Making his first appearance at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Ilia Malinin, pronounced (ELL-le-a MAL-la-nin) is a favorite to win gold for the U.S. men's figure skating team.
Known as the "Quad God," because of his extraordinary ability of successfully landing skating's most difficult jump, the quadruple axel, which requires 4.5 rotations in the air, before landing backwards. Malinin is already the first skater to land a quad axel in any competition, so if he successfully lands the quad in the 2026 Winter Olympics, it will be a historic first for any Olympics.
To compete against the top figure skaters in the world, Malinin will need to bring his arsenal of quad jumps, which include the quad axel, quad lutz, quad flip, quad salchow, and quad toe loop, which he frequently executes in linked combinations. Malinin and his teammates will take on the world in a bid to create history.
Malinin, 21, the reigning two-time figure skating world champion, is the only person in figure skating history to successfully land the quad Axel in international competition and is now set to make his first Olympic appearance.
Malinin will be joined by veteran skaters Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov. Torgashev, 24, is a 2025 and 2026 U.S. national silver medalist and multiple Grand Prix medalist. Nauvov, 24, is the 2026 U.S. national bronze medalist and three-time U.S. national pewter medalist.
