How Ilia Malinin Revolutionized Figure Skating with His Quadruple Axel

Ilia Malinin was born to skate. The child of two Olympic skaters, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov, who both competed for Uzbekistan, he discovered the ice at the age of six. In the years that followed, he became famous in the skating world, calling himself the “Quad God” for his ability to easily perform multiple quadruple jumps in a single program.

This week, Malinin led the U.S. figure skating team to the gold medal in the team event at the 2026 Winter Olympics. At that competition, his performance was notable for two reasons. First, he finished his short program with a stunning backflip. Second, he didn’t even need to pull out his signature quad-axel to get a nice score of 108.16.

The backflip wasn’t just notable because it looked cool on the ice. It was notable because he was the first figure skater to legally land a backflip in the Olympics. The International Skating Union banned the backflip in the late 1970s, deeming it too dangerous. The ban wasn’t lifted until 2024, and soon after, Malinin made one competitively.

But he wasn’t the first. Terry Kubicka’s backflip at the 1976 Olympics inspired the ban. French skater Surya Bonaly won one in 1998 at the Nagano Games. She knew this decision would cost her points, but Bonaly did it anyway. As she told The Root in 2014, she “wanted to leave a mark.”

Following Malinin’s performance on Sunday, several observers pointed out that he was being praised for something that Bonaly, a black woman, was punished for 28 years ago. In a sport that traditionally lacks diversity, this seemed like an affront. When contacted by The Associated Press following Malinin’s performance, Bonaly said she was happy to see this development in an Olympic competition.

“I broke the ice for the other skaters,” Bonaly said. “Now everything is different. People welcome anyone as long as they are good and that’s life.”

As for the iconic Quad God move, his failure to perform a quadruple axel in the team event led many to wonder if he was saving it for Friday’s men’s free skating competition, which will be his final performance of the Games.

This seems highly likely. Malinin is still the only skater to successfully complete this incredibly difficult jump in competition. Plus, he’s a showman. It would be appropriate for him to perform his best trick during his last lap on the ice. The move, which requires the skater to begin the jump while moving forward, involves four and a half rotations in the air. The incredible height and rapid rotations required to perform the quad axel impress both the audience and the judges. Saving this move for the grand finale is just a good strategy.

And maybe Malinin will throw a few backflips too.