There鈥檚 a new U.S. men鈥檚 figure skating champion and he calls Vienna, Virginia, home. But you won鈥檛 see him out at the Fairfax County bars celebrating. He鈥檚 only in high school.
Sunday’s champion is 18-year-old Ilia Malinin 鈥� a jumping machine who also goes by the 鈥淨uadg0d,” his Instagram username, is known for his transcendent quadruple jumps.
He represents and trains at the Skate Quest in Reston. Malinin聽is the only skater in history to cleanly land a quad axle in competition, meaning a four and a half spin jump.
The first jump he attempted during his final free skate in San Jose, California鈥檚 SAP Center on Sunday was a quad axle but he failed to land it.
Watch Malinin’s final skate below.
The Marshall High School senior battled back through the rest of his routine doing doubles instead of two planned quads midway through his program, then completed a triple Lutz-triple axel-triple toe loop sequence and a one-handed cartwheel to end the skate and capture gold.
鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 the skate that I wanted,鈥� Malinin聽told The Associated Press. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always ups and downs, and you just have to get over it and move on for the next thing.鈥�
Jason Brown a former U.S. National Champion and second place finisher this year commended Malinin on his performance.
鈥淚 first just want to tip my hat off to Ilia,鈥� he said, turning to face Malinin. 鈥淎ll I can say is just keep it up, because it鈥檚 incredible, and the way that you鈥檙e pushing the sport is incredible.鈥�
This latest victory takes the young man one step closer to the Olympics in Milano Cortina聽in 2026.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
