OLYMPICS: Figure skater Ilia Malinin surges into lead with thrilling short program

MILAN — American figure skater Ilia Malinin delivered a stunning performance on Tuesday at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, landing two quadruple jumps and even adding a backflip in the men’s short program to take the lead.

Malinin scored 108.16 points, more than five points ahead of Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama (103.07), with France’s Adam Siao Him Fa in third place at 102.55.

The heavy favorite for the men’s title, Malinin had not shown his full range during the team event earlier in the week but still helped the United States secure gold on Sunday. On Tuesday, he looked much closer to his peak, feeding off the energy of American fans and showcasing the technical skills that have made him one of the sport’s rising stars.

“I want to call it Olympic pressure,” Malinin told reporters. “Going out there the first time, hitting that Olympic ice, and feeling the atmosphere—it took me a little while to understand what really happened. Now that I do, I took a different approach today.”

He added, “I just tried to take things nice and calm, nice and slow, stay relaxed, and really just pushed the autopilot button and let it cruise.”

Kagiyama stumbled on his triple Axel, costing him points, while Siao Him Fa delivered a clean and confident performance, boosting his hopes for a medal in Friday’s free skate.

“I was a bit frustrated with the triple Axel,” said Kagiyama, the 2022 Beijing Olympics silver medalist, through a translator. “My goal now is to perform a free skate that I’m happy with. I’m trying to add more quadruple jumps and increase my offensive power, and hopefully the result will come along.”

Many fans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena anticipated that Malinin might attempt a quadruple Axel—a four-and-a-half-rotation jump that only he has landed in competition—but he revealed he never intended to try it on Tuesday. Instead, he opted for a quadruple flip and a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, scoring heavily for both. He also said he is prioritizing “health and safety” over attempting the quad Axel in Friday’s free skate.

Malinin, a Virginia native, has been undefeated since November 2023, winning 14 consecutive competitions. The first-time Olympian appeared more relaxed on Tuesday, raising his arms to soak in the crowd’s roar and playfully throwing boxing punches toward the camera as he left the ice.

Naumov Honors Parents in Emotional Debut

Earlier in the day, Malinin’s teammate Maxim Naumov skated with a heavy heart in his Olympic debut. Just over a year after his parents were killed in a plane crash near Washington, D.C., Naumov delivered an emotional performance.

“I felt like I was guided by them today,” Naumov said, holding up a childhood photo of himself with his parents. “With every glide and step, I could feel their support guiding me from one element to another. At the end, I finished on my knees, and all I could do was look up and say, ‘Look what we just did.’”

Naumov scored 85.65 points and sits in 14th place.

Fan Favorite Guarino Sabate Brings Humor to the Ice

In a lighter moment, Spain’s Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabate skated to music from the Minions film franchise while dressed in a yellow T-shirt and blue overalls, portraying one of the animated characters. Despite stumbling on his first jump, a triple Axel, fans cheered along to his performance.

Guarino Sabate, a six-time Spanish champion, narrowly missed the cut for Friday’s free skate, finishing 25th, just below the qualifying line.

-Reporting by Rory Carroll, Lori Ewing, Agnieszka Flak, Valentina Za, and Elvira Pollina in Milan; editing by Pritha Sarkar/Reuters