interview with Olympics.com. “I’m not that (big) rebel. I feel more proud of myself now than I did years ago. I think as a trailblazer, I think (it’s) the most important thing to be able to say that.”
The ISU eventually reversed its decision to ban backflips in 2024, opening the door to Malinin’s short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Ilia Malinin competes in the figure skating team event on Saturday, February 7.
ANTONIN THUILLIER / AFPMalinin earned a score of 98.00 for his exemplary routine, finishing second behind the Japanese skater Yuma Kagiyama. Despite his runner-up finish, Malinin helped Team USA maintain its lead in the team competition. Japan and Italy trail the United States in second and third place, respectively.
Saturday also marked Malinin’s official Olympic debut.
“Everybody sees me in competitions and I’m so focused, I really have a different mindset where I’m as perfect as I can be,” Malinin. explained exclusively Us Weekly of their pre-competition mentality before the Games begin. “But really, I’m not perfect. I’m going to have bad days, good days. It’s really the thing that tells people, ‘Oh, he’s really human like the rest of us.'”
Although Malinin, affectionately nicknamed “The Quad God”, is the favorite to walk away with a medal, he does not give weight to outside pressure.
“I like to keep it the same. I try not to think about it too much, especially with the Olympics,” he explained. “It’s kind of more of a competition for me. That’s the mentality I want to have in them.”
The 2026 Winter Olympics are officially here, and Team USA is arriving in Italy with star power, storylines and sky-high expectations. As the world’s best athletes descend on Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, all eyes are on the Americans: from Ilia Malinin’s unmissable moment in men’s figure skating to Mikaela Shiffrin’s long-awaited redemption tour on (…)
According to Malinin, it is hoping to walk away with more than just a medal (or a few) at the Milan games.
“My perfect idea for success at the Olympics is to regain a large majority of popularity in skating,” he said. we “You just have to go back to its early days, where, decades ago, every stage was sold out for anything skating-related. It was extremely popular. It was televised on every channel. It’s something I really want to bring back. A lot of people are going to watch the Olympics, so I think that’s where I can inform them about this idea.”