Ilia Malinin

Malinin began skating at age six under the guidance of his parents, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, both former Olympic figure skaters for Uzbekistan. He trained around the Washington Figure Skating Club in Northern Virginia and initially balanced skating with soccer. His early results included U.S. juvenile and intermediate titles in 2016 and 2017, followed by a U.S. novice bronze medal in 2019.

He made his junior international debut in 2019 and won the Philadelphia Summer International. After finishing 16th at the 2020 World Junior Championships, he returned strongly in 2021-22, winning gold at both of his Junior Grand Prix events and taking the 2022 World Junior title. He originally used the social media handle "Lutzboy" as a reference to his mother's triple Lutz, but changed it to "quadg0d" after developing a reputation for difficult quadruple jumps.

Malinin's senior breakthrough came at the 2022 U.S. Championships, where he won silver after placing second in the free skate with four quadruple jumps. Despite that result, he was not selected for the U.S. team for the Beijing Winter Olympics. He instead made his World Championship debut later that season, finishing ninth overall, and won the International Challenge Cup while securing the technical scores required for the event.

The Olympic omission became a motivation for Malinin as he continued expanding his technical content. At the 2022 U.S. International Classic, he landed the first quadruple Axel in international competition. The jump requires four and a half rotations because the skater takes off facing forward, and its successful completion established the defining achievement behind his "Quad God" nickname.

Malinin won his first senior U.S. title in 2023 and earned bronze at that year's World Championships. He also won Skate America and the Grand Prix of Espoo before taking bronze at the Grand Prix Final. At the 2023 Grand Prix Final, he became the first skater to land a quadruple Axel in a short program and the first to perform all six recognized quadruple jump types in competition.

His 2024 season brought his first world title. At the World Championships in Montreal, he landed six quadruple jumps in the free skate and scored 227.79 points, a world record under the current scoring system. He defended the world title in Boston in 2025, again landing all six types of quadruple jumps in one program, and won a third consecutive world championship in 2026.

Malinin has also won the Grand Prix Final three times, in 2023, 2024, and 2025, as well as four consecutive U.S. titles from 2023 through 2026. At the 2025 Grand Prix Final, he landed seven clean quadruple jumps and established the current world record for the men's free skate with 238.24 points.

Malinin made his Olympic debut at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. He helped the United States win gold in the team event, placing first in the men's free skate segment after finishing second in the short program. In the individual men's event, he led after the short program but struggled in the free skate, falling twice and finishing eighth overall.

After Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov won the individual gold medal, Malinin sought him out and congratulated him. The gesture earned Malinin the 2026 Olympic Fair Play Award. He responded to the Olympic disappointment by winning the 2026 World Championships, completing his third consecutive world title.

Malinin is known for a technical style built around speed, rotation, and multiple quadruple jumps. He has performed all six recognized quad types in competition and is the only skater to have successfully landed a quadruple Axel in international competition. His programs have also included backflips since the move became legal again in 2024.

He created a choreographic move called the "Raspberry Twist," in which a butterfly entrance leads into a sideways twist. The name refers to malina, the Russian word for raspberry, from which his surname is derived. His competitive programs have used music from Succession, Labrinth, NF, Falling in Reverse, and other contemporary artists.

Malinin has cited Nathan Chen, Yuzuru Hanyu, Mikhail Kolyada, Evgeni Plushenko, and his mother as skating inspirations. Choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne has worked with him on programs that combine his difficult jumping layouts with choreography and performance.

Malinin attends George Mason University and graduated from George C. Marshall High School in 2023. He speaks English and Russian. Away from skating, his interests include video games, skateboarding, parkour, drawing, painting, fashion, music, and content creation.

His skating background is closely tied to his family. Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov coach him, while his younger sister Liza also competes in figure skating. His maternal grandfather, Valery Malinin, competed for the Soviet Union and has worked as a skating coach in Novosibirsk, Russia.