Team USA figure skater Ilia Malinin flipped the script during his 2026 Winter Olympics debut.
Malinin, 21, represented the United States in the men’s singles portion of the figure skating team event on Saturday, February 7, where he nailed many of his signature quad jumps before nailing a gravity-defying on-the-ice backflip.
“I don’t watch ice skating but I’ve never seen someone hit a backflip on skates,” one X user wrote. “Ilia Malinin is crazy.”
Another fan tweeted, “The CHEEEEEEER for ilia malinin’s backflip, imagine how loud it’s about to be when he lands a quad axel. whole buildings [about] to collapse.”
Backflips haven’t been performed in Olympics figure skating competitions in decades. American athlete Terry Kubicka landed the first backflip at the 1976 Games, one year before the International Skating Union (ISU) banned the move for being too dangerous. French skater Surya Bonaly later executed a backflip at the 1998 Olympics, famously landing on one blade. She ultimately received a point deduction for performing a banned move.
“At first I was almost, like, ashamed [and I thought], ‘Maybe I’m going to be hated forever,’” Bonaly, 52, recalled in a 2020 interview with Olympics.com. “I’m not that [much of] a rebel. I feel more proud of myself now than years ago when I did it. I think as a pioneer, I think [it] is most important to be able to say that.”
The ISU ultimately reversed its decision to ban backflips in 2024, opening the door for Malinin’s short program at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Malinin earned a score of 98.00 for his exemplary routine, finishing in second place behind Japanese skater Yuma Kagiyama. Despite his runner-up placement, Malinin helped Team USA keep their lead in the team competition. Japan and Italy trail the U.S. in second and third place, respectively.
Saturday also marked Malinin’s official Olympics debut.
“Everyone sees me at competitions and I’m just so focused, I’m really in a different mindset where I’m pretty much as perfect as I can be,” Malinin exclusively told Us Weekly of his pre-competition mindset before the Games commenced. “But in reality, I’m not perfect. I’ll have bad days, I’ll have good days. It’s really the thing that tells people, ‘Oh, he’s really human like the rest of us.’”
While Malinin — affectionately nicknamed “The Quad God” — is the favorite to walk away with a medal, he’s not giving weight to the external pressure.
“I kind of like to keep it the same. I try not to overthink it too much, especially with the Olympics,” he explained. “It’s kind of just another competition for me. That’s the mindset I want to have going into them.”
According to Malinin, he’s hoping to walk away with more than just a medal (or a few) at the Milan games.
“My perfect idea for success for the Olympics is to really bring back a huge majority of popularity in skating,” he told Us. “Just bring it back to its prime days where, decades ago, all arenas were sold out for anything related to skating. It was extremely popular. It was televised on every single channel. That’s something I really want to bring back. A lot of people will be watching the Olympics, so I think that’s where I can inform them about this idea.”
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