50 years of tradition vs. 4 seconds of airtime. Ilia Malinin’s decision to land a banned backflip in his free skate has divided the skating world like never before. Insiders reveal that experts moved to eliminate him, fearing that his ‘fearless brilliance’ sets a dangerous precedent for future skaters. Malinin pushed the sport to the edge of the cliff—and now, the ISU has to decide if they will catch him or let his career fall.

Two-time reigning world champion from the United States had looked tentative in his two team competition performances, but he came alive Tuesday (10 February) to hold off Japan’s Kagiyama Yuma.

The real Ilia Malinin has arrived.

After two somewhat tentative skates – by his otherworldly standards – the two-time and reigning world figure skating champion delivered big time Tuesday evening (10 February) to lead the men’s short program at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Malinin scored a 108.16, ahead of Japan’s Kagiyama Yuma, who earned 103.07. France’s Adam Siao Him Fa rounded out the top three at 102.55.

“I did not think it would be that heavy,” Malinin admitted of the Olympic atmosphere and his nerves in the team event. “I thought that I could come into this like any other competition, but honestly I definitely underestimated it.

“Now that I’ve gotten three performances under Olympic ice, I think that I’ve really tamed the Olympic ice.”

Nicknamed “The Quad God,” the American delivered two clean quadruple jumps – the quad flip and a quad Lutz into a triple toe combination – along with a triple Axel in his routine set to music from The Lost Crown.

The combination was Malinin’s third and final jumping pass – and once he hit it, giving the audience a commanding fist bump – he let loose. The last minute of his dynamic program included his signature Raspberry Twist and backflip to the delight of the crowd inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

“I was definitely having fun and I was so excited for it,” said Malinin.

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Ilia Malinin one-on-one: “They think we’re robots” on the ice

Ilia Malinin one-on-one: “They think we’re robots” on the ice

Two-time and reigning world champion in figure skating, Ilia Malinin, can make it look easy out on the ice. It’s anything but that, the Team USA star tells Olympics.com in an exclusive sit-down interview. The American opens up on a variety of topics, including building community among his fellow skaters: “It’s really important that people see that we’re all also human beings.” Watch for more.

As the scores rolled in, though, the 21-year-old was somewhat stoic in the famed Kiss and Cry section, letting coach Rafael Arutyunyan take the celebratory role as he held his index finger to the sky and moved his arm in a circle.

The heavy favourite for gold in Milano, Malinin had already been outscored once here, by Kagiyama in the team event’s short program. If that performance put the gold medal in doubt, Tuesday’s performance went a long way to silencing any doubts.

“For my long program, I’m really going just going to take everything nice and slow,” he said. “One step at a time, and not get too ahead of myself.”

The men’s medals will be decided Friday (13 February) when competition resumes with the free skate.