Ilia Malinine: ‘I have a little more pressure on myself. I don’t think I’m really so far away from everyone ‘| Figure skating

NO Styler how you look at it, Ilia Malinine is already one of the most technically skilled men’s figure trays of time. From his history-making of Quad Axel to his personal best scoring-nest three points higher in the free skating than former record Nathan Chen-WHEN the 20-year-old reigning world champion leads to the American art skating in Wichita, Kansas, this week there is no doubt about , that he will still gather a third equal national title on the road to the Milan Cortina Olympics.

He skates for music by rapper NF and the rock band falls in the reverse, and fans not only see the American skater implement a now expected series of quad jumps, and his signature raspberry thriving (one step taken from acrobatics), he is also included an Newly sanctioned backflip. It’s all part of an underlying ambition to “help the new, more modern generation of people come and see what skating is,” he told me this week. Given the insane fact, he has worked on a quint (an eye-watering of five rotations in the air) as a “side project” if there is an athlete who can bring a biles-like level of fandom to a sport far past his fluid , it’s Malinine.

But when he talks about his meteoric ascent, Malinine is more cautious.

“I don’t think I’m really so far away from everyone,” he told me earlier this week. “I think I’m just a little over – and there are a lot of things that I have to work on.”

Despite a pure sweep of gold medals this season, including in the Grand Prix final in France last month, he is not, he said, a “fan” of the way he has skating. This may not be entirely unfounded – he has made several uncharacteristic mistakes, and some of his jumps have been scored as under rotated.

“I think because of winning the World Cup, I have a little more pressure on myself, and maybe affect it kind of how I have skated in recent months,” he said, admitting that the change from “teenage -fenom” To the current world champion has not been easy.

“That’s the kind of process of being an athlete at the top level. There comes that day, the week, the month, when things just don’t work for you, ”he said. “I just have to work and train and really put on all efforts to take out all these mistakes and weaknesses, so I have nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the big competitions.”

When you see Malinine Skate, it’s hard to imagine that he’s afraid of something. The way he launches himself in the air high enough to easily rotate four times before landing on a magazine, it’s as if he was born to figure. And as the son of two Olympic figurines, one could argue that he was. But after a something “late” start to the sport – his parents didn’t let him start until he was six and a half – no matter how easy he makes it look, he has worked hard for his “Quad God“Honor.

When he first burst out on stage, won the world’s junior title and took the American national silver medal in 2022, Malinin’s technical skill was already ready. But art skating is an artistic sport. Performance, choreography and flow over the ice (called ice skating), are awarded all points. First, some commented that the young skater lacked these qualities, a criticism that was often reflected by lower scores for these components.

Three seasons later, he is still the only skater that lands all six quad jumps in competition, and his now-viral performance to the soundtrack in the hit show, Succession, last season has proven that Malinine is plenty of capable to give it shaking, Entertaining notions that draw crowds and collect high scores.

“I always looked up to how the other skaters skate and tried to copy what they did and their style,” he said, explaining this development. “I decided to try to be my own skater and just do what I want, works best in terms of choreography, ice skating and bringing something new to skating.”

Bringing something new includes landing of the once impossible quintuple jump. “I’ve done it a few times and I would say they’re pretty ok to be the first few attempts,” he said.

When we were asked if we can expect to see one in competition, he probably didn’t say soon. It’s a confidence game. With the extra competition press adrenaline, the exhaustion of a four-minute long routine in front of judges and an expectant audience — is something that is as technically demanding as a jump on the ice, be perfect 18 or 19 times out of 20 in practice to be worth risking in competition. Any hesitation and that’s when things go wrong. “It takes a little more mental preparation just to find out how to go after it without risking a huge injury,” he said.

Innovation and stretching of the sports borders is a tactic he sees as important, not only to raise his scores, but to return art skating to his glossy days in the 90s and 2000s, when viewing in the US was on an all -time high .

“I think the general idea is to make (my skating) unique, so people who have no idea what skating is or what any of the technical elements are or the artist can say, ‘oh , this guy made a backflip on the ice is really entertaining, ‘or’ wow, this guy went parallel to the ice in the air. ‘So it brings kind of the whole excitement of art skating. “

Like tricks, Malinin sees his music choices as integrated in bringing art skating to a new generation. “It’s a little cool to bring different people-mighty hip-hop or rock-like-who don’t know much about skating and really just try to inform them about how cool the sport is.”

Malinin credit choreographer and world champion in 2003, Shae-Lynn Bourne, with his border programs. “She really understands how I move and what looks best on me. And in terms of music, we deal kind of trade information and to see what suits what she thinks can do a good program and what I could do as a skater, ”he said.

Outside of competition, Malinin is a college student who attends George Mason University in his home state of Virginia, plays video games and spends time with friends as he can be more than, “Ilia the world champion.”

He also sets his goal of growing the sport’s audience into action and transcending a series of shows titled Gold on ice. “For us, the skaters show when we do it, it helps us to do much better in competition,” he said. Although there has been a decrease in recent years, skating was performed for decades that were performed for sold -out arenas. While there is still a beginning venture, gold on ice represents another strategy to help initiate a golden age for the sport he loves.

This week, Malinin is looking to put two solid programs on citizens, free of the little mistakes that have plagued him all season. With Fanfavorit Jason Brown withdrew due to an equipment change that stopped his training and get challengers on the horizon, all eyes will be on Quad Good Malinin.