Ilia Malinin

American figure skater nicknamed the 'Quad God', the only person to land a quadruple Axel in competition and the only skater to cleanly land seven quadruple jumps in a single program.

Ilia Malinin was born on 2 December 2004 in Fairfax, Virginia, to two Olympic figure skaters: mother Tatiana Malinina, who competed for Uzbekistan, and father Roman Skorniakov. Coached by his parents from a young age, he showed technical mastery early, winning the 2022 World Junior Championship title. Malinin made history in September 2022 by becoming the first skater ever to land a fully rotated quadruple Axel in international competition, a jump long considered unattainable, at the CS U.S. International Classic. He backed this up with his first senior World medal (bronze) in 2023, before winning the 2024 World Championship in Montreal with a world-record score after landing six quadruple jumps, including his signature quad Axel, to music from Succession. Malinin defended his World title in 2025 in Boston with another dominant performance, then became the first skater to cleanly land seven quadruple jumps in a single program at the 2025 Grand Prix Final, setting the highest free skate score in history. Despite entering the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics as the overwhelming favorite, he suffered a shock free skate collapse to finish eighth, but rebounded weeks later to win a third consecutive World Championship title in Prague, becoming the first American to three-peat since Nathan Chen.

Explosive, technically unprecedented jumper renowned for quad content, speed and composure, backed by a trademark backflip

Redefining the technical limits of men's figure skating, pushing the sport into an unprecedented era of jump difficulty

• 3x World Champion (2024, 2025, 2026)
• First skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition
• First skater to cleanly land 7 quadruple jumps in one program
• 2026 Olympic Team Event Gold Medal