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Ilia Malinin got his “Quad God” nickname when he was just a kid and he has lived up to the billing.
The 21-year-old won his first Olympic gold medal on Sunday as part of the mixed team and is now the heavy favorite to pick up some individual hardware.
Malinin dominated her race in the short program on Tuesday at the Milan Cortina Games and positioned herself quite favorably for the medal event.
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Ilia Malinin of the United States competes during the figure skating men’s team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
And this is just the beginning for someone who might one day be on figure skating’s Mount Rushmore when it’s all said and done — if he isn’t already.
Figure skating is in Malinin’s blood, as both his parents competed in the Olympics and have impressive resumes themselves. Together, his parents have 17 national championships in Uzbekistan.
Malinin was a prodigy who won the 2016 U.S. Junior National Championship and the 2017 Intermediate National Championship. Malinin continued to dominate as a junior, winning gold at the 2022 World Junior Championships in the free skate with a new junior world record of 88.99, winning by nearly 42 points.
Despite his dominance, Malinin, just 17 at the time, was left off the Olympic roster in favor of veterans who might have lit a fire under him.
Ilia Malinin of the United States competes during the men’s short skating program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
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Since then, he’s won singles gold in the past two World Championships, three Grand Prix Finals and four US Championships, and he’s already cemented himself as one of the greatest figure skaters of all time before he even went to Italy. In December, he set the world record for the best free skate score with 238.24.
And no one has really come close to beating him. In last year’s world championships, Malinin’s margin of victory was greater than the points difference between the silver medalist and the ninth-place finisher.
Malinin scored 108.16 on Tuesday, enough to be ahead of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, who scored 103.07, and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa, who scored 102.55.
Ilia Malinin lands a trick during the men’s short skating program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
At this point, it would be a fantastic upset if anyone other than “Quad God” won gold later this week – he didn’t get the nickname by accident. And at just 21 years old, a true dynasty may be on the way.
