Ilia Malinin’s journey from obscurity to stardom at the Winter Olympic Games
At 21, the US figure skater has got his eye on gold in Milan and is adding 100,000 new followers every 23 hours on his Instagram account
When Ilia Malinin landed in Milan 10 days ago for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games, he was not known beyond the narrow circles of figure skating. Despite being a double world champion and revolutionizing the sport by landing an impossible quadruple Axel at the age of 18, earning him the moniker Quad God, not to mention performing an incredible seven quadruple jumps — previously the limit had been three or four due to the energy they require — the 21-year-old U.S. skater from Virginia did not even have 100,000 followers on Instagram. On February 12, one of the fan accounts that tracks his every move announced that he had already hit 600,000, and that his account was growing at a rate of 100,000 new followers every 23 hours.
Although he has already performed three times at Forum di Assago, on the outskirts of Milan, and has won gold for the U.S. in the team figure-skating event, he has not yet exhibited his extraordinary grace and talent in the individual free-skate event. His routine, called A Voice, kicks off with the epic-lyrical music of The Ball, by Israeli singer Asaf Avidan. The piece includes the voice of Malinin himself expressing philosophical truths, starting with “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing” from Socrates. “It’s a journey to inner knowledge,” Malinin, who is the favorite to win gold, posted on Instagram. The men’s free ice skate competition will start at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Footage from his training sessions has leaked showing camaraderie and friendship with his biggest rival, Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama, as well as successful rehearsals of several of his jumps, including a perfect quadruple Axel (which is practically a quintuple, since it involves four and a half rotations). All of this has fueled speculation that, for the first time, the jump may be seen in an Olympic competition — despite the revolutionary skater’s own cautious warnings: “I’ll only include the 4A if I’m very sure.”
What is certain is that Malinin will repeat his backflip and showcase his signature “Raspberry Twist,” a choreographic element that bears his name — since malinin means raspberry in Russian.
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